Cor Blimey! Gas bill just came in...

[eltham]

We didn't turn on our heating until the end of October (the bill runs from 6 Oct to 30 December). We don't have it on in the mornings so looking at 3hrs or so in the evening. We also have a gas hob but that's it. And it came to £146. Am I being naiive in thinking this is expensive?

3 months.
Not expensive no.
We pay £100 a month.

I think that sounds ok. What about weekends?

got mine yesterday, it was £487 i will happily swap if you want?

sounds fine for 3 months worth

gosh..I am out of touch! must check it with last year's. I know the summer bill (until 6th October) was £50ish so I guess I was just shocked at the increase, esp. as I don't think we've had it on that much

oh my days - mine is over 100 a month - can we swap houses.

hard to answer this sort of question without knowing: what sort of house you have (size, age, insulation/window type etc); how hot you heat it when heating is on and what price you pay per kWh of gas.

I'd say that if it's more than about 40-50% higher than last years bill for the same period then you should investigate further - it's probably worth checking you are on a competitive tariff in any case. It's not really useful comparing summer bills with winter ones - the cooking element of gas usage is really insignificant compared to central heating. Our summer usage is about 6kWh per day, but winter is around 40+kWh per day. Thats for hot water & hob (all year) and fairly frugal amounts of CH in the winter - so you can see the sort of difference CH makes (we have 4 bed detached, modern house btw).

we have a 4 bedroomed edwardian terrace with a newish kitchen extension (warmest room in house despite being the biggest - probably on a/c of new insulation and windows). The loft (a converted bedroom) is also newly insulated but gets cold in winter and hot in summer. Who's the cheapest gas supplier does anyone know?

put your postcode into www.uswitch.co.uk to find out your cheapest supplier

ooh thanks will do