...to ask about prepayment gas meters.

[Autumn82]

We have recently moved into a new (rented) house and have 'inherited' a prepayment gas meter. It's costing us £5 per day which we think is totally bonkers. The heating and hot water are on a timer and only on for a couple of hours in the morning and again in the afternoon.

My question is- if you have a meter, how much do you put on it a week and how often do you use the heating etc. ?

That really doesn't sound right, I use on average £1-£1.20 a day! I can't imagine how many things you'd need on to use £5, unless your using a tumble dryer or electric heater? I had to stop using our tumble dryer as it was eating electric!

We're on a utilita meter in a 3 bed house and are currently spending around £20 per week on gas

Gas spend is around 25 a week for us but that includes 7 debt. In the summer its more like 5 per week.

We're in the middle of changing supplier. Searching for the best tariffs was one of the first things I did when we moved in. We'll start with them next week and in early March, they're fitting a smart meter, which I understand has the option of letting you change to normal billing. I'd have to leave supplier and pay a small exit fee to do it, but the meters would stay.

I just don't know what else to do. We've got curtains up, carpetting, we've fitted draft excluders, keyhole/letterbox covers, brush draft excluders around glass, proper foil reflectors behind the radiators and this weekend we're going to put secondary glazing film on the windows. I've looked into energy grants and we don't qualify for a free boiler as our income is slightly over theshold. I'm waiting to hear back to see if we can get free insulation. I've spent over £100 on insulating measures in the hope it will make the house warmer and reduce the bills, but it's not making any difference.