Check your Gas Meter!

A_Star

Having just given Scottish Power meter readings for the last quarter I received a gas bill for £550!! I was really worried we had a gas leak or something, we haven't lived in the house long so had nothing to compare the usage to.

Anyway to cut a long story short it turns out they were charging us as per an old imperial meter rather than a metric meter so they were multiplying our usage by 2.83 :eek:

Thankfully they sorted it out pretty quickly and have re-revised our DD to a more resonable £75 a month (duel fuel).

So please take the time to check you are being billed for the correct meter! Even if it was right with an old supplier it may not be right when you change suppliers.

jay-jay

Sorry to sound dense but could you possibly show me the figures on your bill. Weve got a gas bill which we are outstanding on but we dont have a high useage for gas in the house and I struggle to understand the bill

Thanks:beer:

KimYeovil

Divide the total number of kWhs billed for by the number of gas meter units. If the number is about 32 then you are being charged for an imperial meter. If the number is about 11 then you should have a metric meter.

turtlemoose

hmmm so how do you tell if you meter is actually metric or imperial??

My gas bill has just come in for 10th Nov - 9th March from scottish power and it is £320.....there is only 2 of us in the house!!! eeek!


EDIT: found the answer to my own question.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_meters_pic.shtml

Iguana

Have you had a new meter fitted?
We had a new meter fitted lat year and the company that fitted the meter did not inform the gas company and we ended with a bill for £3000 as the new meter went back to zero.Eventually we got it sorted and did not owe what they said.

KimYeovil

The one of 'ft3' or 'cubic feet' or 'm3' or 'cubic metres' written on the meter somewhere should give you a clue!

Unfortunately, £320 doesn't sound particularly high for four months gas use over winter so I suspect you may be in for a disappointment!

turtlemoose

Really? it sounds extortionate to me!!! For only 2 adults, 3 bed end terrace.

Perhaps it is because I have no carpet, just bare floorboards.

Or perhaps I just had unrealistic expectations :-/ soon as we get a hint of sun my heating is being switched off!!!!!

kelloggs36

I remember when I paid about £35 for a quarter for my gas!!!!! That was 20 years ago now. Even so, £320 seems very high to me too.

poet123

Ours was nearer £500....and we only have wooden flooring too.

turtlemoose

£500!!!! OUCH!!!

I think it really is just what it costs nowadays unfortunately..... have dug out a bill from August 08 (so really not that old!) and calculated my recent bill on the older prices.....would come out at a more healthy £250 (so just over £60 a month for winter, with heating, hot water and cooking) ....so looks like it just really does cost that much rather than excessive use or anything else :-/

tis cold in here now....off to turn radiator off and put 5 jumpers on.....

Steph998

Iguana wrote: »

we ended with a bill for £3000

:eek:

Wouldn't have liked to be the one that opened that envelope, I'd have had heart failure!