Confused by gas meter calculations

sinar

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on the calculations used by gas suppliers to arrive at "units converted to kilowatt hours"

The problem i have is that the calculations used by my gas supplier (Ebico) are different from the calculations used by mothers supplier (Atlantic Electric and Gas).

My mother has recently been hit with a really large gas bill, and she only uses minimal gas, having a couple of gas fires that she has had on very low, it is the first time she has a had a big bill and her usage pattern has not changed over the years, I know that gas has increased in price, but it still seems a massive jump.

Based on the number of units she uses compared to me, she arrives at a much larger "units converted to kilowatt hours" than I do, putting her number of units through the calculations from my supplier, it comes up with about a third of the "units converted for kilowatt hours" than using the calculation from her supplier.

I hope I making some sort of sense, I'm just confused why her supplier would use a different set of calculations than mine, I'm assuming this must be because her "unit" as shown on the gas meter, represents a different quantity of gas than a "unit" shown on my gas meter?

Ebico are using the calculations:

Units x correction factor 1.02264
cu mtrs x calorific value 39.5 / conversion factor 3.6
=units converted to kilowatt hours

Atlantic electric and gas are using the calculations:

units x factor 100 x correction factor x 1.02264
x conversion factor 0.0283
cu mtrs x calorific value 39.2 / conversion factor 3.6
=units converted to kilowatt hours

As you can see some of the calculations are the same, but there are some extra steps with atlantic.

Anyway, thanks for reading, chances are I'm overlooking something very obvious, I'm just trying to help my Mum find out why her bill was so high,

Julie

bryanb

You need to check whether the meter is metric or imperial

sinar

bryanb wrote: »

You need to check whether the meter is metric or imperial

Thanks, I will be visiting her tomorrow so I'll check to see which type it is,


Julie

sinar

I've just phoned my mother up and she's checked her meter and it says "ft" on it, so I'm assuming its an imperial meter, does that mean the conversion calculations are correct?

thanks,

Julie

bryanb

sinar wrote: »

I've just phoned my mother up and she's checked her meter and it says "ft" on it, so I'm assuming its an imperial meter, does that mean the conversion calculations are correct?

thanks,

Julie

Possibly correct, I haven't done the maths but suppliers sometimes use the wrong factors, especially just after switching. As you say metric units are vastly different from the imperial, so plenty of scope for mistakes.
Another source of large bills can be estimated units, followed by an actual reading.