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Original poster

British Gas Bill - is this right???

31 replies

mistletoeoak · 03/04/2013 16:08

Hi All, just wondering if the latest bill is right, seems a lot? We use the gas for 2 hours a day to heat the water only - hour in the morning, hour in the evening. The latest quarterly bill is £193??? Surely that is a lot, we do not use it to cook or heat with? Just so we have hot water.
Does this sound about right? What on earth would the bills be if we used gas to cook and heat with too???
Many thanks
Lisa x

OP posts:
Dfg15 · 03/04/2013 16:17

that seems a lot! I have gas central heating/hot water and a gas cooker. My heating has been on all the time, for about the last 2 months, I turn it low at night and up when I'm in, and my last bill was £204 for gas and electricity. might be worth querying it with BG.

WildlingPrincess · 03/04/2013 16:19

That's mental!

Original poster
mistletoeoak · 03/04/2013 16:20

We have not even had the electricity bill yet, raher scared now after that bill. Heating we do not use as scared of cost, its a case of hot water bottles, a gas bottle heater and a rayburn we collect wood for and cook on or a camping stove if rayburn not hot enough. Will try BG, not convinced will get far with them ha! Thanks.

OP posts:
ShootingStarsss · 03/04/2013 16:22

I think the clue is probably in your thread title "British gas" they are a complete rip off!

However it seems a lot even for there standards so I would question it.

Original poster
mistletoeoak · 03/04/2013 16:30

Think its pretty much the same whoever you are with, plus if you want to change supplier they will charge us to move to a different one. Was reading the small print whilst on hold - gave up afer 23mins of waiting ...

OP posts:
TCOB · 03/04/2013 16:40

My gas is £400 a month Sad we are not on mains gas. It is an atrociously expensive fuel.

Original poster
mistletoeoak · 03/04/2013 16:42

Must be where we live, looked on a comparison site and all the other providers cost more??? This is bonkers, right, tin bath and a campfire for bath time then hee hee

OP posts:
trinity0097 · 03/04/2013 21:13

Is it an actual bill or estimated? Was the previous bill an actual or estimated, I.e. if the previous was an estimate and underestimated then this bill actual you are paying for more than a quarter of fuel. Are you sure you're only using the gas for hot water, never heard of a system where gas hot water and heating are not linked?

MissHairspray · 03/04/2013 21:29

Yes to checking if this or a previous bill was estimated, also is it mains gas you have? Never heard of being charged to change suppliers. This does sound high though, maybe your boiler is really old or not working properly? Usually I would say don't use bottles gas as this is much more expensive than mains gas, but in your case it would be hard to pay much more!

cozietoesie · 03/04/2013 22:21

If I recall, gas water heating is more at this time of year because the water coming in off the mains is so much colder than in summer- but that still seems very high. Yours seems (sorry) a little low for a quarter bill though Dfg15 - unless you have a smallish house?

Original poster
mistletoeoak · 03/04/2013 23:05

TCOB £400 a month! Oh my ...

trinity0097 they are actual readings. As for the hot water and heating link, our primary heating source is solid fuel rayburn that heats water, radiators and cooking, gas back boiler is a secondary part to it. Rayburn is fine if you get up 3 hours before you need it, clean it out, clean flues and light it etc and then get it up to a decent heat to even get hot water - hence gas is used to heat the water for an hour to make sure when we get up, there is something there to be used. In summer when do not light rayburn, we use gas more - so its usually other way round for us and gas use is more in summer than winter, hence rather worried at this bill. Maybe just set my alarm earlier and light the fire lol

Miss Hairspray, yes it is mains. In small print on quarterly bill it says no fee to change tariff but a £30 charge if change supplier, something to do with opting out of contract. Gas bottles are used as some rooms have no radiator, so gas mains and radiator no point!

cozietoesie that makes sense with water being colder so needing more energy input to heat it up, common sense.

Thank you for your replies everyone, just seems odd that we use it less than most households yet its costing more as many people from what I gather asking around, have heating on all the time and set it to a temperature - surely that must cost thousands if one 24hrs a day??? x

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 03/04/2013 23:34

Surprisingly not - if you keep the thermostats set to, say, 16, put on jumpers and are either reasonably well insulated or not a standalone house - or both. I'm still learning my system though.

What sort of quarterly charge have you been given for electricity, OP? (I'm assuming you're on a dual fuel and submit readings via the net?)

cozietoesie · 03/04/2013 23:36

Sorry - ignore that second part: forgot you hadn't had the other bill yet - but why aren't you on dual fuel? It's cheaper.

Fluffycloudland77 · 04/04/2013 17:19

topcashback.co.uk would give you cashback to switch fuel providers, I saved £240 year changing mine. I got £35 cash back, it would cancel out the exit fees.

It took six months to come through but I made sure I went to a supplier with no exit fees, fixed price for 12 months.

Usually if a supplier raises prices you have two to four weeks to cancel with no exit fees.

I've seen family members bills with BG, they do seem pricey.

ByTheWay1 · 05/04/2013 19:00

BG was the cheapest for us - their dual fuel, monthly direct debit, paperless internet tariff is fab - we get a combined gas/electric bill by email every month - £94 and are always a bit in credit. We have a 3 bed detached and like to be toasty... so don't know why you would have a bill that high just for gas for heating water..

cozietoesie · 06/04/2013 09:07

Yes - I've found BG to be fine on a proper tariff (ie not 'our most popular tariff'.) Unless the OP is using an inordinate amount of hot water, and/or is on a brutal tariff, and/or has the hot water set to something like 75 or 80 degrees, it seems a heck of a lot. I'd be checking out usage, system and tariff, all three.

JimFoster · 06/04/2013 12:06

BTW I'm wondering what people are paying a month for gas and electricity. We pay a fixed direct debit of £78 a month to nPower, (they were the cheapest on uSwitch and Moneysupermarket apart from Spark Energy). That is about £50/month for gas and £28/month for electricity. And that is for a new build (2005) 2 bedroom flat.

cozietoesie · 06/04/2013 14:25

We're a bit less than double yours, Jim, for an old and drafty house a bit more than twice your size. (But we're seriously economical with the heat so it sounds about right.)

eanymeanyminymo · 07/04/2013 17:31

It is probably worth checking your gas meter to see if it is metric or imperial, we had a new metric meter fitted and we carried on being charged at an imperial rate, we got a quarterly bill of more than £900. We thought it was our old boiler causing the large bill and we only found out it was because we were being charged wrong when the plumber came to fit a new boiler and said there was no way it could be that high.

Flossiechops · 09/04/2013 21:46

My last 3 months combined gas/electricity bills = £275 £385 and £295. We are selling next year as we simply can't afford to run this old house anymore Sad it's the gas that gets us it's so very expensive

cozietoesie · 09/04/2013 21:51

Were those figures for the last three months, flossie? How big is the place? And what do you have your heating and water set at?

Flossiechops · 10/04/2013 09:14

Yes cozie heating only on from 6am-8am then 4pm-9pm set at 18 degrees. Not sure about the water. It's a 3 story Edwardian semi and very draughty. We could invest more in it but we are mortgaged up to our eye balls and we aren't really that happy here. Strange as this was supposed to be our 'dream' house. Now all I see is money we don't have being wasted!!

cozietoesie · 10/04/2013 16:47

I'm a 3 storey Victorian terrace - with big rooms and old windows but thick insulation up top. I'll check my bills for the last quarter (I get them quarterly) to compare for you.

Flossiechops · 11/04/2013 07:34

Cozie - that's a good idea. We have stupidly lived for 4 years without a jot of insulation on the top floor but this was because we needed to afford to renovate it first. Anyway now we are planning to move we are not putting an ensuite as planned so are just in the process of decorating/ insulating. It will be interesting to see how much difference it will make. We also have a huge bay in the front lounge with original draughty windows, I foolishly went for roman blinds instead of thick curtains again I wonder how much difference it would make.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 11/04/2013 09:36

Your last point about the lack of thick curtains always makes me wonder I people have thought about energy bills when they have massive floor to ceiling windows or bi fold doors fitted when they renovate. Am assuming they don't have curtains drawn over at night so how on earth do they keep the place warm in our climate?! So much heat is lost through glass....

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