One thing that does my head in is when people say "i only use gas for heating and water, i cook with electric!" how much gas do you think you use when you cook?!?! The majority of gas consumption in anyones house will be with central heating and hot water!!

Another thing that does my head in is people moaning about how many units you have used. If your meter shows that you have consumed it, then you have - and you need to pay for it!! If it doesnt, great, give them a phone and they will happily send you an amended bill.

It is extremely rare that meters are faulty - and if it was you would know about it, your bills would be thousands rather than hundreds - or the meter would have stopped all together.

And if you have prevous bills that were under-estimated then its your own fault - we are all responsible adults and it take 2 seconds to read a meter to check if the bill is right. If it turns out 3,6,9 or 12+ months down the line that all your bills have been under-estimated then its simply your own fault.

Sorry for the rant, but a lot of the problems people mention are ridiculous - this stuff is just logical. We need to accept more responsibility for this. Yes the prices have gone up and its expensive, but we were all made well aware that it was going to happen before it actually did, why didnt you listen and phone your supplier to sign up for a price protection as soon as possible??? everyone in the uk is affected, only the unprepared and irresponsible tend to moan about it.

QD:

I just had my bill from npower - £203 GAS for the last quarter!! Seems extremely high to me

Only accurate and relevant if both the previous and latest readings are actual and not estimated. If the latest reading is actual then that's what you owe. If its estimated its up to you whether you submit an actual reading and get the bill recalculated.

If the previous reading is an estimate £203 is no indication of consumption during the last quarter.

If its an estimated bill, £203 is not really abnormal for a gas heated house over the last winter quarter which has been very cold. EON are not mind readers and have no idea that you live alone and are out at work 60 hours a week.

One other thing, well worth using a price comparison website to check that you are on a competive tariff.

Hi Si! I'm as bewildered as you but if it's any consolation I just had my bill from npower - £203 GAS for the last quarter!! Seems extremely high to me considering a) I live alone, b) am out at work 60 hours a week and c) it's just the heating/water that's fired by gas - cooking is all electric :(

I'm dumbfounded and would welcome anyone else's opinions or experiences. I have a 2-bedroom EOT house.

I am pretty sure that we have heard enough about what so called "Britain is experiencing the coldest winter than ever" on BBC news over the last quarter. And we all know that YOU energy supply companies are all charging us with an "estimated"
value, which has been made cleared that, yes, we have got overcharged. (such an A-hole) So listen, nobody will be paying their energy bills unless we all get our refund back.

I have a similar problem in that I have received a £300+ British Gas bill. I have compared bills and my Feb bill for 2007 showed 214 gas units used, in 2008 218 units and Feb 2009 it was 691 units! We used the heating much more last year as my husband was ill but after his death last May have only heated water and the central heating for 2 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the evening. My August bill showed 86 units, November 274 and now Feb 691. I suspect our old boiler is causing the problem but how would we know?

I had a new meter fitted last May but this seems to be working OK.

Hi annelinor

Were your bills estimated previously? if they were this may be a catch up bill.

I'd speak to your supplier, you can ask for the Energy Efficiency department, they will be able to look at your usage and establish if there is a problem. They will be able to see where the energy is being used, I'd have a list of appliances and what you use to hand when you call.

I'd also ask if they have any better tariff for you, as you are on a pension or any further services or help that would be beneficial to you. Some times customers are entitled to things they just don't know about.

However small everything does help.

I too got an extremely high gas bill last Saturday and have been in a terrible state ever since. It was an estimated bill for which they want £360, but when I read the meter I found to my horror that I had actually used twice as much as they said (actual consumption 20946kWh) which will cost me £720! Everyone I have spoken to thinks there must be something wrong with my meter or that I am paying for someone else's gas as well, which is not impossible as a room in my house used to be part of a neighbour's house. So this might be something you could look at too, Simon_S, as several people have said to me that it is not as uncommon as you might think that people's gas pipes have got connected to the wrong meter.

Does anyone know if there is an organisation that will come and advise on boiler efficiency or why individuals might suddenly be using so much gas? I used 658 (imperial) units in the last quarter compared with about 500 for a whole year in my last home, which was, like my present one, stone built (the walls are two and a half feet thick) but had really draughty windows and door and no insulation at all. I was in Scotland then but am now in Wales which I expected to be warmer. Here I have a lot of loft insulation and all but one of the ceilings are lower. I suspect that my central heating pipes wander all over the place before emerging beside radiators. I have thermostats on most of the radiators, and since getting that bill have been turning most of them off when not using the rooms. In this way I have got my usage down to about 95kWh per day which would be about 8600kWh for a quarter, but I am feeling cold which is not good for my health as I have Raynaud's and have been told I should keep warm. I am a pensioner and my gas and electricty bills avaraged over the year come to more than a quarter of my pension . Last quarter's gas bill alone is more than half my pension. I don't know how I can afford to live. Do I just have to go to bed to keep warm? My gas bill is just for heating and hot water, not cooking, and in fact my shower is electric, so the hot water is just washing up and baths.

I am going to see if the local council's advice place can help me, but any other suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks,

Annelinor

Faulty meters are rare, It does sound like the bill is correct even though it is a high bill. We have had a cold quarter and as you have said you have had the heating on more over Christmas and then around 8 hours per day.

This along with an extremely inefficient boiler and two price increases will make the bill high.

Have you compared the amount of units used this year to last year?, I would also speak to E.ON again and ask for the consumption department, they will be able to give you further information on how the energy has been used and more economical ways for the future.

I know having a new boiler is expensive, but this could make you savings in the long term, have the current boiler type and list of appliances and what you use ready when you call.

Helena

What do you mean by an inefficient boiler? Do you have a hot water and seperate cold water tank? If so seriously think about switching it over for a combi boiler. It only heats the water when required, and normally can be tweaked to make the hot water/heating hotter/colder etc.

Wondering if anyone can help. We’ve just received a bill of £499 for gas for the last quarter which has totally knocked us sideways. We have the heating/hot water on for 8 hours a day (occasionally the heating on a bit longer at the weekend if we’re in and bit over the Christmas hols) and we don’t use the gas for cooking as both our oven and hobs are electric. We live in a three bed house, for which I am told the average yearly consumption is 21000 KWh (to the nearest 1000). Eon say we have used 14000 KWh in the past three months. This seems extremely excessive to me.

I have checked that they are calculating our bill correctly (we have a metric meter and they are calculating it as such) and there doesn’t appear to be a leak (the meter isn’t going round when we’re not using gas). I’ve checked how much gas we are using per hour with everything on and it appears to be 1 unit (actually, just over). I did some quick maths and it appears that, even if we had out heating and hot water on for only THREE hours each day it would STILL cost us £155 for the next quarter.

My first inkling is that the meter is faulty, but it had also crossed my mind that we might have an extremely inefficient boiler, but surely this wouldn’t account for all the excess?

Does 1 unit of gas per hour sound right? Or does it sound a little high? I don’t know anyone else with gas bills as high as ours- AND some have bigger houses and higher consumption rates!

Anything anyone can suggest will be much appreciated! Thanks!

S :-)