Help...my gas bill is very high....

Alison_JD

I live in a 4 bedroomed semi, my heating at the moment is on from 6:30 -8:30am and 2:30-9pm, thermostat controlled, 4-5 showers a day, gas cooker, 7-9 washing loads a week.
NPower have charged me £325 from 15/11 - 31/12 averaging £212 a month. I took 4 days readings at 7 cubic feet each day which converts to 220kWh a day and 80,500 a year - this can't be right surely?

NPower said the meter is unlikely to be faulty and that I've got my heating on too much, even though it shuts down via the thermostat, especially as it is placed above the dishwasher.....

Magentasue

Was the bill based on accurate readings or was one estimated?

It looks high but you have a big house, you use your heating a lot, a significant amount of hot water and gas cooking. If you're keeping your house toasty warm, and taking nice long showers, I suspect it could be horribly accurate.

Alison_JD

I've just checked my meter and it shows M3 [cubic metres] after the reading - my NPower bill shows units used in cubic feet. Does this mean my readings are already metric and I'm being overcharged?

Magentasue

Yes. Roughly speaking 1 imperial unit is 31 kwh whereas a metric one is about 11kwh. You need to get them to send a new bill!

auntynet

We're having this problem - metric meter but charged in imperial so they will multiply the units used by 2.83 to change imperial to metric but they shouldn't be doing this. Try contacting NPower to sort it out. Also watch next monday's (12th Jan) Watchdog as they are running a story about it.

Alison_JD

How can you tell if your meter is metric? NPower are insisting mine is imperial, apparently the M3 doesn't mean it's a metric meter....

notbritishgas

Alison_JD wrote: »

How can you tell if your meter is metric? NPower are insisting mine is imperial, apparently the M3 doesn't mean it's a metric meter....

Hi Alison, I am afraid npower do not know what they are talking about, M3 does indeed mean it is metric (cubic metres). If it was imperial it would have something like Cu ft on it.
Keep on at them, they will probably need to send someone out to check.

Vestra

Alison_JD wrote: »

How can you tell if your meter is metric? NPower are insisting mine is imperial, apparently the M3 doesn't mean it's a metric meter....

Check your meter serial number does it relate to the ones on the bill.

By the way martin really should do something about this as this is a huge problem and many people are over paying on their gas bill!!