For The Apartment Dwellers, How Much Gas Do You Consume?

StuckInTheMiddle on 28/07/2015 - 16:13

After receiving an insanely high gas bill, I'd like to get a gauge of how much the community consumes gas and is the way our consumption measured fair.

Bit of background, I live in an apartment complex in NSW, 2 bed and two bathroom housing 2 adults.
The apartment has 2 gas meters, one, an actual gas meter on the stove and the second is a water flow meter on the hot water intake as we have a communal hot water system.

The gas meter value for the stove consumption is very low, at 275 MJ per 90 days.
The meter value for the hot water is astronomical at 8612 MJ per 90 days

So over 90 days we consume 8887 MJ and this costs $292.45.
Now according to the IPART website, http://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/Home/For_Consumers/Compare_Energ…
we consume more gas than a family home of 5. If you extrapolate it out, we consume enough gas for 7 people. I contacted AGL, our gas provider, and they indicated our bill wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately they don't publish a comparison of our usage to that of our neighbours'.

We consume hot water as follows, depending on if we go to the gym, we probably have on average 3-4 showers per day between the 2 of us, for 15-20 minutes per shower.
We have a dishwasher and washing machine, and run the dishwasher every day and the washing machine 3 times per week using 40 degrees as the water temp.

How does our consumption stack up compared to the rest of the community? Is your behaviour very different to mine?
And is there anyone out there with any experience on the hot water flow meter? I take it AGL reads the meter, extrapolates how much energy is required to heat the water to that level and then charges us accordingly. I wonder if they have any idea what the actual water temp is. If it varies, then their calculations will obviously be off.

Thanks in advance for your input. I feel the gas charging process is very opaque and it would be good to see where everyone fits.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • dasher86 on 28/07/2015 - 16:55
    +2

    those are some high numbers there.
    3-4 showers per day for 2 people
    3 machine loads per week
    dishwasher every day.

    Here are my numbers
    Dishwasher once or twice a week
    2 machine loads per week most likely cold
    1-2 showers a day.

    • justaverage on 28/07/2015 - 17:09
      +1

      I agree, I live in what sounds to be a similar scenario as OP and my bill isnt nearly that high.
      1-2 showers per day per person
      2-3 machine loads a week
      Dont use dishwasher

  • ohmumma on 28/07/2015 - 18:07

    My last bill was 1164 MJ for $95~ over 90 days. This is about average.

    We only have a gas stove/oven which we use most days.

  • retiredfeline on 28/07/2015 - 18:13
    +1

    I think the number and length of those hot showers are costing you. That's quite a lot of water to heat.

    • sparkles on 28/07/2015 - 19:31
      +1

      Agree, that bill doesn't seem astronomical considering you are showering twice per day for 20 minutes. It's $12 each person per week over 12 weeks.

  • redforever on 28/07/2015 - 18:46

    I thought dishwashers don't have a hot water inlet. They heat water on demand. Also, aren't gas bill issued every 2 months?

  • Colombian on 28/07/2015 - 18:53

    I used to have separate bills for Gas and hot water. Gas was for stove only. I requested the landlord to put a hot water system as I was paying about $250 for hot water only plus $65 for gas.

    The last gas bill came for $150, I like to take long hot showers in winter.

    We are 2 people living in a unit with one bathroom.

  • Forenti on 28/07/2015 - 19:51
    +2

    Yeah I think it's pretty clear that it's your showers that are shooting the hot water meter up
    Based on your numbers: 3.5 showers x 17.5 mins = 61.25 mins per day
    If a family of 7 had one shower each day for 9 minutes it would be about the same amount of energy
    I think one shower each day for 10 mins is pretty normal (for my family at least) and you could have 2 x 5 minute showers if it's a gym day?

  • eatwell365 on 28/07/2015 - 20:47
    +1

    You may consider to check this if you are living in one of the newish apartment complex and find the usage shoots up a lot compared to the past period.
    Noticed this identifical issue in 2 units. Tenant complaint bill was about 2 to 3 times than normal when main use was hot water. Nothing was changed.
    Notify strata to check. There were leakage of hot water after the section of individual hot water meter behind the hidden wall compartment. The pipe was not perfect in length and the installer managed to pull two sections together, so it leaked over time. It is not uncommon at the rate how new apartments are built nowadays. The strata people seems to know what the common issues are on the block as others would have experienced the same.
    Found another common problem is the leakage of gas smell where the gas meter is in kitchen. Installer often did not put tape during connection of gas pipe causes minor leakage.

  • Vampyr on 29/07/2015 - 09:39

    Depending on what my GF has eaten that day, the amount of gas I consume varies.

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