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.

This is why I like Octopus as you give a monthly meter reading and they give you an updated balance and your monthly usage within minutes. It means you can see immediately whether you're paying the right amount per month

There’s a great Facebook group called energy support and advice uk. They’ll help

That’s alot. I used 155 units from 2 Jul to 2 Nov.
The calculation I posted is the one EDF uses in the U.K. as I have them too.
That would be 1,428.6 KWHs

Thats massive. You should go round to her house with a gas engineer or someone and find out why her gas usage is so high. Hopefully she doesn’t have a gas leak!

We use average 10-14 units a month of gas that is then converted to kwh

hot water on 15 minutes morning and 1.5 hours evening.

it just can’t be right her bill

our electric is £140 a month so approx £180. And I’m not mean with lights …..

Sorry, her 127 units gas so far for Nov = 1,428.6 KWHs of usage.

That’s just not right unless she’s left immersion switch on and hot water running all the time and topping tank up

we use 10 units a month in the summer for hot water …..

I think you need to take the meter readings monthly so you can see what her actual usage is.

A Gas unit is about 11.2 kWh.
The bill is (as you know)
Number of kWh
x
Price in pence even though usually shown as e.g. 33.26.

(Standing charge per day will be added.)

A couple of years ago, due to estimated readings, my annual use was deemed to 12500kWh.
The next annual review, they wanted to say my FUTURE use would be the same, and set the D/Debit accordingly at £300+. It wasn't and I could prove it,as I am a diligent meter reader.

I think something like this has happened for your Mum. It is possible to sort it out and I do not think that something in her property is using loads and loads of gas.
Just get those readings when you can, and don't either of you worry too much xx

Thank you so much for all the responses it is genuinely so helpful. I rent and have a prepayment meter so I have never had to look at this type of stuff before.

I'm a bit worried about her house now to be honest, but I'm hoping it will just be this whole estimated use thing 🌸

Please report back, and if any further help needed 🤗

I certainly will, many thanks 💐

When’ was the last time her boiler was serviced? I think with the current crazy energy prices, a service could save your Mum potentially thousands.

Honestly, I wouldn’t bother to start with trying to calculate anything.

As others have said:

Submit a meter reading - do this if nothing else.
(To help them track usage could actually submit weekly readings also.)

Ideally look at the meter reading you take compared with their most recent estimated one. Chances are theirs will be a much higher number already because they’ve been estimating.

If you can, wait for them to sort this out in the next bill and reverse charge the over payment.

They may well then also approach re lowering the monthly payment but not then at least you have the evidence to call/message and get it lowered.

if you can’t/don’t want to wait till the next bill after submitting a reading then call them with the reading (or series of readings) and the reference of the last bill and get it lowered.

And meanwhile Mum is exepected to pay a ridiculous Direct Debit?

I don't think that would be for the best.

I think it will be quite easy to sort out when the correct figures are to hand.

Definitely can’t be right! We’re in a 5 bed detached barn conversion, we have the heating on for about 4 hours a day and the underfloor heating at a constant 20 degrees in the kitchen/diner and our gas bill this month is £353.78 with 2 days of the month to go. Get her to have it checked out.

There isn't any point in all the speculating and worrying until you've got the account back on track with accurate readings

Set up an account on the EDF website or app and input the readings, you don't need to even understand anything more than how to read the numbers. They will automatically calculate the actual usage and once that's sorted make sure to give accurate readings

It sounds like because your mum doesn't understand it she isn't able to have a proper conversation on the phone, I wouldn't bother when you can do it all online.

127 units at £1.15 (price cap of 33p per kwh / 442 kwh) is £146. For 23 days that’s £6.34 per DAY.

True, that’s why I said “if you can wait” because if that’s possible it’s quite possible the company will adjust everything anyway - mine just did.

Bit obvs not everyone can wait so once readings have been taken it will be possible to get them to reverse charge (repay) and lower the DD before the next bill. Just prob a bit more hassle.

Not "understanding anything other than how to read the numbers" is how these issues arise.

For example,

it takes someone with good eyesight to be able to actually read the flippin' bills for a start.

But this is a classic case of it not even being clear that a UNIT is very different from a kilowatt hour, when it comes to understanding the bills, vs what is seen on the meter display (for Gas that is, and complicated further by the fact that for Elec, a unit DOES = a kWh).

Understanding the nitty gritty was less important when we werre all paying about £40 a month and still ending the year in credit - but it is a very different matter nowadays, and understanding is important, and relatively simple in the end.

5.5 units a day is a bit high if she hardly has the heating on but it’s not ridiculous, especially if the HW tank has no thermostat, our old one didn’t so would get up to 80 odd degrees if on constant or even on for more than an hour at a time!

But no one should have to wait, whether they "can", or not.
It is inefficiency on the part of these companies - who have fully tarined employees and streamlined compuyer systems. Why should the work be done for them, or it be made so difficult? Needs an overhaul if you ask me (I know you didn't) and everything made clearer for the customer - and not with a nasty little counter sitting in the corner like a gremlin (aka a Smartmeter).
But hey, they only make billions in profit.....

I'm sure that's dangerous as well as expensive.

It survived for 25 years without going bang 🤷

I meant that water coming out of the taps at that temperature. isn't that why there is a thermostat in the first place.

If you haven't done so set up an online account for your mother. That will allow you to access the information on there. Have a look at the bills to see if there have been regular meter readings or if there have been estimated bills. What you're looking for is the annual average usage

When the government quote the average bill its based on 12000kw gas and 2900kw electricity annually. That's £2,500 and it's 97% higher than the cap of £1,271 last winter. I'd guess that 65% of that cost would be November to April so £2,500 ×.65 =£1,625 ÷ 6 = £270. Your mum should get £66/67 a month plus the £500 pensioner household winter fuel allowance. That's £900 towards her energy costs.

It might pay you to get the boiler engineer out to set the water temperature on the boiler - it's 80° for water and 60° for the ch - also to reset the radiators so they're lower in the unused rooms.

Keep a weekly record of the readings and send them in monthly