Gas meter change

GEMSTAR1211

Last Saturday, 21/01, at had my gas meter changed by British Gas at their request, not mine. Since the meter change the new meter is recording a colosul usage of gas units compared to the previous meter despite turning the water heating down and setting the thremostat on the cental heating to a minimal temperature. I am not in during weekdays so the warm air heating is only on briefly in the mornings and evenings.
My gas usage for the 30 day period from 21/12 until 21/01 was 49 units. I took a reading on 21/12 when I received a gass bill and again just before the meter change so i know this is correct.
Since the meter was changed I have alledgedly used 27 units of gas in just 7 days despite the house being unoccupied for a good proportion of this time - this equates to a cost of appoximately £43 for a weeks usage, so obviously I am very concerned!
Has anyone out there had similar problems and if so what did you do about it?

HappyMJ

Metric meters accrue quicker than meters that measure in ft³. If you used 49 hundred ft³ of gas that would be about 50kWh per day. If you used 27 m³ in 7 days that would be 43kWh per day which is actually less than you were using previously. This would cost you about £14 for a week.

notbritishgas

It is quite likely that the new meter (certainly) is a metric one and the old one was imperial. If that is the case the new meter will be recording almost 3 times the reading of the old one. (2.83 to be precise).
This does not mean you are using 3 times the gas as the way they work out the kwh usage on the different types of meter is different.

If you wany us to check post some details from a bill when you had the old meter. what we want is the units used and the kwh figure they converted it to.

GEMSTAR1211

The old meter has been in situte for at laest 25 years, since I purchased this property. The unit usage indicator on the new meter appeared to be the same as the old one except it allows for 5 digits in the main readout section rather than 4 on the old one. The new meter is definately metric because it shows M3 on it.
My last bill shows 114 imperial units x 2.83 metric conversion factor x 39.3 calorific value x 1.0226400 volue correction + 3.6 to convert to kWh = 3607.67 gas used inkWh.
Perhaps you would be kind enough to confirm but if what you are telling me is correct then I am heartly releaved and extremely grateful to you for your help. I was anticipating having to take out a second mortgage just to pay the gas bill!

HappyMJ

GEMSTAR1211 wrote: »

The old meter has been in situte for at laest 25 years, since I purchased this property. The unit usage indicator on the new meter appeared to be the same as the old one except it allows for 5 digits in the main readout section rather than 4 on the old one. The new meter is definately metric because it shows M3 on it.
My last bill shows 114 imperial units x 2.83 metric conversion factor x 39.3 calorific value x 1.0226400 volue correction + 3.6 to convert to kWh = 3607.67 gas used inkWh.
Perhaps you would be kind enough to confirm but if what you are telling me is correct then I am heartly releaved and extremely grateful to you for your help. I was anticipating having to take out a second mortgage just to pay the gas bill!

The next bill won't have the x 2.83 metric conversion factor. Make sure it doesn't and ring them immediately if it does.....and switch suppliers please. BG is far too expensive for gas. That looks like nearly 5p/kWh for gas when it should be closer to 3.5p/kWh plus a little for standing charges.

macman

GEMSTAR1211 wrote: »

The old meter has been in situte for at laest 25 years, since I purchased this property. The unit usage indicator on the new meter appeared to be the same as the old one except it allows for 5 digits in the main readout section rather than 4 on the old one. The new meter is definately metric because it shows M3 on it.
My last bill shows 114 imperial units x 2.83 metric conversion factor x 39.3 calorific value x 1.0226400 volue correction + 3.6 to convert to kWh = 3607.67 gas used inkWh.
Perhaps you would be kind enough to confirm but if what you are telling me is correct then I am heartly releaved and extremely grateful to you for your help. I was anticipating having to take out a second mortgage just to pay the gas bill!

Then your old meter was imperial.
Don't measure gas consumption in meter units (that is just a measure of volume). Convert to kWh, which is what you are actually billed in.