High Gas Usage?

njm_2

They came about a month ago for the service; my wife did comment that he only appeared to remove the front and vacuum inside, and spent more time chatting than working! She did say that he went outside but she thought he was just visually checking for any blockages as she didn’t see a meter. (I’m pretty sure they checked the flue emissions with a meter during the initial safety check).

Hopefully that points towards a faulty meter as being our current problem, but perhaps we should also being questioning our service contract as they certainly didn’t check the rest of the system, perhaps they used extrasensory perception from the utility room!

njm_2

Things are a bit more positive than first thought – well a little bit. The web site I used for converting my gas meter reading to kWH used a multiplier of 31.3, but what it failed to point out was that it assumed an imperial meter was fitted. We have a metric meter and so the correct multiplier should have been 11.22 (approximately). Makes quite a bit of difference to the total kWH’s used and therefore the total money, if the meter is correct, that we will owe.

The net result is that over the last 18 months we have used about 41,200 kWHs of gas – which is still very high considering the mild temperatures and that this is for 2 summers and only 1 winter.

I looked into how you go about getting a gas meter checked and unfortunately this can only be done through your energy supplier; Ofgem perform the independent check but if the meter is found to be correct then the customer will have to pay the £90 charge.

We did try to obtain the meter readings taken by Siemens over the last 18 months, as this would provide an accurate record of our annual usage – unfortunately we don’t exist on their system!

I also found a somewhat interesting entry on the Citizens Advice Bureau site, regarding meter readings as it stated “The gas supplier must inspect and test the meter at least once every two years”. I couldn’t find any reference to this on the Ofgem site but have sent Powergen an email asking them to supply the date our meter was last checked.

emh_2

Do you have a combination boiler or a boiler that heats a tank of water every morning and night for your hot water?

we found moving to a combi boiler so much cheaper for providing hot water (paid for itself quite quickly) as it heats water as and when you need it as opposed to heating a full tank.

good luck

Cardew

njm wrote:

Things are a bit more positive than first thought – well a little bit. The web site I used for converting my gas meter reading to kWH used a multiplier of 31.3, but what it failed to point out was that it assumed an imperial meter was fitted. We have a metric meter and so the correct multiplier should have been 11.22 (approximately). Makes quite a bit of difference to the total kWH’s used and therefore the total money, if the meter is correct, that we will owe.

The net result is that over the last 18 months we have used about 41,200 kWHs of gas – which is still very high considering the mild temperatures and that this is for 2 summers and only 1 winter.

I looked into how you go about getting a gas meter checked and unfortunately this can only be done through your energy supplier; Ofgem perform the independent check but if the meter is found to be correct then the customer will have to pay the £90 charge.

We did try to obtain the meter readings taken by Siemens over the last 18 months, as this would provide an accurate record of our annual usage – unfortunately we don’t exist on their system!

I also found a somewhat interesting entry on the Citizens Advice Bureau site, regarding meter readings as it stated “The gas supplier must inspect and test the meter at least once every two years”. I couldn’t find any reference to this on the Ofgem site but have sent Powergen an email asking them to supply the date our meter was last checked.

Well thats good news! Although saying it is a "bit more positive" is something of an understatement when your estimate has been reduced to approx one third of the original!

It looks like your annual consumption is going to be around 30,000kWh which I would suggest is perhaps not "very high" for a house without cavity insulation.

Interested in your info from CAB, I must say I have never heard of that and never had a meter checked ever; or heard of anyone having a routine check. Please keep us informed on your progress.

njm_2

I sent the CAB an email to ask for the relevant legislation as their comments looked quite promising, however further investigation has put dampers on what was a promising lead.

The GAS SUPPLIERS LICENCE: STANDARD CONDITIONS Utilities Act 2000
Department of Trade and Industry Gas suppliers Standard Licence Conditions September 2001
Condition 17. Reading, Inspection and Testing of Meters states:

1. The licensee shall use all reasonable endeavours (including, in particular, the
seeking of a warrant under the Rights of Entry (Gas and Electricity Boards) Act
1954 (other than where the premises in question are secondary sub-deduct
premises) where it is necessary to do so) to ensure that at intervals of not more
than 2 years (which shall be deemed to expire on a date specified in a notice
given by the relevant transporter which has been transmitted to the licensee by
the relevant shipper (or, which the holder of this licence has, where it is the
relevant shipper, received direct from the relevant transporter), no less than 4
months in advance, in any case where a gas supplier has supplied premises for
less than 2 years) an inspection of the meter and associated installation shall take
place in accordance with paragraph 2.

2. An inspection under paragraph 1 shall be carried out by a person possessing
appropriate expertise and shall include the following tasks -
(a) reading the meter;
(b) inspecting the meter and associated installation for evidence of tampering;
(c) inspecting the meter and that installation for any evidence that the meter
has not continuously been in position for the purpose of registering the
quantity of gas supplied;
(d) arranging for information in respect of any gas leakage identified in the
vicinity of the meter to be passed on in accordance with the Gas Safety
(Management) Regulations 1996 as if the licensee had been informed
thereof;
(e) inspecting the meter for any evidence of deterioration which might affect
its due functioning or safety; and
(f) where necessary and subject to the consent of the owner of the meter,
changing any batteries in the meter.

Info from:
http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/gas_and_electricity/regulation_policy/licences/sc1_gassupply.pdf

What this does appear to state is that the meter must be read every two years and that in doing so the meter must also be given a cursory inspection. Unfortunately the CAB appear to have misrepresented the legislation as there is no “test” element to these inspections; the test part of the legislation relates to meters that are believed to be faulty.
Anyone who has had an unread meter for more than two years would have grounds for complaint; however I’m not sure what punishment (if any) such failure to comply with the legislation would attract.

moneysavingplumber

Hi NJM,

I just had a quick scan through the thread after your PM. What boiler do you have?

It's unlikely that your meter is incorrect. When your boiler was serviced the engineer should have taken a gas rate and burner pressure check which would tell you the KW/H rating of your boiler in real terms and whether it's running efficiently by it's own data. If the boiler has a permanent pilot this will add to the cost of running it. The inlet gas pressure won't affect the perfomance of appliances if it is high, the governor next to the meter will keep the supply rate at something close to 20 mbars and most appliances are controlled individually, if they are not then they should not be used anyway (direct feed, ungoverned gas fires for example).

Go to https://www.boilers.org.uk and check your usage against the Annual Fuel Cost Estimator and see where your usage fits in.

Regards,

Dave.

njm_2

The boiler is a “Glow Worm Ultimate” I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a perminent pilot light- I’ll take a look at the boiler site as you suggest.
Thanks for the pm.

Nick.

moneysavingplumber

No problem, the Gloworm Ultimate will come under old heavyweight boiler category at boilers.org.uk.

Check here also http://www.est.org.uk/housingbuildings/calculators/boilersizing/

and check to see how accurately your boiler has been sized for your property. The tendency has always been to oversize but this is extremely inefficient. The BTU rating of your boiler will usually be identified by a multiple of ten, eg a Gloworm Ultimate 80 will refer to 80,000 btus or 23KW (1KW = 3412 btus). The above site will give the result in watts.

njm_2

It would appear that our current boiler is slightly too small for our property as the calculations reveal a need for a 23kW (78,357 btus) and our boiler is a Glow Worm Ultimate 70 (70,000 btus). I imagine this would mean that the boiler would be working overtime in order to provide the required amount of heat; add to this our current poor levels of insulation and this might also explain the difficulty in keeping the place warm. I’m pretty sure that the radiators are not balanced and we don’t have thermal valves fitted at present so this will probably compound the problem.

Our boiler has a SAP seasonal efficiently of between 77.1 and 79.3%, as we have one of two possible boilers listed, however the estimated annual fuel cost under typical conditions in a Semi-detached property of average size and construction is £292, based on standing charge (per quarter) of £7.35 unit charge (pence per kWh)
1.41p. This would equate to 18,624.11kWH per year.

Our own annual usage, after seasonal adjustment, is likely to be closer to 30,000 kWH which, using the sites quoted standard/unit charge figures for comparison purposes, would mean our own gas bill would be £452.70. This figure is even greater than their figure for a comparable size detached property (£401) and almost exactly 50% greater than their typical semidetached house of a comparable size. I’m not sure that, even taking into account the negative elements raised about our current system, this would account for an apparent extra 50% usage of gas.

I finally got a reply from Powergen regarding the last time my meter was “inspected & tested” and they state:

“I can't say when your gas meter was last inspected and tested as we don't hold that information.

However, the owners of your meter will be able to assist you in your query. Please call National Grid, formally Transco, on 0845 606 6766.”

Several calls to National Grid later and it transpires that they are duty bound to test the pressure/flow rate of the meter every 10 years, however all records prior to July 2004 are archived as this is when their company was formed.

Apparently Transco hold the archives but their current staff appear unaware of this and state that they are the emergency gas repairers and all metering is dealt with by National Grid.

moneysavingplumber

If a proper gas rate check had been carried out when the boiler was serviced rather than just a combustion analysis it would have revealed any discrepancy in the meter reading, as if it is faulty it would have given a gas rate of way over what the boiler is designed to operate at and alarm bells would (or should) have rung. You do still have the option of buying your own gas meter as far as I know, most are owned by Transco but many are privately owned, I've never dealt with switching from one to the other so you would need to contact your supplier on that. Gas meters can be purchased via Parts Center (formerly HRPC) which is part of the Wolesley Group (Plumb Center).

You can check the gas rate of your appliance without interfering with it. If you have a traditional U6 (with the dial) meter it's a matter of making sure the boiler (boiler only) is running and will do so uninterrupted for at least a few minutes (system cold, stats up on full) and then watching the gas meter dial and time it with a stopwatch for one complete revolution of the dial.

If it's a modern digital meter then make a note of the reading, run the boiler (boiler only) for two minutes and then make another note of the new reading.

If you post the readings (either time in seconds for one revolution of test dial on U6 or the two seperate readings of the digital meter accross two minutes) here I (and maybe even another of our plumbers on the forum will beat me to it) will be able to tell you what the gas rate in KW/h of your boiler is, according to your meter. If it is giving a reading that is in line with the rating of the appliance then I would assume that it is accurate. If it is giving a reading way over that, and yet a recent combustion check confirmed efficient combustion then the meter would be more suspect and would warrant further investigation. However, in that situation, it would be advisable to have a Corgi engineer check the burner pressure at the appliance first and seeing if it ties in with the gas rate check.