Meter not starting from zero

Catatonia

I just went online to check my gas bill and it is £323.

The gas was installed 3rd June, and my husband and I moved in on the 18th (house was being decorated in between times, and I visited regularly and there was definitely no gas used). Now we are moved in, we just use the gas for hot water (so washing up and showers (as the washing machine heats up the water itself) and heating (which we have only just started using).

The bill shows a meter reading of 951 taken on 1st August, and they say that when it was installed it was on 0 (when I had my electric meter installed they said it never starts from 0, but that started from 11 so not far off 0).

I checked the meter just now and it is 965. So it seems impossible that we have used 14 units from 1st Aug to 21st Sept, but somehow 951 units from 18th June to 1st Aug. The fact that the usage is now more normal, and that the meter is not moving when the boiler is off suggests that it is not a faulty meter, but just one that did not start from 0.

We were away for a bit in Aug, but then we have had the heating on a bit in the last few days, so surely that should balance out. In any case, there is no way that we can have used about ten times as much gas in a similar length of time.

I suspect that the meter was not on 0 when it was installed, but it didn't occur to me to check so I have no proof. Is there anything I can do? Is the onus on the gas company to prove that the meter started on 0, or me to prove that it didn't?

chanz4

difficult one, are there any exchange tags?

Catatonia

No, but I have called them and sorting it out - they have no record of the start reading, so are using my recent use to estimate. Bill has reduced by nearly £300 now! Result.

mattcanary

Yeah, the man who fitted the gas meter should have completed the sticker on the front of the meter. That would tell you the reading on the meter when it was fitted. Gas meters are normally fitted on a reading of 0 (electric meters often are reconditioned meters so don;t always get fitted with a reeading of 0). Th elandlords or builders may well have a lot of the gas that you were originally billed for.
See the problem has been solved now anyway so all well and good!