High gas usage

mjdrae

For a long time i have suspected my gas usage to be incorrect and far higher than what i believe we are using. Previous years have been up at around 33000kwh, with the last 12 months at 23000kwh. We live in a 3 bed house and i believe the average is around 15000kwh. The house is empty most weekdays and we have a log burner to heat the main living room during winter. The only time the gas is used is hot water, heating and showers. How is it possible than i'm using more than double the average usage??

Robin9

Poor insulation, high temp on thermostat and on boiler., do you heat at night night and/or when you are out ?

Look at the meter  -  is it marked ft3 or m3 , what is the serial number -   now compare with your bill.

Are your bills based on Estimated readings or Actual   -    look at the meter reading part of your bill.

mjdrae

Robin9 said:

Poor insulation, high temp on thermostat and on boiler., do you heat at night night and/or when you are out ?

Look at the meter  -  is it marked ft3 or m3 , what is the serial number -   now compare with your bill.

Are your bills based on Estimated readings or Actual   -    look at the meter reading part of your bill.

It is an old house and isnt the most insulated but, we dont heat it when noone is in and it isnt on during the night. If anything it is first thing in a morning for maybe 1-2 hours and then in the evening for a similar period.

Those have been estimated but recently based on actual as i submit readings.

I will check the things you mentioned.

Coffeekup

mjdrae said:

Robin9 said:

Look at the meter  -  is it marked ft3 or m3 , what is the serial number -   now compare with your bill.

Are your bills based on Estimated readings or Actual   -    look at the meter reading part of your bill.

It is an old house and isnt the most insulated but, we dont heat it when noone is in and it isnt on during the night. If anything it is first thing in a morning for maybe 1-2 hours and then in the evening for a similar period.

Those have been estimated but recently based on actual as i submit readings.

I will check the things you mentioned.

See if you can find an actual reading from around this time last year (+/- a month) and take one today. Post them here with the dates taken.... We'll then have something more concrete to go off.

You could have an older inefficient boiler, or you could have bigger boiler that's not needed for your house. Tell us the manufacturer and type.

Set the water temp 40C on the boiler if possible, there is no need to have the water hotter than this as it'll make the boiler work harder and burn more gas.
Wash hands in cold water instead of hot, also having a shower for an hour or more a day will soon rack up uasage.

No gas hob or cooker? (Not that it would make that much difference unless you were baking every day)

Mstty

The only.thinha that spring to mind (some mentioned above)

Hearing hot water all day to a really high temperature try 40oC-50oC max this time of year and maybe just on for an hour in the morning.

You shouldn't have any heating on at the moment so check that is off.

Reduce the temperature on the thermostat by 1-2oC 

How old is the boiler make and model?

k_man

Can you share your recent meter readings?
This will give us an indication of current usage.

At this time of year there should be no heating, only hot water using gas (and possibly a small amount for cooking).

mjdrae

Just to clarify....  NO heating used at minute and hasnt been on since maybe March/April. I'm talking about heating over the 12 months.

Alnat1

Can you post a pic of your meter? (cover up the meter serial number)

victor2

If you can provide actual meter readings for the last few months, that will give you an idea of your usage without heating. Was your meter changed around the time you noticed increased usage? There is a possibility an imperial meter was replaced with a metric one but you are still being billed as if it was imperial. As Robin9 said, check your meter and bills to make sure they agree.

theoretica

Combi boiler, or heating a tank of water?

k_man

mjdrae said:

Just to clarify....  NO heating used at minute and hasnt been on since maybe March/April. I'm talking about heating over the 12 months.

Sorry, I wasn't suggested that you need to turn off your heating (as if heating being on now was the cause).

More that as heating will be off, if you can provide you current meter readings, we can get a baseline, for non heating usage.

ETA: as explained much more clearly by @victor2