Heating bills suddenly through the roof

[garry141]

hi guys

Over the last few days since the cold weather has kicked in, our gas central heating and hot water cost has doubled, for example for 30 mins of running the heating then having a shower it cost us almost £1.50 whereas normally it would be about 45-50p at the most. Looking for any advice as it’s easily used £4 per day if we’ve been at home all day

 

[Gasmk1]

its cold and you have the heating on more it also takes more to heat up from cold the house as its starting at a lower temperature.

 

[garry141]

Yeah but it’s checking my smart meter that says it’s used double for having the heating on for the same amount of time which surely isn’t right, have used almost £10 within a few days which normally lasts me 6 or 7 days, and it’s been just a cold before it started doing this and it didn’t make a difference

 

[Murdoch]

The outside temperature makes a huge difference in the amount of gas you use .... It's been far colder for the last week or so outside ...

 

[Gasmk1]

well largish groundfloor flat in a 1930s semi so far today 1.79 usage with gloworm condensing boiler fairly modern approx 5 or 6 years old and its quite warm here in the north west

 

[garry141]

Surely if I’m using the heating for the same amount of time every day it should use the same amount of gas though?

 

[Chalked]

It’s on for the same times. But as the boiler can modulate. It can be on low fire, high, or anywhere within its range.
It’s becase it’s cold. I bet your boiler uses no gas on heating when it’s summer!

 

[garry141]

Yeah well we pretty much just use the heating in the winter, no need for it in the summer, but thanks guys I assumed it was just because it’s colder than normal and we’re still covered in snow here

 

[Murdoch]

Surely if I’m using the heating for the same amount of time every day it should use the same amount of gas though?

Definitely not.

We have a programmable room stat and leave the heating on 24/7 - so at night, when its really cold, the room stat will turn the boiler on overnight - but its set to 15.5 degrees - just to stop the house getting too cold.

 

[jtsplumbing]

Sodding smart meters all they are doing is making people paranoid , all they do is watch the meter, getting stressed about switching on a light, running the heating for a extra 5mins, Well here is some advise for them and help to stop any stress, (Sit in the dark & Cold)

 

[Murdoch]

^^ smart meters make me laugh - they are not smart .... they will, in the end make all the meter readers redundant and potentially allow gas and lecky providers to be able to charge different rates depending on the time of day.

Say NO to smart meters.

AND when its cold and dark, you will use more gas and lecky!

 

[snowhead]

Surely if I’m using the heating for the same amount of time every day it should use the same amount of gas though?

Every solid object can hold heat, the longer the cold spell lasts, the lower the average temperature of the fabric of the building (bricks and mortar) will get.
The same happens with the ground temperature, see link to graph below.

That means an increasing difference between inside and outside so the rate of heat loss gets greater.

Turn the thermostat down a degree and put a jumper on, that'll save money.

30cm Soil Temperature - Bracknell, Berkshire, UK

 

[garry141]

Ive turned it down to 15 from 18 and I always wrap up when I’m at home, but like I said it’s always been this cold but it’s probably the snow that’s causing the pipes to freeze and taking longer to thaw out

 

[jtsplumbing]

Every solid object can hold heat, the longer the cold spell lasts, the lower the average temperature of the fabric of the building (bricks and mortar) will get.
The same happens with the ground temperature, see link to graph below.

That means an increasing difference between inside and outside so the rate of heat loss gets greater.

Turn the thermostat down a degree and put a jumper on, that'll save money.

30cm Soil Temperature - Bracknell, Berkshire, UK

Hi are you located in Bracknell ? I used to live in Priestwood.

 

[jtsplumbing]

Ive turned it down to 15 from 18 and I always wrap up when I’m at home, but like I said it’s always been this cold but it’s probably the snow that’s causing the pipes to freeze and taking longer to thaw out

No wonder the house is cold running at 15 ! what did you run at B4 smart meter was fitted, do you go around the house now switching everything off then sit staring at the meter ? Soon people will be going for treatment for smart meter watching, Be something like the AA sitting in groups talking about there addiction to Meter watching

 

[Murdoch]

Ive turned it down to 15 from 18 and I always wrap up when I’m at home, but like I said it’s always been this cold but it’s probably the snow that’s causing the pipes to freeze and taking longer to thaw out

Cripes, turn it down by 1 degree, but 3, you must be mad.

 

[Last Plumber]

hi guys

Over the last few days since the cold weather has kicked in, our gas central heating and hot water cost has doubled, for example for 30 mins of running the heating then having a shower it cost us almost £1.50 whereas normally it would be about 45-50p at the most. Looking for any advice as it’s easily used £4 per day if we’ve been at home all day

As all the rest have said, there will be in increase in cost due to the increase in heat loss.
One other cause of increased Gas usage would be a leak. When was the last time you had the Gas installation tightness tested?

 

[garry141]

Don’t think it’s been checked since the summer but someone is coming out to look at it

 

[Last Plumber]

Don’t think it’s been checked since the summer but someone is coming out to look at it

Excellent!

 

[DGT plumbing]

I recently had a customer with the same problem. I went and checked everything out for leaks etc. No problems as I could see. Gas rated the appliance and all was good. The problem continued. She ended up getting her supplier out to look at things. The engineer removed the meter and noticed that the meter was still registering usage when it was removed. New meter installed and problem solved. Just to add this was a pre pay meter.
So what I’m saying is it might be worth turning off your gas at your ECV and taking a reading, leaving it 5 mins and taking another reading. Might be worth a try you never know.

 

[plumbandplumber]

When was the last time you had the Gas installation tightness tested?

Maybe a tightness test would be appropriate for those who sit there all day staring at their smart meters?

 

[Gasmk1]

this is why i hate smart meters.

if most of your appliances that use standby are fairly new

New European legislation means that new appliances are limited to 1 watt when left in this mode. In the two examples below you can see the cost savings associated with a new item (e.g. a Sky HD box)


NEW ITEM
So if an item left on standby uses 1 watt an hour (i.e. it is brand new and adheres to the new 1 watt legislation), then it uses 1kWh for every 1000 hours it is on. There are 8760 hours in a year, so it will use 8.76kWh in a year. Currently 1kWh from one of the big 6-energy company costs 14 pence, so over a year that will cost £1.23 to do nothing!

i know its £1.23 but thats over a year so £0.55 a quarter so a tv sky box games console computer so the average home will add about £4.00 a quarter yes you can turn them off but a lot of things dont like it.

 

[Chuck]

When the mean temperature outside is –5°C a typical house will require twice as much heat (kW hr) as when the mean temperature is 5°C.

For example, in the week up to 04-Mar-2018 the mean temperature was –0.2 °C and my house (occupied during the day) needed 1455 kW hr of gas for heating and hot water. For comparison, it was 4.9 °C and 924 kW hr in the week before and 6.9 °C and 838 kW hr in the week after.