New house first gas bill

Kat1972

I just wondered if anyone had any advice: we recently moved to a brand new house (one of two houses on a small development by a local builder) We brought our gas and electricity supplier over with us from our old house-Eon. It took nearly 2 months for the transfer to take place from Scottish power to Eon and we have just received a bill for £286 from Scottish power for the two months- I think this has got to be wrong. I have read the meter and the reading is right on the bill, but is it possible that the meter is set up wrong? Could we get it checked do you think? Surely we can't have used this much gas in such a short space of time? Is there anything I can do about this please?

notbritishgas

Did you take the reading when you moved in (I hope so).
If so does it tally with the opening reading on your bill.

Kat1972

yes, the readings do seem to agree to the meter, I was thinking maybe it isn't set correctly?

notbritishgas

I presume the £286 is for gas alone?
As it is a new build you will have a metric meter, check to make sure they are not billing you for an imperial one.
If you post how many metered units are on the bill and how many KwH they are converted to then someone will tell you if the bill is correct.
Just a thought though, if the 2 months covered the recent very cold weather and you have gas Central heating, depending on how you use the heating then quite a high bill for 2 winter months could be expected.

Kat1972

Yes, it is just for gas. It was over the very cold period over Christmas etc when we were at home more, even so It seems way over what it could/should be. Could I get someone out ot check the meter is set up right? Someone from Eon maybe-do you think they would?

notbritishgas

You would almost certainly have to pay to get the meter checked and only get it reimbursed if it was faulty, and the chances I think are remote.
I think they would have to replace it and take it away to check.
As per my earlier post check the units to Kwh conversion as if they think it is an imperial meter then the cost would be nearly 3 times too high.
Just togive you an idea, in 2 months over Christmas with heating on 6am to 10.30 pm in 3 bed bungalow my cost was approx £166.

WestonDave

It might be useful to know where you are and how much gas used in units (should be on the bill). Without that there are too many factors in play such as an expensive old tariff, a particularly cold location etc.

My bill for the quarter to end January was £250 for a big 3 bed house, but I know we got off very lightly with the snow (where as some places had it solidly for weeks) and we tend to keep our house temperature pretty low. (18C during the day 14C overnight).

Kat1972

Thanks for your replies, I haven't got the bill with me at the moment so I can't post up details-may have it with me on Monday will try then and hope you are there!

Thanks.

Wickedkitten

Did Scottish Power put you on their standard tariff whilst you were waiting for the switchover to be done?

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi Kat1972,

Firstly there’s some good advice here, checking the readings against the bill and the start reads is the first step. Especially the reading taken on the move in date.

Secondly as notbritishgas says check both companies are converting your gas units correctly. Metric if you have a metric meter, imperial if it’s imperial.

Metric meters have 5 dials and measure in cubic meters and imperial have 4 dials and measure in hundreds of cubic feet. This information will be on the meter itself and it should be reflected on the bill.

There is an outside possibility that as two houses were built next to each other that your meter could be wired up to the wrong house and vice versa, however I think this is very unlikely. You can check this by either turning all your power off and checking both your meter and your neighbours meter to see if one is clocking over. You can identify whose home is running from which meter this way.

There is of course the possibility that the bill is correct, definitely worth checking all the above first though if in doubt.

Brian