How is my energy bill this high??

[reuio]

126 for electric. Fine.

380 for gas?! I use the heating on 18.5 around 10 hours in every 24 hours, with only two radiators on. The rest are turned off. Have a vulnerable partner who needs the house warm so we have no option with heating but does this sound right, 380? So worried.

One thing I have been surprised by since paying more attention to my energy bills is how much gas heating costs, compared with just having hot water only: in the four months of June-Sept the gas part of the bill was £20-30 (electric hob). Using the heating to keep the house at about 18.5 has sent it flying up, to £216 in December. I wish the heat could be harnessed from the hot water we use - that hot shower water going down the drain without warming a wall up or something seems such a waste!

Depends on a number of factors. Our gas CH is on all day 7am to 11pm, set at 19.

Our December gas bill was £174.44. 1518kWh I think it was.

We are in a mid terrace 2 bed house.

I've had mine on 24x7 and it came to £280.

1930's semi

Double glazed
10cm loft insulation

19°C night

20°C daytime

21°C evening

@reuio what temperature is your thermostat set to, and is it fixed or portable? If you only have 2 radiators on then the thermostat should be moved to the same room as one of the heated radiators. If not, it will never reach its target temperature, so your gas will be constantly flowing rather than switching off whenever the target is reached.

I think it’s hard to compare. The OP’s bill sounds in the high side but probably about right if her house is not that well insulated.

Mine is about £9 or £10 per day, but that’s mainly heating a smallish kitchen diner extension that has reasonable insulation. Upstairs bedrooms only heated a bit.

There was someone on another thread proudly discussing her low gas bills while having a warm house but that was because she has a fixed deal and paying prices from 2 years ago! Not very helpful to everyone else…

Ten hours a day of heating is a lot. We had our on for around 4 hours per day and the bill was around £200.

I've been keeping track of things since the price rises in April.

Electricity is very stable at £100 p/m. We managed to reduce consumption using smart plugs when the prices rose in October.

Our average monthly gas bill was £34 from April to October. Even after the recent cold snap, the average monthly bill is still only £71.

That will continue to rise in January, February and probably March, but there is the £400 from the government that I've not included in my figures.

I think people need to clatify if when they say they have the heating 'on':

1. They mean tbe boiler is firing and they are actively heating for that number of hours or

1. Their thermostat is set to a temp for that many hours, but boiler may only fire and heat for a few hours in total during tha period.

To me 'on' means number 1. Number 2 is different.

I don't have anything like hive to monitor how long my boiler is firing for, so I use 2.

I don't have anything like hive to monitor how long my boiler is firing for, so I use 2.

2 for me

Home temperature and gas consumed are the only things that matter. There are too many variables for 'boiler hours' to mean anything.

Well you put your heating on twice the hours I do and your bill is twice that of mine.

@crossstitchingnana

Unless you say what temperature you've set your central heating to, it's meaningless.

Do you heat to 19C for 4 hours, 20C for 4.5 hours and 21 C for 3.5 hours?

If not, our bills aren't really comparable.

10 hours a day for heating is a lot. We have ours on for 3/4 hours and last month bill was £200 ish - so if we doubled that we’d be easily looking at what you’re spending.

We have 2 disabled people so we try to keep the house warm but at the end of the day we just can’t afford to have it on more- we have heated throws and find these work really well and only cost about 4p an hour to run.

I had my heating at 18 overnight and 21 in the day throughout December and it cost £192 in gas on the standard rate (1 bed flat).
The first week of Jan has been lower - it came in at £28.

We just got our gas bill for December, £380 also for a four bedroom house. We did have two weeks where the temperature outside was -5 and there was lots of snow and ice so DP put the heating on for longer and turned the radiators up. We also had the heating on for longer over the school holidays and at Christmas when we had people round - we hope that's the reason for the higher than usual bill and that it will be less at the end of this month.

mine is set at 19.

I don't know whether this will help at all, but no harm in checking it out.
Have a look to see, if you can make any savings with Octopus. Pop in your annual energy to see, if it works out any better for you.

If you decide to join Octopus, via my link you'll be credited with £50.00 and I'll get £50.00 too.
If you do join Octopus, you'll get your own £50.00 referral link. Octopus has no exit fees.
share.octopus.energy/pink-shell-534

Additionaly, have a look at the Martin Lewis site. He has a page regarding heating the human. www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/heat-the-human-not-the-home-save-energy/

The next time you have a gas engineer out for an annual service, it worth asking if there is anything else you can do to reduce heating costs. Advice, should be free.