units per week?

hotcookie101

Hi, just wondering if anyone can let me know if this gas consumption seems excessive-I have an old(ish-about 10yo) gas boiler, combi, and thats all gas is used for. my latest gas bill seems huge (I HATE direct debit gas etc-why cant i just DD my whole bill and still get the same discount rather than have the obviously WAY too low monthly bill) but anyway-basically I have used 640 gas units from 23 jan-23 april (and 2844 electricty:eek:)
since then have basically switched CH off so its just the hot water and have only used 20 gas units in a week, but used 157 electricty (units-just the numbers on the meter)

can any one give me any idea approx how to convert the units from the meter to the cost per week? I was on BG but just changing to EON. and can I ask them to increase my monthly DD if I know they are underestimating me? I would prefer to pay more and be owed than end up with about £300 bill for 3months (both gas and electric-on top of the direct debit Ihave been paying

notbritishgas

Hi hotcookie
Lets start with electric. The units on the meter are actually Kwh, and to get the cost just multiply your tariff rates by the units used, but remember that if you are on a no standing charge tariff they charge a higher rate for the first so many (normally 900 per year) then the rest at a lower rate. The 157 units you have used in a week is about twice the national average, so it is quite high.

The gas is more complicated because the units on the meter must be converted to Kwh, and this depends on what type of meter you have, one that measures 100's of cubic feet (marked cu ft on meter) or one that measures cubic metres (marked m3 on meter).
If cubic metres then multiply by 11 to get an approx kwh figure, if 100's cubic feet then multiply by 31.5 to get kwh.
Once you get the kwh figure multiply by your tariff rate as in the electric example. With gas the units at the higher rate could be something like 4572 per year. So firstly you must check what type of meter you have.
I think 20 units in a week with just hot water from a combi boiler is quite high, this assumes a metric meter, if cu feet then 20 is VERY high.

Were the 640 units on the bill taken from actual readings or estimates.

hotcookie101

the 640 units is from actual readings-but BG estimated only 430 in the same period, and even with my direct debit payments that made the bill nearly £90 in debit, so with an extra 50% for gas that makes that £135, and the electricty was £127 in debit with a shortfall of 523 kwh (they estimated i used 2321-actual was 2844) and am going to have pay it in a lump sum as just changed suppliers
It just seems so excessive-we dont run the dryer much, I turn lights off when i leave the room. We do have an electric oven and hob and I do a lot of cooking, but it was A rated when I bought it (2 years ago)

notbritishgas

hotcookie101 wrote: »

the 640 units is from actual readings-but BG estimated only 430 in the same period, and even with my direct debit payments that made the bill nearly £90 in debit, so with an extra 50% for gas that makes that £135, and the electricty was £127 in debit with a shortfall of 523 kwh (they estimated i used 2321-actual was 2844) and am going to have pay it in a lump sum as just changed suppliers
It just seems so excessive-we dont run the dryer much, I turn lights off when i leave the room. We do have an electric oven and hob and I do a lot of cooking, but it was A rated when I bought it (2 years ago)

Was the 2844 for a quarter. If so that is very high as the national average is about 3500 for a year.
Depending on what sort of gas meter you have the 640 units for a winter quarter with the heating on may not be too bad (if meter is metric).
As a very rough guide I would say the average gas cost for the year should be about £600 and electric £400, how does that compare to your DD payments.

libra10

You can convert your gas units to kwh at

http://energylinx.co.uk/gas_meter_conversion.html

Firstly check whether your meter is measured in cu.ft. or metric.

Our central heating isn't on now, the gas boiler used mainly for heating water. Our weekly consumption is approximately 5 units. Electricity we are using is currently approximately 73 to 75 units a week.

We are both newly retired and TV, computer etc are used regularly.

HTH

hotcookie101

the 2844 was for a quarter. DD were 36/36.50 (gas/electric) pm with BG, havent had confirmation of what will be with eon, but the dd obviously grossly underestimate my usage (which when I switch I put my annual consumption in-from bills, not my average bills)
just seems that they estimate it low so people witch to their dd but then i end up owing them money

espresso

hotcookie101 wrote: »

just seems that they estimate it low so people witch to their dd but then i end up owing them money

You know what your consumption is, you also know what their unit rates are, so calculate what your DD needs to be, to cover your usage for yourself, and ask them to change it to the correct figure!