Hi everyone,
Thanks for your input. Sorry I couldn't reply over the weekend.
I've made a call to my energy company and finally got a person on the phone who was kind enough to verify the questions I had.
- The £300 was caused by a proper adjustment of gas readings. Prior to this year, I wasn't aware I had to send in readings - and when I did, the new reading reflected on my proper usage for the past four months since I've moved in. Prior to the accurate reading, I was apparently using around £130/month on average. The energy company was charging me based on their estimated use, which was £50/month. £130 a month is still high usage for a studio flat though.
- I had inherited the landlord's energy quote which was a business account, not a residential account. The rates are much more expensive, as well as the standing charge - which accounted for the high bills. I've immediately made a change to a residential account. For context, my flat was previously a business lot that's been refurbished into a residential property.
The £300 gas bill at least makes sense to me now. It was my fault for not sending them consistent readings - something I will do on a monthly basis from now on. As well as to have not clarified the gas account when I first moved in. This is my first time moving out on my own, and I learned the lesson the hard way. Still, I'd like to find a way to reduce the gas usage down.
I apologise for the ignorance - I'm still very new at this, and facing a deep learning curve here.
Have you noticed the boiler firing when the CH and HW is off?
Change the times on your programmer so that they are OFF, whilst you are at home and monitor the boiler for firing and heating the rads. If this happens then you have a faulty timer/programmer and/or frost stat, in the boiler and maybe even faulty roomstat. Get you landlord to have it looked at!
As for nuiscance firing, during a heating period (I.e when the programmer/timer is in an 'on' period) the radiator in the room in which the roomstat is located, should have manual and not TRV valves fitted! This is simply because the TRV is likely to shut the rad off, allowing the room to cool, which makes the roomstat call for heat, whilst all the other rooms are up to temp!
I've already informed my landlord - he should be sending a technician soon to get it checked. The radiators still heat up when the boiler is supposed to be off, though not as often, after I've followed the advice of some commenters in this thread in adjusting the TVR and thermostat settings.
Turn the hall radiator thermostat to full power and wall thermostat to 18 degrees.
This will reduce boiler on time as the hall temperature (design temperature is 18 degree C) is achieved, even though the programmer is calling
As a work around where your wall stat is you really want to turn the trvs to max so that room reaches temp quickly and turns the boiler off. Also trvs do not talk to the boiler they are very simple things. A trv will not turn the boiler on and off only the room stat will call for heat when the room temp drops.
Tried this - it seems to work. I've since made adjustments to the wall thermostat and TVR settings, and I don't hear my radiators heating up as often anymore. Still, my gas counter climbed up by 10 since I've first posted. Is that supposed to be normal?
You seem very reluctant to do the obvious and see about the billing aspect.
Is the supply in your name?
Did YOU supply the start reading?
Did you even know what it was?
Even with the boiler on 24/7 it would be unlikely to use £300 of gas!
Is the £300 based on ACTUAL meter readings? Have you even checked the actual meter reading against the billing?
What was the start and present meter readings?
Tony
The supply is in both my name and the landlord's (changed that in the recent phone call to the gas company). I took a record of the start reading but didn't supply it to the gas company - they used the final detected reading. The £300 was an accumulation of the accurate cost, once I had submitted the accurate readings at the beginning of this year.
There is no way a system would use so much gas.
But many reasons why the billing could be seriously in error!
Those need to be investigated.
But a start is the meter readings!
Has he even turned off the gas at the meter to see if it is also feeding another flat? I come across one or two of those every year!
Tony
Meter readings was at 530 at the start of my tenancy and around 890 by the beginning of this year - over the course of four months. And yes, I've tried turning off the gas for a full day and the counter didn't move, so I don't think it's feeding another flat. But the boiler does turn on randomly at times when it's supposed to be off according to the timer (though the manufacturer says it's on standby mode).
