Surely heating can't cost this much?

[Dreamwhisper]

My DM lives in a 3 bed detached bungalow. She's getting down because she's says her gas usage is coming to £600 per month, just gas?

I don't understand how this can be right. That's over £7,000 a month just for gas, and she is being very conservative with it. She has an old fashioned boiler (is it old fashioned? I don't know much but what I mean is, it's not a combi boiler it's the one that heats a tank of water for hot water). But it is a new boiler.

She won't get someone out to look at her meter in case it's wrong as she says they charge £50 if they come out and nothing's wrong. I want to pay this for her or go halves with my brother as I simply don't see how it can be right?

My bill has gone up a lot too but £600 a month for conservative heating seems an absolute unsustainable nightmare.

I tried to get it done over the phone but it's not helpful I don't understand it. I'm going round on Sunday.

The info I got over the phone was "the top reading is 00026 and the bottom reading is 00142472. I will get to the bottom of this and I've at least by showing her those figures gotten her to acknowledge that it's probably not right.

An immersion heater is an electric water heater, nothing to do with a hot water tank heated by gas.
Nothing wrong with traditional hot water tank central heating. Don't waste 1000s on a new combi boiler unless essential.

Check the meter readings. If she reads the meter herself she may be doi g it wrong.

Even so, a thermostat on the tank (or on the water setting on the boiler, or both) should stop that happening.

Ditto for the heating (plus Radiator Valve Thermostats although these are trickier to get right).

Do check the meter readings. Gas meters have figures that are meant to be ignored - I think they are in red.

Hmm - there's something odd there...... Some meters show all digits including the decimals, but usually in a different colour.
And Top? Bottom? Gas? Electric?

I am confused too - and these things do not usually confuse me... Nevertheless, the reading the supplier has and is using for their calculations - and whether or not estimated, is key I think :o)

We're with EDF and our bill from 27/10/22 to 23/11/22 is only £166 odd total for gas and electricity combined. We're a family of four in a three bedroom semi, so I'm inclined to think your mum's is waaaaay off

I'm working on the principle that even if her gas usage were double the average cost of a high consumption household, her monthly bill should be £308. Yet she's struggling on keeping the heating off despite being cold to make sure it doesn't go about £450!

above*

She needs to compare the estimated readings with the actual readings to see if the amount charged is realistic. Is it the direct debit amount they want to be £600 as the DD may not be proportionate to the usage?

I have a boiler with a hot water cylinder. My hot water is only on for 1 hour per day and that's sufficient as my shower is electric and my appliances are cold fill.

Is her heating on a timer and is there a thermostat and what is it set at? My heating is on a timer and the thermostat is around 18⁰C when it's on. It's off during the day and overnight so it's on for a few hours am and pm

Can she send you a picture of the meter readings and the bill so you can look at the readings?

Very unlikely that she's using that much gas. More likely that the estimated meter readings are way off.

It sounds high but

• she could have an energy hog for a boiler, especially as it sounds like it she also has immersion heating.
• she needs to do actual meter readings
• a 3 bedroom bungalow is less energy efficient than a 4 bedroom, 2 story home as there is more exterior wall space to lose heat through.
• how is the insulation in her loft, and around her windows? (The sealant could be degraded)
• how is her home oriented? Is it a dark home sat in a valley?

You’re looking at it from the wrong angle.

you’re assuming her energy usage is correct, or that her billing is correct.

what posters are saying is because her bills are estimated, it’s likely her direct debit is also estimated, and she is overpaying. Chances are she’ll be building up an enormous credit.

she will be refunded if she isn’t using the full £600 a month.

what you need to do is compare her actual readings to the ones on her bill. That will tell you if she is actually using £600 worth of gas a month.

take readings, submit regularly.

It's definitely the DD they want so not necessarily accurate. They wanted £600pm and she "negotiated" down to £460. Just doesn't make sense to me, and she's telling me her usage is warranting that but the bill does have a "calculation" on it that she doesn't understand and I don't either!

Why are they doing this insane calculation when they could be doing the kW per hour plus the standing charge and just saying how much it is.

I've got an old fashioned boiler with a tank, 3 separate people said a combi boiler would suit and the old type would be better for this house.

The tank can either be run by electric (a switch on the tank) or the boiler. It costs a fortune to have it on all day. Mine is on for 1 hour each evening.

Btw, gas meters track units of gas, not KWHs. Every energy company has a calculation to convert the units of gas into KWHs. I have EDF too, and on my bill the calculation is listed as
KWh= GAS UNITS USED X CALORIFIC VALUE (39.6) X VOLUME CORRECTION (1.02264) ÷ 3.6

The calculation is because gas meters track gas units, not KWHs.

Ah I do get that, I guess the perspective is lost because the reason I'm saying that is she doesn't think they're wrong when they must be - something is wrong. Either there's a fault at the house which is causing massive overconsumption, or they're billing her wrong.

I'm concerned that EDF didn't point out to her on the phone and were just adamant that that was her likely correct monthly charge going forward based on the new costs. And I've only just managed to convince her that it could be wrong if you see what I mean? Like she genuinely believed until now that everything was correct and she's paying the right figure and if anything she's underpaying and needs to be super careful to not have thousands to pay as a one off payment.

As in, I don't know how you can be in that line of work and thing that a monthly charge of £600 would be an anywhere near accurate estimated bill for someone in my mum's situation. I could be wildly wrong about that but it seems so strange.

You need a calculation for gas as the meter readings aren't in kwh but in m³ or ft³

If m³ then you Multiply the usage by 11 to get rough idea of the kwh

Yes that right she mentioned a calculation that sounds just like this.

OP nobody can help until you go round and read her meter, and compare it with her previous meter readings. EDF (and British Gas, and probably all of them) will happily run on estimated readings for years if you let them.

The gas units you get by subtracting old meter reading from new meter reading,

Would the usage in M3 be these "units" she is on about?

In that case she said she'd already used 127 "units" in November by yesterday 23rd.

127/23 ~ 5.5. 5.5 x 11 = 60. Would that be 60kW per day? That would be roughly 22,000 kw per year which while high sounding is still only 5kW that the high consumer house.

Family of 3. All have showers and wash up etc and heating comes on and off. We just used £40 gas last month. We have an old style boiler and tank. No combi

i think she’s getting estimated bills. You need to read her meter. And then get her to call and authorise you to speak and hand the phone over.

no way is she using £600 gas a month even if she had heating on more than us

You're right, and I have other things to be doing this evening tbh but I'm just so frustrated!

Does anyone know what a "unit" would translate to?