Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think this bill is excessive?

28 replies

Bibbit · 30/09/2011 22:19

we have received a paper bill for gas for the coldest months last winter. It works out as £213 a month!
We have a rayburn for heat, cooking and hot water but its on a timer and not on constantly.
We live in a cold house, 3 beds, but still...£213?
That's excessive, no?

OP posts:
squeakytoy · 30/09/2011 22:19

have you checked the meter reading or is it an estimate?

susiedaisy · 30/09/2011 22:20

That's a massive bill, for one month, just for gas?Sad

Original poster
Bibbit · 30/09/2011 22:25

it is a meter reading...not checked it yet...the next three months (summer) are estimated at £43 a month.
Weird

OP posts:
troisgarcons · 30/09/2011 22:49

your summer months were underestimated and now you are paying for previous gas used.

Original poster
Bibbit · 30/09/2011 23:04

nope this is my first bill from the company. It comes from a reading I provided first and the difference between that and one a meter reader took three months later Sad

Could this be the largest monthly gas bill ever? Shock

OP posts:
susiedaisy · 30/09/2011 23:37

Have you recently moved into the property and somehow got tangled up with last owners bills?

Alibabaandthe80nappies · 30/09/2011 23:44

My parents' gas bill was higher than that last winter - and the gas company wanted to put their monthly DD up to about £250! Their house is very big, but they have a conventional heating system.

staylucky · 30/09/2011 23:58

I have a tiny 2 bed home my combined energy dd just went upto £250 pm. That was a summer bill too. I've checked all my readings and it looks right. Can only think that prices have reached the point that this is now normal?!

backwardpossom · 01/10/2011 00:04

Actually I think that's pretty average. I live in an old, 4 bed house and our gas bill for 6 months over winter last year was about £1000 - and according to our plumber friend who we phoned to ask about getting a newer, more efficient boiler, that wasn't the most expensive among his customers (who had also phoned about getting newer, more efficient boilers)! It's going to be even worse this year Sad

AKissIsNotAContract · 01/10/2011 00:13

It sounds a lot to me, mine is only £40 a month for a 2bedroom house

CardyMow · 01/10/2011 00:13

EH? I have 5 people in my house, Gas CH and water heating, and my gas bill is £20 a month, so only £240 a year. Admittedly I'm a bit of a tight bastard when it comes to the heating - I do not put the heating on unless everyone is in fleece pyjamas, fleece dressing gown and fluffy bed socks - usually when the temperature is below zero or there is snow on the ground, but heck, I'd keel over at a gas bill that size for a few months when it is the size of my annual bill!

springydaffs · 01/10/2011 00:14

that's it. I'm moving to a warmer country.

CardyMow · 01/10/2011 00:17

I do spend a fuck lot on electric though - £80 at least a month, in part due to some medical equipment for DS2.

Works out as £960 a year. Farking hell. .

staylucky · 01/10/2011 00:19

This year they've gone up a lot, I've never been tight with the heating am home all day and hate to be cold but suddenly my rent and energy bills are about the same. I'm going to try the jumpers, socks and dressing gown thing :0)

CardyMow · 01/10/2011 00:19

I spend a whole MONTHS worth of the money that comes into this house on my Gas and Electric. What is 1/12 as a percentage?

CardyMow · 01/10/2011 00:22

Staylucky - fleecy ones work best. Also draught excluders on BOTH sides of your doors - homemade ones are fine. Told you I was tight. Grin. Also make sure you have lined curtains, and keep them closed as much as possible. If you are going to have the lights on due to low amounts of natural light - then close the curtains to keep the heat in. If you have CH, then put some tin foil behind your radiators to reflect the heat back into the room.

Keep doors closed as much as possible - therefore only heating the rooms people are IN IYSWIM. Fingerless gloves are good too.

BaldPlumber · 01/10/2011 05:59

I pay about £10 per month for electricity, but to be fair most of that is for the air conditioning. The water costs about £4 per month, but it's not potable. My gas, for cooking, is about £10 for 6 months.

I'm not in the UK at the moment though - the most ripped off and fucked up country in the world.

galletti · 01/10/2011 06:20

Bald Plumber - most ripped off country I can agree with, but why f........ up?

marriedinwhite · 01/10/2011 06:33

That seems huge to me. We have a large house, conventional gas boiler, five people live here and our combined gas and electricity bills are about £2,000. Is your home well insulated, the boiler modern and economic (when we had a new boiler a few years ago, the gas bill dropped by about 200 per annum). Use dishwasher, washing machine every day but try to limit the tumble dryer and we keep the heating ticking over at about 16 degrees 24/7 - we don't switch it off but keep the thermostat low so that it comes on if we need it.

inmysparetime · 01/10/2011 06:40

£200 a month is huge! We have a 4 bed semi in the North of England, our combined gas & electricity is about £20 a month. We are reluctant to put heating on (use bed socks, extra jumpers, dressing gowns etc first), the house is very well insulated (40cm of loft insulation), and we have solar panels to generate electricity.

Groovee · 01/10/2011 09:08

We keep our heating on 24 hours in the snow and we have cavity wall but it is cheaper to do this on a lower temp on your thermostat. My friend put hers on and off all winter and it cost her a fortune. I'd just had surgery last year when the snow came down and the kids were home quite a few days too.

Dawndonna · 01/10/2011 09:22

4 bedroomed detached house, gas and electric combined are £88.00 per month.

waterrat · 01/10/2011 09:32

I just got refunded £600 from british gas - and it took all our effort to prove they had made a mistake. the guy on the phone even said 'you'd be better off not challenging it - what if you really owe us more?" !!! we got the whole lot back - they had us registered to the wrong meter. We had to send them photos of the meter all sorts of palavar - you need to check. that is not a realistic amoung.

GeneralCustardsHardHat · 01/10/2011 09:35

To give you some hope I've just had a £500 refund on my gas bill as they had been reading the wrong meter for over 3 years. All it took was me taking a photo of the meter and emailing it to the customer services splod I was on the phone to.

Identical situation to waterrat really.

susiedaisy · 01/10/2011 15:00

Bloody hell hunty I thought I was a tight assGrinGrin you have given me new ideasGrin

Swipe left for the next trending thread