Gas swapping

[whisky-dave]

I've been told that supplying gas is very expensive which is why my gas bill is high but on asking around it's been suggested that I should ask to be disconnected from my Gas supplier (npower, London) and use calor gas bottles which work out much cheaper I've been told under half the cost. This year I plan to measure my gas usage, I only use Gas for the frontroom fire which is one of the standard baxi gas heaters with flame and coal effect behind glass.

My last 1/4 ly bill for gas was about £140. nov-feb approx

So does this saving sound reasonable am I and other being charged so much for delivery of gas and would there be anything I should consider regarding swapping over other than the usualy safety considerations.

cheers dave

A part picture of my fire just happens to be avaible here, top right hand picture

[Invisible Man]

leaks or gas cooker? Check the meter is stationary with the fire off. Bottled gas is normally more expensive than piped. Go on uswitch or similar and see if there is a far lower tariff.

[Andy Burns]

People who are on calor gas moan that they can't get cheaper mains gas!

If you're still tempted, your appliances will need modifying (or replacing if that's not possible) for LPG, also you'd need your plumbing checked as suitable (e.g. LPG bottles and appliances can't be below ground level and probably plenty of other differences from natural gas I'm unaware of).

[Toby]

If you look at your bill, it should say how much you are being charged per KW/h - what is this on your last bill?

Your bill will also detail if your readings are based on a gas meter that measures in M3 or ft3 - check that the bill and the meter match - if your meter was measuring in ft3 and you were being billed for M3 then you will be getting overcharged by a lot...

Toby...

[Rob]

Difficult to tell without knowing the model specification or your use.

I'd estimate at the very most £140 - that's using what I'd consider to be high but not bonkers estimates of 12 hours/day, at 2.5kW/h consumption (not delivered heat), 5p/kWh.

Gas fires can be pretty good, but vary a lot in efficiency - 30 to 90%, I think. The flame ones tend to be lower efficiency. So if your is 50%, of that 2.5kWh you're consuming, you only get just over 1 kWh - about the same as a one bar electric fire. Not much in a big room.

This is just my educated guess from a spreadsheet I knocked up a while ago - I'm sure others here can do better.

Rob

[Toby]

Just got this from the calor gas site... What is the calorific value of LPG? Butane = 7.8 kWH/Litre (of liquid) Propane = 7.1 kWH/Litre (of liquid)

So, a 13Kg propane refill is 25.4 litres, and costs £23.49

So a 13Kg bottle contains 180.34 kWh

So cost per kWh is £0.13 from this type of bottle.

You will get it slightly cheaper if you use the larger 47KG bottles (I expect).

In my area, nPower charge 7.815p per kWh for the first 4572kWh and then

2.507p per kWh for any additional use - so I can't see it being cheaper with bottled gas, as their higher rate is far less, plus there is probbaly going to be a £4.95 delivery charge for the bottles too...

Toby...

[The Natural Philosopher]

you have almost certainly been told wrong.

[Andy Dingley]

No.

Can't imagine any scenario in which case LPG would work out cheaper. If you have mains gas available and already installed, it's cheap to supply it. Connection can sometimes be prohibitive (=A320k quote for my parents, and that was only 100 yards) but supply afterwards is cheap.

There are also regulatory issues about piping, i.e. some CORGI wanting a sizable bone to re-plumb the lot.

[Man at B&Q]

Who told you that, a Calor salesman?

MBQ

[whisky-dave]

Who told you that, a Calor salesman?

No someone that has used calor gas and could believe why my room cost £140 per quarter when his damp basement cost less than £50 a year, but his basemtn was always cold, and my room was always 22C+ (when occupided).

I'm doing a leakage check, which I did last year and I worked it out as

1 cubic foot per month, which I didn't think was/is a problem. I haven;t a good sense of smell so I'm taking photos of the meter (when I remmeber, or about 2 a month).