Daily Gas Usage?

badger09

Ally_E. said:

 Currently it's £17 a day and 158kW/h a day 😱 can't wait for the cold snap to end 

Ouch. 

We’re using over 100kWh & creeping towards 110 on dull or damp days, so just shy of £12. But without more detail, that’s pretty meaningless. I’m thinking of starting my own thread to ask for suggestions but there are so many already😕

pseudodox

Managing to keep gas consumption down to around 55-60kWh per day.  Heating goes on for 3 hours from 4pm (when any sun sinks below the horizon) and as observed by others the first hour is pretty hungry, but then it settles down.  So for anyone just putting on the heating for an hour this is not the best strategy.  At least give it a second hour, as you will then stay warmer for longer for much lower cost.  Plus it will also stay wamer after you turn it off. I can survive 7pm-midnight with no further heat input, wearing layers and either keeping active or snuggling under a duvet to watch TV.  I am quite comfortable with the room at 15/16C in the late evenings.

3 bed, 3 storey 1970s town house, single occupant, combi boiler, TRVs on all radiators so several rooms on low settings. I used 161kWh in October, 419kWh in November and December to date is already 419kWh.  Next spring the boiler will be replaced as at almost 20 years old it it starting to have odd glitches, so the whole system will be flushed through and updated and I expect the set up next winter to be more efficient.

Having grown up in a large old house in the country, with only heat source an Aga in the kitchen & maybe a coal fire in the sitting room on Sundays I am very cold tolerant – my sitting room & study are at 10C today as we had snowfall overnight, plus the rooms are above a ground floor garage.  Suspect there is little if any insulation in the floor/ceiling void but I do have good carpets with thick underlay.  I am wearing an extra fleece over my woollen jumper and fingerless gloves. I will probably put the heating on at 3pm for 4 hours today as there has been no sun, but meanwhile I keep active around the house.  Hoovering is a great way to keep warm & the house benefits!

 Yesterday I walked down to the park for 2 hours and was sweating when I got home!  If I batch cook and fill the oven then it really does not cost massively to produce several meals and benefit from the heat in the kitchen diner.  And I keep up with regular hot drinks.

housebuyer143

My heating is running at £1.50 an hour... I try to use it 4 hours a day or less, but it's on for 7 today. House has never got above 17 degrees ☹️

Mstty

This is interesting but there are so many variables and these could explain what is deemed as Hugh and low usage as well as inefficiently setup heating systems

1) type of property detached/semi/flat etc
2) square footage

3) power rating of boiler or ASHP or NSH etc

4) orientation of property

5) location and other factors like on a hill, in a valley

6) number of windows and doors able to take advantage of solar gain

7) home all day or heating morning and evening and weekends

8) construction of property

9) date property was built

The list could go on and on

JGB1955

We're on an average of 62kWh per day, over the past 19 days.  I am SO fortunate in that we are on a fixed tariff until next September and are paying less than 4p per kWh - so less than £2.50 per day at the mo.  The heating came on at 4:00 this morning - that's a bit of a rarity!  15C overnight. 19C 07:00 until 22:00.

Ally_E.

Mstty said:

This is interesting but there are so many variables and these could explain what is deemed as Hugh and low usage as well as inefficiently setup heating systems

1) those of property detached/semi/flat etc
2) square footage

3) power rating of boiler or ASHP or NSH etc

4) orientation of property

5) location and other factors like on a hill, in a valley

6) number of windows and doors able to take advantage of solar gain

7) home all day or heating morning and evening and weekends

8) construction of property

9) date property was built

The list could go on and on

Really good point about location on the hill and exposure of windows to the sun. We're on top of a hill and no southern windows, doesn't help the situation. 

chris1973

housebuyer143 said:

My heating is running at £1.50 an hour... I try to use it 4 hours a day or less, but it's on for 7 today. House has never got above 17 degrees ☹️

Yes, its all Jolly Hockey Sticks for those celebrating the fact that it only takes an hour for their house to reach the desired temperature even when its -12c outside!, so they only pay the bulk of their daily usage for the first hour after turning the heating on every day, after which its all gravy.

But the reality is that for millions of households, it might take 4, 7 or 12 hours for their house to warm up with their boiler consuming gas at its maximum demand throughout, and at £1.50 - £2.50 or more per hour for up to 12 hours per day it doesn't take long for the cost to become prohibitive.

The irony is, when you find that your monthly energy bill is almost as much as your rent, and you still aren't warm because its taken all day to crawl to 17c.

Often there is no quick fix to this problem because it goes beyond foil behind radiators or thicker curtains or another layer of loft insulation.

It may be the fact their living room has a 15ft ceiling - not easy to solve with a bay window the same height, or may have poor glazing, but then again, a lot of people don't just have several thousand quid just sitting idle in a bank account, nor want their windows ripping out and replacing when its 1c and snowing outside, so eventually they avoid running the heating for the rest of the winter at all, and the health risks associated with that is where the problems are going to start to appear as we enter the coldest months of the year.

Novice_investor101

I’ve had my heating running a lot longer in the day yesterday & today than I had been this week & I’m finding it really isn’t costing that much more. The boiler is modulating & the steam from the flue is minimal. I’ve taken a reading this morning & again late afternoon & used 2 units, so about £2.30. Still averaging £5-£6 a day during the cold spell. 

I hung a fleece throw at the bottom the stairwell to act as a curtain & put bubble wrap under the loft hatch, most useful for sealing the gaps than insulating. Both have made a noticeable difference. Especially downstairs with the stair curtain. 

I’m tracking my gas costs daily on a spreadsheet, so far I’m staying within the credit + DD + £67 rebate that’s planned to cover the bills til March 2023, as long as this freezing spell doesn’t go on too long. 

2bed Victorian mid-terrace. I had a quick look in the loft & I’ll be topping up the loft insulation next year along with other long overdue improvements. 

dave23

Yesterday was the coldest day so far, we are in Lancashire. 87.44 kWh used costing £9.34. My wife is home all day and the heating was on from 8.30am to 11.45pm set to 21. this includes water heating for 2.5 hours We live in 4 bed detached built 1997 which I presume was built with cavity wall insulation. South facing lounge.

When my wife was working heating was on for 1 hour in the morning then on from 4pm to 11.45 and I have found that since she has stopped working we don't really use that much more in terms of kWh. I read the meters weekly and have records going back to when we bought the house new in 1997

housebuyer143

Like other posters says, it's really too difficult to compare gas usage. It has been -1 or -3 for the past week here and predicted for the next week, while the rest of my family live in the south and while it's cold, it's not the same. 

I am using more heating because it's literally I can't open my car doors as they are frozen shut cold here.