

In general, the higher the kW, the more energy it uses. When you buy any appliance, its handbook will tell you how much energy it uses. Step two is being smart about when and how often you use them. Step one is knowing which appliances use the most electricity. So, how can you keep your consumption – and bills – as low as possible? So one kilowatt hour (1 kWh) is the amount of energy you’d use if you kept a 1 kW appliance running for one hour.

Read on to find out more about this problem.Electricity use is measured in units known as kilo watt hours (kWh) and there are 1,000 watts in a kilo watt (kW). Your pilot light could also be using gas. This means your radiators might be heating up when you don’t want them to. The valve could become stuck or could fail altogether. When the boiler is on, the valve opens to allow the water to flow and then it closes again to stop the water. A faulty motorised valveĪ motorised valve is what controls the flow of hot water from the boiler into a cylinder or to the radiators. Smart controls could be more reliable than a thermostat and/or programmer and may improve efficiency. Most modern boilers come with smart controls that allow you to control your heating and hot water system from your mobile phone via an app. If the above are all as they should be, you should call a heating engineer to check the thermostat and/or programmer and replace them if they’re no longer working correctly. You can do a couple of quick checks yourself, such as making sure these functions are set to the correct times and/or temperatures, and that they are on. These functions will turn the boiler on or off at times that you have predetermined or they will turn the boiler off when the house reaches a set temperature.Ī faulty thermostat and/or programmer could result in your boiler staying on for 24 hours a day, which could become very expensive. Thermostats and/or programmers automatically control your boiler so you don’t have to oversee it manually. If you don’t think this is the reason for your high gas bill, here are some other reasons you may be overpaying. Don’t forget you’ll use much more gas in winter than in summer. You should also look at your statement to see how many kWh it says you’ve used. Remember that newer contracts could include a daily standing charge that should be paid irrespective of the amount of gas you’re using. First, you should check with your supplier that they haven’t increased the prices. If your boiler is on for a total of five hours per day, your daily usage should be around 120 kWh.īut if you’ve noticed an increase in your gas bill recently, your boiler could be using more gas than it should. A 24 kW boiler will use 24 kW of energy per hour. It’s hard to give a precise figure to say how much gas your boiler should be using, however you can use the size of your boiler to work out an estimate. For example, if you were to pay four pence per KWh, the calculation could look something like:ġ3,537 kWh x 0.04 p/kWh (TCR) = £541.48 estimated cost per year The TCR is a rate that allows you to compare one tariff against another. You should take your annual gas usage (for example, 13,537 kWh) and multiple this by the Tariff Comparison Rate (TCR).


If you’re looking to switch energy suppliers, there’s an easy calculation you can do to determine the overall yearly cost. Many companies will do this at no additional cost and it allows you to track your usage in real time. To find out exactly how much gas your boiler is using, you could ask your supplier to fit a smart meter. Ofgem calculates this to be broken down to £487 per year for electricity and £636 per year for natural gas*. This will change depending on the cost of gas and the size and age of your boiler.Īccording to Ofgem, the average gas consumption of a UK household was between 8,000 kWh and 17,000 kWh in 2017, which is an average cost of £1,123 for both gas and electricity. According to Choose, the cost is approximately 3.8 pence per kWh, which means it would cost around 91 pence to run a 24 kW boiler for one hour. A 24 kW boiler will use 24 kWh of energy per hour. Using kW and kWh, you can work out how much gas your boiler is using and therefore how much it costs. A one kW hair dryer would use one kWh of energy if it was on for 60 minutes, for example. A kilowatt hour (kWh) is a unit of energy that demonstrates how much energy an appliance could use if it was on for one hour.
