domestic gas bill

[dtechy]

Dear all, have received a gas bill for £188.00 for 91 days. The las

bill was over £200.00. I live in a 1 bedroom flat with a 2 year old ravenheat combi which ha been flawless. spend 3 days a week at my girlfriends, and when I am i my flat alone, i'm only using my 'flame effect' gas fire.(yes I kno most of it goes up chimney)with the lounge rad on as backup on th coldest nights. Scottish Gas have been contacted and I am takin readings for 7 days. When watching the meter with only the gas fire o the needle does not move 'smoothly' - is this relevant? I am probably going to have the company come out to check the mete anyway, (there is a charge if meter is found to be OK). Lastly - sorr for long post, the meter has 1991 next to the dials and I suspect thi is when it was last replaced, and it also has cubic feet on it a opposed to cubic meters. Could I be being billed 3 times the amount should be. Have been reading DIYbanter for 2 years now, but this is my first post Many thanks in advance. Willie Davi

-- dtechy

[Colin Wilson]

DIYbanter is not the home of the newsgroup - it simply uses the posts from their original source and reposts them as though they had something to do with it.

uk.d-i-y is the actual newsgroup from which they take all the posts.

[Andy Cap]

Unfortunately not. That applies when it is being measured in cubic meters and they believe it is being read in 100s of cubic feet, when they have to multiply by 2.83.

Andy

[dtechy]

Thanks for advice Andy

-- dtechy

[Dave Fawthrop]

|! |!Dear all, have received a gas bill for ?188.00 for 91 days. The last |!bill was over ?200.00. |!I live in a 1 bedroom flat with a 2 year old ravenheat combi which has |!been flawless. spend 3 days a week at my girlfriends, and when I am in |!my flat alone, i'm only using my 'flame effect' gas fire.(yes I know |!most of it goes up chimney)with the lounge rad on as backup on the |!coldest nights. Scottish Gas have been contacted and I am taking |!readings for 7 days. When watching the meter with only the gas fire on |!the needle does not move 'smoothly' - is this relevant? |!I am probably going to have the company come out to check the meter |!anyway, (there is a charge if meter is found to be OK). Lastly - sorry |!for long post, the meter has 1991 next to the dials and I suspect this |!is when it was last replaced, and it also has cubic feet on it as |!opposed to cubic meters. Could I be being billed 3 times the amount I |!should be. |!Have been reading DIYbanter for 2 years now, but this is my first post. |!Many thanks in advance. |!Willie Davis

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[mike]

I use an average of 2.018 units (100s of cubic feet) per day - this gives an annual bill of around 600 gbp at current rates with EDF.

This is for a three bedroomed house with Combi boiler and gas cooker - two people all of the time.

Yours does seem high.

[Arthur]

Just got my quarterly. £200 for combi running 2 rads (2 never on) and 1 radiant fire, 1 flame effect fire and stove.

Arthur

[Don Spumey]

Mine was £139 for the last quarter, running 9 rads (averaging 9 hrs per day) + cooking and that's with BG.

Don.

[Mary Fisher]

I can't believe all these high figures. We're with BG, our quarterly Direct Debits are less than £80 and we're £103 in credit - that will be refunded this month and the payments re-assessed downwards. We took advantage of the fixed charge which a lot of people scorned.

We have gas central heating (seven rads) but the house is well insulated so it's rarely on; two old Gas Miser fires in otherwise unheated rooms; gas hob cooking and I cook a lot; and hot water. But of course gas is rarely used for that because we have solar water heatiing. We're at home all day.

The combination of good insulation, TVRs, solar water heating and intelligent use of hobs seem to be our answer.

Mary

[Bob Eager]

It would help if you sold the gas guzzling cars!

[Andy Cap]

I would say that aboout £350 is the ' going rate' for your average 3 bed semi. but that recent rises have concentrated the minds of many that haven't previously invested in adequate insulation, TRVs, timed controls etc. I added the more sophisticated controls last summer and the savings have been useful, but of course against the background of a mild winter. I think if we ever return to really cold winters, we will all be pulled up with a start. I plan to bring the loft insulation up to the latest standard as this summer little chore.

Andy

[Mary Fisher]

I think that's very high. Ours is an average inter-war 3 bed semi.

We do have a timer but it isn't used. Because we're at home all day on most days we've found it better to have the boiler controlled by the thermostat.

Do, I'm sure you'll notice the difference. Cavity wall insulation, which we had installed years ago, made a big difference to our comfort. We don't have underfloor insulation and we don't have carpets but they don't feel cold.

When we first moved here, in 1954, it was a very cold house. We've made the changes. Oh - and I forgot draughtproofing on windows and external doors. We also built a porch so the 'front' door is protected from the outside temperature. Occasionally we're more comfortable if we close the (velvet) curtains.

Our comfort is more important than the bills, that they've gone down rather than up is a bonus :-)

Mary

[Don Spumey]

Methinks that you are Tom & Barbara Good and I claim my £5 ;-)

Don.

[Mary Fisher]

[Don Spumey]

[Bob Eager]

That was entirely predictable, wasn't it?

[Mary Fisher]

Mary

[Bob Eager]

but a good deal less self satisfied.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Can I ask what temperature you keep the house at?

[Mary Fisher]

The thermostat is normall set at 10C but I don't think it's 100% accurate.

The gas fires are in the dining and sitting rooms, which are the rooms we use most. The fires are normally only lit when we're in there and it's cold. We should get more efficient ones but I don't like any of the designs and these are still working. Spouse wants to put rads in those rooms but I don't.

When I'm in the kitchen (small) I'm usually moving and/or the cooker is on.

I forgot that over the drive is a carport - full width over ours and next doors. That made a surprising difference to the kitchen comfort.

Mary