Really high gas usage

[Lkh1983]

Hi since being with ovo my bills have been high, I thought it was cost of living etc but when I looked further into it my usage of gas is 33000kwh per year, I live in a 3 bed semi and have 5 radiators, it seems so much higher than the average, is it possible for the meter to be faulty has anyone else experienced this ?

Have you checked whether the meter measures in m³ or ft³ and whether that matches what's on your bill?

Also how long is your heating and hot water on for per day?

Yes, interesting to know how long on for and temperature set.

Might be worth having a look at the meter and make sure dials aren't moving when nothing is in use.

Just for comparison, we're in a converted four bed bungalow with nine radiators - all on. Heating set to 18c, probably runs six hours a day (although set to on much longer now DH retired). Only two of us very recently and a gas hob.House very draughty upstairs. We use less than 9000kwh.

I'm in a 4 bed detached. Heating on a few hours am and pm at around 19⁰C and is off overnight. Usage is about 12221kwh per year

Unless you're heating the house constantly to 28 C or have the world's worst insulation and boiler, that's about 2-3 x average, which would suggest a meter fault or possibly an error with volume conversion as mentioned above.

How long have you lived in the property and if it's more than a year or so, has this changed over time?

Hi. Heatings at 16 it’s on for an hour in morning before work so from 7-8am then back on from 3 till around 7pm, there is outside insulation and loft insulation, dial isn’t moving when no gas in use, moves fast when hot water is on. Even in summer months the usage is around 800 kWh. I’ve been in the house for 4 years with ovo 2 years and that’s when it seems the usage went up, I’ve paid £1300 in 12 months and still have a balance of £1200 it’s quite over whelming, they’re saying the volume measurement they have for the meter is correct and I’m simply using that much and if there was a gas leak I’d smell it, it seems rare for the meters to be wrong, that’s why I asked on here to see if anyone’s meter has actually been faulty

Leak on a hot water pipe somewhere?

It sounds very high. You need to investigate.

Have you looked at the meter and looked at the bill to see if the measurement matches (ft³ or m³).? Do you leave your hot water on or is it on a timer?

Hi, yes the measurements match and i have a combi boiler so the water is only heated when you put it on.

Just wondering what the difference would be on the readings if you took a reading just before heating comes on and then an hour later. Our meter is in m3, so if yours is the same, I could tell you the difference for my readings. No house will be exactly the same, but you could at least see if there's a massive difference. I might be wrong but I would expect ours to be larger as we're running nine radiators and one long and double width (which our engineer says is far too big for the area).

Hi, I’ve looked further into it and I think it may be because the thermostat is in the coldest room in the house 😣 so I think this is causing the boiler to keep going much longer as it doesn’t think the house has reached the temperature, it still seems such a high amount , I don’t know if I’m right but I think this may be the issue

That does sound plausible. We had similar and cut our usage from 13000 units a year to 8000 by moving the thermostat.

12-13000 units is the 'typical' gas figure used to calculate the price cap amount and is meant to signify am average house with average usage, which it sounds like you should be fairly close to.

33000 must mean the boiler is running pretty much constantly. Is your 'cold room' draughty and/or badly insulated?

Hi, it’s probably a bit of both to be fair its on a wall which is cold but its right by the door to the kitchen which is also a cold room so it’s actually in the worse place possible ! 😭