Our monthly bill from Bulb seems astronomical!

Floydie

Gas is (unfortunately) in m3 but it hasn't been inspected for many years.  Last battery change was 2010.I see.

Elec meter looks old too

But reading the posts it definitely feels like something is 'wrong' - we honestly don't use much of either fuel type.  The only thing I can address myslef is turn the thermostat down.

So I guess I'll have to have both meters and energy supplys checked out.

Which bodies should I contact for each 'check'?

Robin9

2010 would be before Smart.

Did you read the meters while you were there ?

Read them every day for a week

Gerry1

Floydie said:

So I guess I'll have to have both meters and energy supplies checked out.

Which bodies should I contact for each 'check'?

You'll have to pay if you get a meter checked and it's found to be OK, so it's worth doing some basic checks first. 

Start by doing the Meter Sanity Test which is very easy for electricity.

You can also do a rough and ready test on the gas meter. Turn the supply off overnight using the lever next to the meter and in the morning make sure the reading hasn't changed.  Turn on only the gas boiler for an hour and note the meter reading at the end.  Convert the difference in the volume readings to kWh.  If you have say a 28kW boiler then you'd expect to have used around 28kWh assuming that the property was cold and the boiler ran at full power during the first hour.

If you find a meter that increments despite everything being turned off then it's obviously faulty.

matt_drummer

Floydie said:

Gas is (unfortunately) in m3 but it hasn't been inspected for many years.  Last battery change was 2010.I see.

Elec meter looks old too

But reading the posts it definitely feels like something is 'wrong' - we honestly don't use much of either fuel type.  The only thing I can address myslef is turn the thermostat down.

So I guess I'll have to have both meters and energy supplys checked out.

Which bodies should I contact for each 'check'?

Your gas and electricity meters suggest that you do use quite a lot of both fuel types.

It would be unlikely that one of your meters is faulty let alone both.

I would be looking at how I was using energy and when.

Try to make sense of it before getting meters checked.

matt_drummer

Looking at your electricity usage I would estimate that you started using the electric under floor heating in your kitchen around the middle of November?

How many hours a day is it on?

k_man

Gerry1 said:

Floydie said:

So I guess I'll have to have both meters and energy supplies checked out.

Which bodies should I contact for each 'check'?

You'll have to pay if you get a meter checked and it's found to be OK, so it's worth doing some basic checks first. 

Start by doing the Meter Sanity Test which is very easy for electricity.

You can also do a rough and ready test on the gas meter. Turn the supply off overnight using the lever next to the meter and in the morning make sure the reading hasn't changed.  Turn on only the gas boiler for an hour and note the meter reading at the end.  Convert the difference in the volume readings to kWh.  If you have say a 28kW boiler then you'd expect to have used around 28kWh assuming that the property was cold and the boiler ran at full power during the first hour.

If you find a meter that increments despite everything being turned off then it's obviously faulty.

Just for completeness:

 Turn the supply off overnight using the lever next to the meter and in the morning make sure the reading hasn't changed.
 Turn the supply back on using the lever.
 Turn on only the gas boiler for an hour and note the meter reading at the end

[Deleted User]

Floydie said:

Which bodies should I contact for each 'check'?

You contact your supplier and ask it to arrange for independent meter tests. For electricity, a calibrated check meter will be fitted alongside your existing meter. For gas, the meter has removed and sent to SGS - the OPSS - approved testing facility. 

The mathematical probability of both your meters having a fault is extremely small. Meters are extremely reliable.

brianposter

 Meters may provide incorrect results even when the tests show no fault so you really need to work out what is wrong before communicating with your supplier.

FindMyWayBack

Floydie said:

And the water is only on for about 60mins per day (during the same hours as the heating)

I don't understand this, if you have a combi boiler you shouldn't be having to put water 'on'. Are you putting an electric immersion on as well? If you have a combi boiler leave your water on all the time, it only heats the water you use as you draw it. The exception is switching off the pre heat, switch that off, it just means when you draw the water it will take a bit longer to come through warm as it's not kicking in all day pre heating the water (costing gas/money).
My next thought is looking at your list of readings your last few are estimates, you must provide genuine readings.
My next thought it if you have the stat at 25, way too high, 20 is perfectly adequate for most, mine is at 16, you have it set on timers, so every time your timer puts the heating on you have to heat the house to 25 degrees from cold, that will draw a huge amount of gas costing a fortune. Depending on insulation you would be better leaving it on constant at say 18 degrees.
Try all the above after noting a base line reading, I'll bet thing improve dramatically.