Gas bill

[Shift]

Not sure if this is the correct section but just had a gas bill for £288 for Oct/Nov/Dec. Its the first winter in this house and the bill was estimated so they must have gone on previous owners bills. The meter has been renewed recently and the reading they estimated wasn't much over the actual reading but it still seems high to me considering the central heating was broken for a week, the central heating's not on from 9am to 4pm during the week the cooker in the kitchen hasn't been used for 6 weeks during building work plus the rads in the kitchens off, the CH boiler is a ideal mexico super 2 installed in 1989. The house is a large 1930's extension to the small bedroom semi that has cavity wall insulation. I know gas prices have gone up but everyone I speak to seems to be paying much less. Is it possible the new meters faulty because estimated bills in my experience are always much more than actual readings. Anyone have any advice how I can get the meter checked or any thoughts what might be wrong!!!

 

[keego]

Don't know if it's still the same now there's so many suppliers of gas but, in the dim & distant past you could request that your meter be taken away & have a calibration test, if it was found to be reading correct then you got a bill for the test, if it was faulty then the test was a freebie.

 

[ChrisR]

Can't you just read the meter yourself and compare with the figure they guessed?

 

[Leaking]

Gas bills these days vary enormously not due to the amount of gas used but what BASIS you are being charged on. If your supplier is giving you the standard, non capped rate this will be a lot higher than a monthly direct debit on a capped rate. Indeed the former have suffered the brunt of the rise in gas prices. The difference can be immense in terms of ££££ even if the SAME amount of gas is being used. I wouldn't bank on the meter being wrong (in all honesty it is probably right) more on what rate you are being charged per unit. Neighbours can use the exact same amount of gas but be charged vastly different bills depending on their supplier and tariff.

 

[baxpoti]

your heat loss must be huge with your ongoing extension
are you trying to warm up the planet?

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

A boiler that is serviced will be more efficient.

Have a look at this on the EST website for some money saving ideas

 

[big-all]

first thing to do is make shure youve got a duel fuel deal [same supplyer for gas and electric]payed by standing order and preferably not from british gas
http://www.uswitch.com/Index.aspx?ref=gotoast~goog~u switch

http://www.energyhelpline.com/energy/rg_home.aspx?aid=0

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/default.asp?p=0

http://www.theenergyshop.com/getHomePage.do?agentID=110_802&gclid=CNvm9Y3sw4kCFRQFEAodJ2iPOQ

 

[Steve__M]

just had a gas bill for £288 for Oct/Nov/Dec... the central heating's not on from 9am to 4pm during the week

A friend of mine has a brand new 3-bed townhouse and uses 750 per year. Given that heating is only used about half the year, this sounds similar to what you are using. I use about half that for a bigger townhouse. The difference is that, like you, he has his heating on all night whereas mine goes off around 10.30. He also sets his thermostat to about 25C whereas mine is about 21C.

My advice to my friend was to get a better duvet and turn off the heat at bed-time!

 

[malcolmallan]

that bill doesnt sound too unreasonable - I have just some off a capped rate and it has doubled - I pay almost £200 per month for gas and electric.

 

[the plumbing miracle]

i went to gas rate a condensing boiler and the meter was a metres cube type digital display

the readings never moved in the twenty minutes i was on site and the heating was on full blast

 

[kevplumb]

ran it on hw IE full rate then

 

[the plumbing miracle]

kev plumb you know nothing you can gas rate a boiler on heating so long as you have maximum gas rate doh

 

[kevplumb]

exept you do it on HW at full flow cos then it dont modulate plank

 

[the plumbing miracle]

kev your still wrong plank the boiler in question that i rated you can fix the modulation electronically so it wont modulate you are way behind mate oh i forgot your a plumber !

 

[namsag]

kev the guy said condensing he didn`t mention combi and a lot of boilers have the facility to lock the output for testing