Communal Gas 11 January at 11:28AM in Energy 4 replies 145 views

Renyaldo

Hi all. I live in a 1 bed flat which has a communal hot water supply (which is powered by gas), which is on a meter so we pay individually for our usage. Our management agency informed us that our unit price was increasing from 0.12259 to 0.33840 (including a discount) , only giving us a couple of weeks notice. Does this sound right, the notice and the scale of the increase. They have said that they could get it any cheaper on the open market, but they are not the most reliable of agencies. Hope someone can advise? Thanks in advance.

TadleyBaggie

Unit of what? Gas meters usually measure volume ( I.e cubic metres or 100’s of cubic feet) but billing is in Kilowatt Hours. Without knowing the meter type no meaningful answer can be given. 

macman

Are you saying that there is a metered HIU, and you are being charged 33p per kWh for not water? Not for gas?
If so, it's likely that the commercial gas contract has come to an end on a cheap fix, and the price has risen sharply.
Unfortunately there is no regulation of the pricing of neighbourhood heating systems.

razord

In a HIU, you're charged for kWh of heat, so as @macman says, basically charged per kWh of heat applied to your incoming cold water supply to make it warm, or for internal heating.

33p per kWh doesn't actually seem too bad to me... I'm currently paying 24.8p per kWh, and that price was set last February and took effect from April 2022.

I suspect 33p per kWh will be around where mine goes too when they announce the tariff increases next month.

One thing worth nothing, is they may offer different tariffs, where your unit rate will go down if you agree to a higher service charge. E.On Heat provide 4 tariffs for my scheme, and you have to do the maths based on your annual usage to which is best (In theory, they're supposed to do that and tell you, but for some reason they've never given me an accurate number!)

macman

It's slightly less than you'd pay to heat the hot water yourself by means of electricity.