HUGE gas bills for past few years

jimmybonsaville

Hi guys im hoping someone will be able to offer some advice. Bit of boring background.... I lived with my ex girlfriend for 4 years we had a joint account and she "looked after" the bills etc and paid things with my wages anyways..we are no longer together and im taking the reigns as they lol.
I live in a small 1 bedroom ground floor flat with gas central heating and a gas fire which i dont use and thats it. There is 3 rooms a joined living room kitchen a bedroom and a bathroom(windowless). Not being the "domestic" person ive never really took a intrest on what things have been costing just assumed the gas bills where this high for everyone. When i mean high i say on average ive been paying over £1000 a year on gas. Just got my latest bill of £222 which really opened my eyes on the amount ive been paying. 1st thing i did was ring my family and friends and asked is this right and all agree im paying wayy too much. My parents life in a 3 bed terraced house and pay no more than £110 and they use gas fires and cooker freinds also ranged for lower figures than what i pay.
Ive checked the meter and it tallys up with the bill give or take 20 units over on the bill. Its seems really high for this place and im sure i must have a faulty meter. My above neighbours with identical flat rooms size etc pay on average £70 per quater. What should i do next? Do i ring british gas and ask for someone to look at the meter? And where do i stand if ive been overpaying because of a faulty meter over the duration of 4 years?? Many thanks

penrhyn

First turn your heating of and check that you are not still using gas, as there might be a leak.
Do you run the heating 24 hours a day?
Have you set your room thermostat to something sensible like 20 degrees?
It could also be the boiler is in need of a service.
I would get on to BG/Transco and get them to change the meter, they are supposed to do this every few years but I don't know the period.


I live in a 3 bedroom terrace and pay £30/month for both gas and electricity.

Cardew

You could firstly check to see if your meter is Metric or Imperial and that you are being billed for the correct type.

If it is Metric each unit = 11.3 kWh approx, Imperial is 2.83 times more.

It is not unknown for a supply company to use the conversion rate for an Imperial meter when you have a Metric meter. This results in a bill 2.83 times too high.

jimmybonsaville

Cheers for advice guys. On closer inspection of the meter erm lol the meter was made in 1983. I live in rented property and there are 4 other flats around me. The other meters are fairly new and are measured in in m3 where mine is ft3 so does this mean im paying to much and have done for past 4 years? If this is the case should i be looking at a rebate? Im surprised they havent noticed this.

jem16

I think Cardew meant that if you had a metric meter you might be being billed wrongly.

You have an imperial meter so this will not be the cause of your high bills.

jimmybonsaville

Sorry but im confused now. Im only 25 lol dont even know diff between metric and imperial. All i do know is that my bills are huge compared to identical flats in my building. The only difference is that they all have new meters measured in m3 where mine is over 20 years old and is measured in ft3

Cardew

Metric meters are the more modern type of meter and are gradually replacing Imperial meters.

Units as shown on the Imperial meter(ft3) are 2.83 times bigger(in terms of kWh) than units on a Metric meter(m3), and you are billed for each kWh you use.

As stated above, there have be cases where people have been changed to a metric meter but the utility company have not changed the way they calculate consumption which results in them paying 2.83 times too much.

However this is not the case with you because you are on an Imperial meter, so that is not the problem.

Your gas bill are obviously far too high for a small flat so you need to investigate why.

It is very rare that gas meters are faulty as they are very simple, the incoming gas turns a vane which is connected to the dials.

Where is your meter situated? Although unlikely, on some converted flats it has been known for meters to be connected to the wrong flat or even two flats on one meter.

You need to check that the meter dials are not moving when nothing is running in your flat. If you have the pilot light running there will be a small movement.

Turn everything off when you are away from the flat and check the meter before and after you return.

If thats OK you are down to looking at faulty boiler or you have the rooms too warm.

IvanOpinion

I have never seen this with gas but have seen it with electricity so am only putting it forward as a possibility.

Is it possible that the meters for the flats are connected together and therefore all
gas coming in to the premises is going through your meter before going to the other flats which are themselves recorded independently. In this case your usage should have the usage from the other flats deducted.

Ivan

smartie1976

Ring the BG call centre and ask what the situation is re your meter. ask them to check if the meter is a group (as Ivan mentioned above your meter could be a sub/master situation, although unlikely as you say your neighbour is paying their bills). Also if you can have it replaced.


Meteric and Imperial Simply:

Metric = 5 dial, with THREE red digits after the main 5 digit number

Imperial = 4 dial with ONE red digit after the main 4 digit number (also 6 dial imperial meters, but more likely used for larger premises)