to think this bill is excessive?

[Bibbit]

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?

Comes from being terminally skint, and wanting more money to spend on fun things for the dc!

Was that the first winter in that house?

If so you might find that the rayburn eats fuel. Our neighbours had a gas rayburn/aga (it was already in the house when they moved in) which cost them a fortune to run so they got rid of it.

They found that it was almost better to run it all the time rather than on timed as it took so long to heat up from cold every time but that of course meant it had to be on all summer to provide hot water and for cooking. Seemed a crazy waste to me.

We are the first to use gas in this house. My Rayburn doesn't take long to heat up, 30 minutes. So we have changed the timer to lower the time the hot water is heated and the cooker is on and am going to lower thermostat too. See if that makes a difference. Our summer bill is a low estimate (we have just discovered ) and the heating has been off. So it must be the hot water and running the oven. Unless there is a fault. We are also on the standard tariff so we are going to do a dual fuel thing. Have just hired an electric meter from the library for a week to heck that. I think we are insulated to the max but no cavity Walls and only partial double glazing. We will recheck the meter next week after these new measures. And keep checking.