New gas meter could cost me £60 should i risk it?

TIGs

Just got a gas bill for £205 my houseis only a three bedroomed semi detached and the heating is only on 8 hours a day except weekends it could be on for maybe 12 hours, the only other thing i use gas for is hot water which is on from 6 till 6 as i was told it worksd out cheaper to keep water heater on all day instead of letting it cool then have to reheat it again.

Just spoke to a fella at NPower and he reckons my meter which is 10 years old is running too fast cos of its age, he said to keep a record of my meter reading for every day this week and ring him back next Monday with the readings so he can see if it looks wrong.

The thing is he said if he thinks the meter is running too fast he can ask for a new meter fitting and the old one will be tested to see if its faulty, good news is if it is faulty they will owe me money back and so will powergen who i swapped from last September.
BUT if it turns out the meter isn't faulty i will be charged £6O for the new meter fitted.

Any suggestions on what i should do for the best?

Ta x

c_smith

Phone Transco and confirm the position with them, because I'm sure it is they who supply the meters and not the energy companies. I asked for my meters to be changed about three years ago because the house I moved into had pre-pay meters for both Gas and Electricity and I wasn't charged a penny for either.

Cardew

I don't think £205 is excessive(assuming it is for 3 months) for a winter period and the usage as you state.

It is extremely rare for a gas meter to run 'too fast'. They are essentially a simple device and all the gas does is turn a vane in the meter which is connected to the dials. If anything older meters can have increased friction which has the opposite effect - although by a very small amount.

By the way it isn't cheaper to leave the water heating on, rather than on a timer - although with a well lagged tank it won't cost that much more.

It is amazing how this urban myth, of it being cheaper to leave a water heater on permanantly, has gained credence. Most people would not think it was cheaper to leave a saucepan of water heating on the stove all day, or a kettle boiling all day. Same principle!

caveat_emptor

TIGs wrote:

Just spoke to a fella at NPower and he reckons my meter which is 10 years old is running too fast cos of its age, he said to keep a record of my meter reading for every day this week and ring him back next Monday with the readings so he can see if it looks wrong.
Any suggestions on what i should do for the best?
Ta x

How is the Npower man going to know that your meter is running fast from your meter readings?
Only way to do that is to check meter reading against gas volume used which is impossible at home. Knowing the rating of your gas boiler you might get an idea by checking the meter readings over a period with the boiler at full burn, but it won't be that accurate.

TIGs

I think hes working on the average for a 3 bedroomed semi,

He said it was a third over what it should be for a house the size of mine, but after reading some of the posts on here from people with similar size houses it seems £205 is a good bill.

It doesn't help with prices going up so much as bills are so much bigger i guess.

domino

My daughter is with NPower and she has just received her bill ... £243! She has a tiny 2 bedroomed ground floor maisonette and has the heating and hotwater on for 6 hours a day. The thermostat is set to under 20 degrees. She phoned NPower to query the meter reading and was told she would have to pay £60 to have Transco out to check the meter. I am now in the process of finding her a new supplier!

TIGs

Thanks for that domino i'm starting to think my bill is correct, i can't swap suppliers as i only joined Npower in September but i will definately be looking into it then.

Thanks everyone for your help gonna ring Transco today will let you know what they say :j

TIGs

Just come off phone to Gas Enquiries, transco gave me their number,

asked them if they could advise me what would be best for me to do, the woman said she couldn't really advise me and to get in touch with other gas suppliers and ask them what they do in this situation, but what was interesting was when i said

" i can't help thinking they are using this as an excuse so they don't have to say its because of the huge gas price rises"

her response:

"are you with Npower or powergen? we've had a few people phoning with the enquiry as they have been told the same"

Think i'll pay my bill and look at alternatives when my years up :mad: