e;on - please help

joem1619

I'm just thinking of switching from Npower to E-on..
My gas bill for 1 Oct- 30nJan was £450 but I was over in Spain for 8 weeks of that with the heating off. It seems a massive bill to me (4 bed semi).
My boiler is 25 years old & I'm thinking that a new condensing combi boiler might cut costs but is it worth the outlay? I' m planning on downsizing in
next 3 years?


Joe

tazza362

Guys, thanks so much for taking the time out to post your answers back on here, I will definitely keep an eye on my meter and ensure they have the correct readings at all times. My meter readings upon moving in were recorded correctly as my other half recorded them, I suppose it is just the cost of fuel these days. Anyhow, thanks again, I am off home in a couple of hours after spending the weekend away, will be very interesting to see how many units have been gobbled up by my meter in my abscence!!!

tazza362

Well as I mentioned in my previous post, I was away for the weekend and as such did not use much Gas save for the 2 hours that I programmed the heating to come on for. On Sat morning at 0700hrs as I was leaving, my meter reading was 00913392, upon arriving back at 1700hrs Mon evening, it read 00920841 a difference of 7 nearly 8 units. I did get however nearly 9 hours of Central Heating over the 3 day period. My meter this morning read 00925836, so I used 5 units between 1700hrs last night and 0900hrs this morning, I had my central heating on for 5 hours between this period and my hot water for aprox 2 hours. So does one unit of Gas provide me with aprox 1 hr of central heating? In my case i believe it does, does anybody else know how many units of gas they use heating their house for an hour? (Only for comparison in a similiar style property as in a previous post). Hope this makes sense, and yuo can fathom out what I am asking!!

Garz

If i get time tezza il try remember to check my gas for comparisons sake.

wakeupalarm

Is your meter metric (cubic meters) or imperial (cubic feet)? Was your bill correctly converted to metic?

space_rider

I have a 4 bedroom 3 storey house and I have 13 radiators. House is 2 years old. Prices have gone way high. I used to pay £25 a month for gas and electric and now I am having to pay £85. The way to see if the meter is recording only what you are using is to turn everything off and the meter will eventually stop spinning around. Power companies are responsible for the high cost of gas and electric but not responsible for the amount we use.

tazza362

Spacerider, I see what you are saying and I am aware that my gas consumption is down to me and not the Gas company, hence my reasons for coming onto this board to try and find out if my £85.00 monthly bill for Gas alone, is about right. As you will see in previous posts I am not an excessive user and at my current rate of consumption would clock up more units than the average family use in a year, and an average family I am not. I am monitoring my usage and meter readings daily at the moment and am well aware that it may just be that my bills are correct but I want to make sure I am doing everything I can to minmise them.

tazza362

Just wanted to ask if anyone else thinks that 6 units of gas in return for
1hr 30mins of hot water and 6 hrs 15 mins of central heating and no cooking, seems a tad excessive!! I have got a plumber coming out to inspect the boiler and the CH system. The only thing I can think of is the system is not working as efficiently as it should be.

space_rider

I`ve actually checked mine as it seems we have similar house. i`m using 8 units of gas. My heating comes on at 5.45 am until 8 and thermostat is on 21. 13 rads on. It then comes on again at 3 until 11. On a Wednesday, Sat and Sun the heating is on from 5.45am until 11. Generally in the evenings the stat is on 24ish. My hot water is on for 1 hour in morning and 1 in the evening. I have an ideal classic condensing boiler and it is on maximum. I only have 4 thermostatic valves and most of them are on the highest setting.

I use 8 units for electric in the winter which I consider quite good as there are 2 teenage girls in the house and in the bathroom, kitchen, en suite and dining area and hallway are those expensive ceiling spot lights. I have tumble dryer which is used for a couple of hours a week and a dishwasher which is used every other day. Several showers a day which comes from the gas central heating.

I do cook 6 days a week.

tazza362

Have sussed out the problem ( I think). There is something wrong with the bottom floor of the house as it will not heat up past 18 or 19 on the thermostat. This is causing the gas to burn at a constant rate in order to try and heat the house up to the relevant temp on the thermostat. We did an experiment over the weekend and as per some suggestions on this forum, we put the CH on at a constant setting. The house just will not warm up past 18 or 19 degrees!! When we physically turn the thermostat down from 21 to 18 we hear the audible click that lets us know the house is at the optimum temp. No wonder I have been freezing and my gas consumption has been high for the amount of hours we were using. Since having the CH on constant and controlling it at the thermostat our units used over a 24 hour period have droppped from 10 units for 6 hours to 6 units for a constant supply (albiet the house is not heating up past 18-19). Either the thermostat is not working or the house is losing heat through the ground floor at a phenomenal rate. Plumber is out sometime this week. That's what you get for buying a brand new "energy efficient" build!!!