[Cameron1590]

Hello,

we have noticed that our gas bill appears to be very high.

last month we used 1818.5kwh for a modern three bed detached house with two adults. The boiler is a new Combi boiler fitted two years ago.

I conducted a burn test using the smallest gas ring on our hob. Using an online calculator it worked out the usage to equate to around 7.5kwh of gas an hour. This was with no other gas appliances running.

Is it just me or does 7.5kwh of gas over an hour for the smallest burner on the hob see very high? Reading online it suggests this should be around 2kwh.

Thanks,

Malty

[retrotecchie]

@Cameron1590

First thing I would do is a meter creep test. Shut off the boiler completely by turning off the electricity supply. Make sure all other gas appliances are off, and then read the meter. Wait 30 minutes, and read the meter again. There should be no difference in reading.

If the reading has increased, then do the same test again but shut off the isolating valve at the meter. If the readings still change then the gas meter is at fault.

If the reading increases with the gas valve open, but no gas being used, then I'd suspect a gas leak somewhere.

If the readings don't change at all, but only change when you are using the hob or the heating then at least the meter isn't creeping and you have no leaks. Whether the meter is reading accurately or not is a different matter. That will require a bit more investigation, but I'd rule out meter creep or leaks first.

[Mailman]

Originally Posted by Cameron1590

Hello,

we have noticed that our gas bill appears to be very high.

last month we used 1818.5kwh for a modern three bed detached house with two adults. The boiler is a new Combi boiler fitted two years ago.

I conducted a burn test using the smallest gas ring on our hob. Using an online calculator it worked out the usage to equate to around 7.5kwh of gas an hour. This was with no other gas appliances running.

Is it just me or does 7.5kwh of gas over an hour for the smallest burner on the hob see very high? Reading online it suggests this should be around 2kwh.

Thanks,

Malty

As per suggested by @retrotecchie especially Shut off the boiler completely by turning off the electricity supply.

The online calculator suggests that you are ripping through on a small ring not far off what my CH gas combi uses in the first hour of the day (0830-0930) - mine is usually between 8 and 9 kWh. So yes it does seem excessive if 7.5kWh is what your small ring on the gas hob uses per hour if the calculator proves to be correct but you are right that a ring uses about 2kW per hour. Just make sure the online calculator is set to the correct units of your meter. 👍

One last thought, if you have an IHD (and this is what you used for the readings before and after) just remember that the gas meter read only updates on the IHD every 30 mins so to get an accurate creep test you would need to perform it just after the 00/30 gas meter reading has updated on your IHD OR, better still, use the actual gas meter for both reads rather than the IHD.

In terms of your overall usage, 1800kWh gas for a 3 bed detached, with combi gas boiler for CH and DHW AND cooking might not be too excessive and is not unreasonable if say your thermostat is set at 19-20C during the day and/or you live in The North. I'm heading for about 1300 kWh of gas for the month of January but cooking is done all-electric with a thermostat set to a max of 18C.

[WizzyWigg]

Hi @Cameron1590
I have a 1970's 4 bedroom detached in the North West. 2 Adults with occasional grandchildren visitations.
Gas usage 22/11/2023 to 22/12/2023 was 1861.5KWh which was slightly down on Dec 2022 and 2021 primarily because of weather conditions.

[meldrewreborn]

My average gas use in December computed over 17 years is 2634 kWh. 3 bed extended 1930's south east semi.with cavity wall insulation and good loft insulation & fully double glazed. - gas cooking, DHW, and CH occupied all day. Can't use December 2023 as I was away for half the month!

If you compare your usage to OFGEM typical annual usage values I think you'll find for the size of property your consumption is on the low side. that's not to say that the cost is not substantial.

[PeterT_EONNext]

Hi @Cameron1590 👋

Some great advice here from the guys above to have a look into this!

Have you carried out the suggested tests yet? If so, let us know how you got on 😊