Octopus convert M3 to KWH

Pat38493

I am sure I am not the first person to ask this, but I am trying to examine downloaded data from the Octopus website and it gives my usage of gas in metres cubed.

A bit of googling and I found a calculator that implies that you have to multiple the metres cubed by 11.3628 to get the Kwh.  However the Octopus phone app (which gives the usage in Kwh if you select cost) seems to use a factor 11.2273 (but maybe seems to change even from one day to the next)?

A big more googling and am I correct that actually the conversion from m3 to KWH will change with each bill and I won't even know what it's going to be in advance, so the 11.2273 or whatever conversion is an estimate?

What I also noticed is that in the Bright app, that does give your gas usage in Kwh but it is giving slightly different results than the Octopus app.

molerat

The correct formula is cu.m x calorific value (which varies from day to day and is between 37.5 and 43.0) x 1.02264 / 3.6

You can find the actual daily calorific values for your region here https://mip-prd-web.azurewebsites.net/DataItemExplorer/Index

A lot of the apps and IHDs use a middling figure around 40 for the CV.

11.2273 gives a CV of 39.5273 which is impossible as the figure for billing must be truncated to 1 decimal place so in this case would be 39.5.

11.3628 gives 40.00047

I use 11.2 for my guesstimating which is a CV of 39.42736, about the historic average for my region.

Pat38493

molerat said:

The correct formula is cu.m x calorific value (which varies from day to day and is between 37.5 and 43.0) x 1.02264 / 3.6

You can find the actual daily calorific values for your region here https://mip-prd-web.azurewebsites.net/DataItemExplorer/Index

A lot of the apps and IHDs use a middling figure around 40 for the CV.

11.2273 gives a CV of 39.5273 which is impossible as the figure for billing must be truncated to 1 decimal place so in this case would be 39.5.

11.3628 gives 40.00047

I use 11.2 for my guesstimating which is a CV of 39.42736, about the historic average for my region.

Thanks molerat - I had already stumbled upon that page in the meantime but which one is my region - I am in South Warrington and I think that is North Wales and Merseyside.  Does that mean I need to look at "WM" as the abbreviation to pull the data?

Then maybe take the average from the last year of numbers or suchlike to estimate it.

Pat38493

molerat said:

Does that mean I need to look at "WM" as the abbreviation to pull the data?

Providing the first 2 numbers of your MPAN are 14

Actually my MPAN starts 13 not 14.  Doees that mean I should be looking on WN?

[Deleted User]

Actually my MPAN starts 13 not 14.  Doees that mean I should be looking on WN?

MPAN relates solely to your electricity region. The MPRN relates to your gas supply.

Pat38493

Dolor said:

Actually my MPAN starts 13 not 14.  Doees that mean I should be looking on WN?

MPAN relates solely to your electricity region. The MPRN relates to your gas supply.

OK so my MPRN starts with 15

And according to this link I am actually in area NW

https://www.energybrokers.co.uk/gas/

So strangely for Electric I am in North Wales (which for some reason includes Cheshire), but for Gas I am in North West, which actually at least makes more geographical sense?

molerat

Ooops, concentrating on something else when I typed that.  I know what I actually meant to put

[Deleted User]

So strangely for Electric I am in North Wales (which for some reason includes Cheshire)

Regions go back to the days pre-Privatisation. It used to be called MANWEB: Merseyside and North Wales Electricity Board. Post-Privatisation it became MANWEB plc which subsequently has become part of Scottish Power Energy Networks.