Help me understand why my gas is £17 a day!

[Elmatheele]

hello all, I live in a 3 bed semi detached house that’s about 30 years old. 14 year old boiler but unvented cylinder in the loft. Heating goes on for about one hour in the morning and is turned off all day until we return home at 4pm it’s then set to around 19 and is off completely over night. What am I doing wrong? Bills seem to have increased since smart meter was installed last month. Is this extortionate of am I just out of touch with gas prices?

Have you checked the boiler settings - the water temp for water and radiators? There’s an optimum setting, if it’s too low I think you can waste energy because the excess heat goes out the vents. Worth googling.

OTOH, in my old flat last year it cost about £5 a day so £17 for a house isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.

How does the hot water work? Do you have it switched on all day or just at the same time as the heating?

I am I'm a 1920s 3 bed semi and my gas and electric is about £7 a day including standing charge. So your usage seems fat too high. Is the boiler very old?

You mentioned heating, but what about water?

Thank you for trying to help me, much appreciated.

So the water is on a timer on the boiler to come on for a period of time. The water system was replaced 7 years ago but the boiler is much older. Perhaps I’m heating water too much?

The water heats for an hour two periods in a day. Is that excessive?

No. Not at all.

Until last year I had a really old (at least 25 years old) boiler that absolutely ate gas, but never used anywhere near £17 a day, even when the prices were at the peak.

What are your rates per KWH?

Sounds more like an issue with the new smart meter.

Bloody hell, that's way more than we pay. We're 1930s 3 bed end terrace. We have a combi boiler, so instant hot water, have the thermostat at 19°C, and have gas oven. Even on the freezing days the heating on all day at the weekend it's no more than £6.50 a day.

So these are the rates.

The month before the smart meter the gas cost was £250 per month. Now it’s essentially doubled ?!

Sorry that’s incorrect it was £150 a month

We're in a 4 bed detached and I just checked the app and our usage for gas for January ranges between £4.50 and £6.50 per day. We have heating and hot water on similar times to you. I think you need to ask them to come and check the meter.

Or for a start, turn off all gas appliances and see if the meter is still registering use. Either the meter is faulty or there's a leak somewhere.

Holy moly that is a lot. That is what our storage heaters were and more before we put gas in. Our heating is on 19.5-20 °C all the time and 18°C when no one is here. During cold months the gas is about 150 or less and that's gas showers and hob/oven. 3 bed semi.
It is a new boiler and only 1.5y old. It's a green Worcester.

We do have new double glazing and lots of insulation.

We refuse to be cold again and it as Leo keeps the house in good state.

I do have British Gas visiting about something faulty picked up a week ago but there was no leak or danger.

I think I need to chase up this smart meter. Single parent and huge anxiety about the bill!

I have the reverse but on electric - even though we have gas heating - in our case it's taken a while to work it out via elimination but it's underfloor electric heating in various parts of the house that is causing us the issue -

Our gas has been 17 a week over the last 3 months. We have gas heating and water combi boiler. We are a 3 bed detached 4 year old house.

You should be able to roughly calculate it.

Cost per hour = Boiler kW × Gas price per kWh

But as your boiler's old you may not be able to find out easily. They are about 85/95 pc efficient. I worked out a while back it cost roughly £2 an hour to run our boiler (for hot water and central heating) so 17 a day does sound on the high side.

Sorry meant to add we have gas heating come on for 1 hour in morning and 1 hour late afternoon for 22. We sometimes add extra times on too.

What is the numerical amount of your consumption?

260kwh a day I’m averaging apparently

To put in context I’m one adult and two small children. I am out of the house at work between 8 and 4pm so no gas is being used during this time.

Well Google says the average UK gas use is 1000kwh per month.

So effectively you are using a week's worth in a day. That can't be right.

Can you compare it to your average pre smart meter?

Have a look at your hourly readings and see if there's a massive spike anywhere.

I'd get as much information as possible and then lodge it as a complaint.

That’s an outrageous amount, unless it’s an enormous house. Is that based on meter readings?

We use between 60 and 75 kwh per day in the winter.

Something is really wrong OP!