Bills not going down despite using less

elsien

You may have made sure the gas was turned down at every opportunity, but has Mum been turning it back up again when you’re not there? 

Maybe if you give your gas and electric readings for the last few months it might make a little bit more sense.

michael079

Robin9 said:

michael079 said:

........................ even had British gas round recently to try address the issue and he looked at the radiators and gave some advice but not much changed. ..............

What was the advice ? and did you act on it?

Radiators need bleeding ?  Has you boiler got a room stat ? If so where and what is it's setting.

What is the boiler temp settings ? and the programmer timings?


As other's have said cancelling DD  is not a good idea - switch to a monthly variable DD  such as EDF.  Switch to single rate Elec (unless you are being charged the same rate day and night).

Have you done a Benefits check ?

The advice was to do what I've been doing, keeping it down at every opportunity. The radiators didn't need bleeding. The stat needs to be set to 30 when it's cold and isnt effective even at the temp. I turn it down to 0, 15, 25 throughout the day depending on how warm it is. But if its making zero difference then it's staying on 30 full time now. 

Robin9

30 WOW   - you will cook.

Suspect a faulty stat  - have your tried a portable type of stat around the rooms ?

theoretica

You need to be sure whether it is your use of gas which didn't change when you turned things down, or whether your use went down but the cost stayed the same.  From what you say about the thermostat, I wonder if it isn't working properly and you were not changing your gas use when you thought you were.

For gas, how many kWh were you billed for in February?  At what price per kWh?

How many kWh were you billed for in March?  At what price per kWh?

KxMx

Robin9 said:

30 WOW   - you will cook.

Suspect a faulty stat  - have your tried a portable type of stat around the rooms ?

Possibly, I have mine set to 22 which seems high, but it's located in a small narrow hall which also happens to the be warmest spot in my flat. Without it set that high the large, airy living room & bedroom (the latter coldest room in flat) simply don't warm up enough while the heating is on. 

I do have mine on a timer though, it's on for a few hours morning and evening, outside of those windows it's set to 5 so stays off. 

I also adjust the boiler flow temperature as needed, which isn't very often, maximum most of winter and reduced it by 5 degrees several weeks ago once the coldest of cold temperatures left. 

DeeQS

Seems there’s some confusion that thermostat set temp = power of the central heating. This isn’t true, the heating is on or off if the thermostat is set to above the room temperature.
Maybe this is the cause of the high bills. Thinking that having it turned down from 30 to 25 will be saving, when if the room isn’t 25 it’ll just be running normally.

michael079

elsien said:

You may have made sure the gas was turned down at every opportunity, but has Mum been turning it back up again when you’re not there? 

Maybe if you give your gas and electric readings for the last few months it might make a little bit more sense.

She can't turn it back up as she can't walk without assistance and I'm there full time to look after her so I've been in total control of it. 

michael079

Robin9 said:

30 WOW   - you will cook.

Suspect a faulty stat  - have your tried a portable type of stat around the rooms ?

That's the problem though, we don't cook. Far from it. And the gas man said there's no problem or anything that can be improved. During colder months it's at 30 and the fan heater is also needed for a little while to bump up the heat. I've already had a thread about all this and people mentioning 30 is too high towards the end of last year. 30 for us is warmer but is nothing special, and gas man said nothing wrong with stat. 

michael079

theoretica said:

You need to be sure whether it is your use of gas which didn't change when you turned things down, or whether your use went down but the cost stayed the same.  From what you say about the thermostat, I wonder if it isn't working properly and you were not changing your gas use when you thought you were.

For gas, how many kWh were you billed for in February?  At what price per kWh?

How many kWh were you billed for in March?  At what price per kWh?

I don't know how to check this information, I've been looking on her Scottish power account but the bills section just shows the actual bills and not kwh or anything else. I can't even see historical readings. I'll need to find her paper bills to see if that's says anything. 

Robin9

I don't know how to check this information, I've been looking on her Scottish power account but the bills section just shows the actual bills and not kwh or anything else. I can't even see historical readings. I'll need to find her paper bills to see if that's says anything. 

You should be able to download and print out out the bills from her online account.


I think I would want a second opinion on your installation