Is my gas usage correct?

[Mummatobefeb2022]

I have received my new tariff from my gas and electric supplier, and it estimates that my gas usage is just over 6000kwh year which seems low to me. I have googled average usage and a low usage household is around 8000kwh.

I live in a 3 bed semi detached house which is 9 years old, and I'm home most of the day as I'm on maternity leave. I don't have a smart meter but I provide them with meter readings every few months so I assume this is what they have taken the average to be from. I am just worried as this seems a very low amount of gas and I don't want to be stung for a huge bill 12 months down the line because something hasn't been calculated correctly.

I'm not actually sure what uses gas in our house haha , we have a combi boiler and a gas hob... what else might use gas?

What do you think I should do, leave it as it is or raise it with the energy company? Obviously I don't want a higher bill but so worried they've estimated it wrong and I'm going to get a huge bill!

Depends how long your heating is on for and what your

Thermostat is set to. How many people are in the house?

It doesn't reqlly matter what they have eatimated, when you give meter readings every 3/6 months they will bill for what you have used, take off the direct debita you have made and then you'll either be in credit or debit and monthly payment will go up or down.

Either way you pay for what you use

I provide meter readings monthly. Maybe provide them more often so your bills are more accurate

Don’t forget that the recent readings will have been in the warmer months as well - lower heating usage, so that may skew things. Ours has been estimated at £400 per year because of this.

Thermostat is set to 15 all day but the heating comes on for about 3 hours a day in the winter at around 23 degrees

Yes I might start doing this for some peace of mind. I'm sure it'll all be fine but just so worried I'm going to get hit with a massive bill which I wouldn't have budgeted for!

Sorry forgot to say, there's me and my partner and my 5 month old daughter.

That’s not a lot of heating tbh.

How long have you been on mat leave?

Since January, but have been working from home for the past 2 years!

Maybe I'm just tight with the heating - my other half always tells me to put it on for longer, feel bad now

We use 7000 kwh of gas a year, 3 bed semi, combi boiler and gas hob.
Heating is set at 21 degrees in the winter, an hour 6-7am, an hour 12-1pm and 4.30-9pm. 4 showers/ 1bath a week.
Come October, 7000kwh at 14p = £1000 ish plus standing charge of £100.

15⁰C is low so your heating will barely be on. My gas usage is low just now as its warmer outside. I have a hot water cylinder though so I use gas for that although I've cut that to heating for 1 hour per day as appliances are cold fill and we rarely take baths. Showers are electric.

You don't seem to have the heating on a lot in the winter so maybe that's why it's low. In the depths of winter, I have it on for 5-6 hours a day - 2hr morning, 4hr evening and then sometimes in the day if really cold (I also worked from home), thermostat set to 18 usually, no lower that 16-17. And it will probably be more this winter as I have a baby now to keep warm, though she will be going to nursery during the week.

Instead of using the gas company's estimate, why not work out how much gas you used in the last 12 months and use that as a basis of how much gas you expect to use in the next 12 months?

My rental is below average OP even though it's a biggish 4 bedder. Reasons being it's very well insulated, there's only 2 of us, hot water is on a timer 3 times a day for an hour each time, I don't have a gas hob or oven and it doesn't take much to heat the house up. My electric is just below average too even with electric oven and hob and tumble drying twice a week.

The time the boiler is on for heating isn’t as important as The room the thermostat is in, it should be in the living room, not a cold hallway as the boiler will constantly be trying to get up to temp while the rest of the house swelters.
Once the heating is up to temp, it’s modulating, so in a well insulated room with closed doors it shouldn’t kick in more than once an hour for a few minutes. My living room only drops 5 degrees overnight, so at least 8/9 hours whereas my unheated kitchen can be as low as 12 degrees when it’s zero outside.
Make sure your combi isn’t set too hot, for heating AND hot water, it won’t condense properly, it will shorten the lifespan of the boiler and it will waste energy if you have to add cold water because the water is too hot! Don’t have it set to comfort mode either as it’s constantly heating a small tank of water instead of you just running the tap for a minute.