Gas Bill Scary - Whats Yours Like ?

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DSLiverpool

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We moved from a flat to a 5 bed house in June and i knew the bills would be more BUT £3k GAS bill for Oct to April seems high, I have checked the meter readings and they are correct. next step is we get a leak test etc but can anyone give a heads up on costs for their dwellings please.

We have it on 6 hours a day (now 3 hours) and seldom use the gas fire.

The thought of £4k a year on gas is truly scary
 
How old is your house?
I would guess its probably pre 1935 and again probably constructed of solid wall (no cavity).
And maybe without double glazing - although unless the windows very poorly sealed - doesnt make too much of a difference.
Solid wall houses are notorious for high heating costs.
Specially if you came from a fairly new smallish flat which would be thermally efficient and you were both used to having it 'cosy warm'.
Well, to get "cosy warm" in an older 5 bedroomed house is always going to be VERY expensive.
In which case 3K for the period you quote sounds about right. No kidding.
Maybe I am wrong and you have a newish home - in which case there is something wrong and you need your system checked.
I used to live in a solid walled 3 bed semi about 20 years ago - and my gas bills THEN were higher than my bills now - in a new 3 bed town house.
I can remember when we went on holiday in February for a week. Turned off the gas and heating as would normally do.
When we came home it took 2 DAYS - 2 whole days with the heating on 48 hours to get the house back to something approaching "warm". We had to wear coats indoors for the first day.........
People often just dont realise the huge difference between new and old houses in this particular respect. Older homes often have more character, have bigger rooms and are more than just boring boxes. But when those heating bills start arriving, they do start to lose some of their appeal.
And for that reason alone, I would NEVER ever live in a solid wall house again.
 
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What's the heating system (bolier type and age etc thermostatic valves on radiators)?


Also what level of insulation in walls/floor/roofspace? Also how draughty are the doors and windows?


If you had a leak large enough to cost significant money you would have been incinerated in a fireball by now....(or at least would have smelled the leak).


Lots of grants right now to fill up cavity walls and get to over 200mm in the loft - you should be able to get both for about £300-400 fitted if you haven't.

We have a modern condensor boiler and good insulation and paid just under £2k last year for gas and electricity in total (2,400 sq ft house inc 2 shower-obsessed teenagers and heating set at 20C daytime and set-back to 16C overnight).
 
That sounds wayyyyy over the top!

Are you running an industrial furnace or something?

I would talk seriously with your supplier to see if there is a fault with their billing system....

I paid around £600 for gas this winter (1979 4 bed) and thought that was bad.
 
We have oil fired cental heating which i understand is now more or less the same price as gas. We have a 5 bed house built 1972 with 12 rads. The max we have paid per annum is £1200 which includes all our heating and hot water. I would suggest that you may have a meter problem as a leak should be noticed by the smell quite easily.
 
Time to check a lot of things.
Think of changing your supplier/deal -you may be on an expensive tariff.
This may have the added benefit of getting your gas meter checked
There is the slight possibility that there's a foul up on the units used imperial v metric New BG gas meter - big chnage in use! - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums
Get all your heating controls checked thermostats in house, radiators, and hot water tank, boiler. Is the boiler a condensing one or an older design older designs "getting on a bit" can be 30% less efficient.
The other thing to check are insulation properties of the house as has been said already- lots of grants etc available for this- however the grant monies can run out later in the financial year so don't wait till autumn to apply!
 
Good point!

Misreading cubic metres for cubic feet could make a great difference.

I can guarantee 101% thats not whats happened here.
There is about 34 cubic feet in a cubic metre.
So......
£3000 divided by 34 = £88

There is no way a gas bill for 6 months in a 5 bed home is going to be £88.

Unfortunately.
 
My 1892 3500 Sq ft house uses c.2500 litres of oil PA. ( about £900 PA ).

If you heat a house til you feel, as has been said, cosy warm you will invariably use a great deal of fuel. Our 600 sq ft kitchen is underfloor heated. This was installed 4 years ago. I have monitored temperatures out of interest since it was commissioned. The temp sits at 70F. But at various times of the day the family will complain it's too hot or too cold. But the temp doesn't vary. The answer is put a jumper on/off according to how you feel personally.

The heat comes on in the rest of the house 1 hour in the morning for rads and water and is only turned on at other times when neede. This way you are not heating space when not neede. Don't heat rooms not being used, close the doors.

Finally. My heat has been off since April 1st. We do turn it on occasionally when needed. But to have your heat on three hours a day seems excessive in late spring.

I also measure my oil usage weekly. You seem to have ignored your gas meter until it's too late. Heat costs, either you don't mind inwhich case carry on as before: or you do mind in which case control it, don't let it control you.
 
If you have moved house and not done anything about switching you WILL be on the most expensive standard tarrif.

Gas companies seem to have obscure pricing and keep introducing new schemes that baffle everybody. I wonder why.

Not only older properties that suffer. When we moved into current house (built 1969) the vendor was a first class idiot who had lived in house for many years but:

Boiler was a cast iron monster and hugely inefficient

1/4 inch loft insulation blanket (plus old carpets)

No TRV's.

No double glazing

No cavity wall insulation

Net result was that if it was 0C outside inside of house could never get above 14C. It was a joke. Took a while to get sorted but well worth the effort
 
The thought of £4k a year on gas is truly scary
You wander around in bermudas with all the windows open? ;)

We're in typical 3 bed detached villa - approx 125 sq m heated floor area.
Block/cavity walls, dry-lined p/board with 30 mm polystyrene foam backing (effectively 2 cavities). 500mm (yes) loft insulation, double exit doors.
20 y.o. gas boiler, warm air c.h. + 2 modern gas fires and gas hob.
Year to 9 March - 23170kWh (23210 cu ft) £550.
Leccie over same period - £360. (Electric oven + heated towel rail, dishwasher, tumble dryer etc).
Retired - mostly at home all day.

(BG fixed from 2005 until 2010 by which time we'll get our OAP heating allowance :bannana:)
 
Guys thanks so far but its worse than that

House is 2000 - fully DG and fully insulated
Boiler is straight condenser as house too big for a combi, its on 2/5 setting with 5 being hottest
Tariff is a good one with Npower dual fuel deal (dont have rate at work with me)
All rads have TRV`s (I used to work at Drayton)
Meter is metric
Bill is est BUT its about right

Oct - April £3100 is correct

Bad things:
We have a pretty gas fire with a strip of flame but use it sparingly (told it cost £2 / 24 hours to run)
We have 27 rads inc three heated towel rails - ALL were on full all winter :wallbash: I just didnt think :wallbash:

Im so shocked but accept it will need paying unless a leak transpires
 
How old is your boiler,

Do you have double glazing, loft insulation etc etc.

When you moved was the acoount for the flat paid in full or did you carry any debit over?

That sounds an awful lot for the house / amount of use.
 
Guys thanks so far but its worse than that

House is 2000 - fully DG and fully insulated
Boiler is straight condenser as house too big for a combi, its on 2/5 setting with 5 being hottest
Tariff is a good one with Npower dual fuel deal (dont have rate at work with me)
All rads have TRV`s (I used to work at Drayton)
Meter is metric
Bill is est BUT its about right

Oct - April £3100 is correct

Bad things:
We have a pretty gas fire with a strip of flame but use it sparingly (told it cost £2 / 24 hours to run)
We have 27 rads inc three heated towel rails - ALL were on full all winter :wallbash: I just didnt think :wallbash:

Im so shocked but accept it will need paying unless a leak transpires


That would seem to be your answer,, all rads on all winter. That's a lot of rads, I have 14 plus the UFH.
 
I can guarantee 101% thats not whats happened here.
There is about 34 cubic feet in a cubic metre.
So......
£3000 divided by 34 = £88

There is no way a gas bill for 6 months in a 5 bed home is going to be £88.

Unfortunately.


Not sure it works that way....

If the OP is recording metric, say 26 units per week and then the metric conversion factor (BG's words not mine) of 2.83 is applied ie the gas firm is treating him as an imperially measured customer, then all of a sudden he is using around 80 billed units.
 
oops you answerewd almost at the same time...


OK, how many people in the house?


Do you need all the rads on? could you put some on low?


If your wife is anything like mine, everything is set to max and she is still cold.. I come back from work and it like living in the tropics...


:)
 
How old is your boiler,

Do you have double glazing, loft insulation etc etc.

All to the highest level

When you moved was the acoount for the flat paid in full or did you carry any debit over?

Nope all clear (bill we have now is our second one, first one was June to Oct at £600)

That sounds an awful lot for the house / amount of use.

Im calling energy watch to see what they can advise
 

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