Gas usage (please help)

lovey69

This is an email I received this morning -

Thank you for your email.

The meter reading of 3557 has been calculated using the actual readings that we have on your account. We have calculated your average usage and worked this back to the start of the account.

If the meter reading was in fact an actual of 3232 then the bill with ScottishPower is correct and would not need to be amended. The consumption of 35,951 is slightly higher than the average, however, it is not what we would deem excessive and therefore would not have been identified as this.

If you are concerned about your energy usage it may be beneficial to speak to our energy efficiency team on 0800 33 22 33.

I have now taken this matter to the director lets see what they say?

jalexa

lovey69 wrote: »

The consumption of 35,951 is slightly higher than the average...

That is disingenuous, I hope not *intentionally* to mislead though that can be a matter for the Director's office.

"Average" consumption is accepted as 16,500 so Scottish Power think double is slightly more:(.

The quote "if the meter reading was in fact an actual of 3232" is just "weasel words" because it contains the word "if" and depends on 3232 being correct.

However what your actual consumption is, and/or the reason for the anomaly, has not yet been established.

As a theory for elimination and it has been hinted at by an earlier poster, is it possible there was an extended period of underestimation with NPower and a low closing reading?

It would also help the experts here to know if your meter has dials or numbers.

lovey69

Sorry, our meter readings are actual easy to read numbers and the actual reading of 3232 is correct.

I have now emailed the director to see what now will be done?

I can not believe a 2 bedroom house would surely be using this much ???

I appreciate your help, so thank you.

Scottish_Power

Hi lovey69,

sorry you are not getting any resolution for your complaint. please contact me on [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Thanks

Marie@scottishpower

victor2

lovey69 wrote: »

Sorry, our meter readings are actual easy to read numbers and the actual reading of 3232 is correct.

I have now emailed the director to see what now will be done?

I can not believe a 2 bedroom house would surely be using this much ???

I appreciate your help, so thank you.

As it is clear the usage following on from the 3232 reading is impossible, how likely is it that there is some sort of mis-keying of that reading?
If you have your reading preceding the 3232, does the calculated usage between that and the 3232 make sense? It is going back a bit in time, but if you have that data it might cast a bit of light on the problem.

lovey69

I have checked the last npower bill
23/06/10 - 2309
30/03/11 - 3232

923 units in total been used over roughly a 9 month period, which is 29,680 kwh which is a lot, or is it? This is why I need some advice.

This is why I keep asking Scottish power to come and check my meter, if we are using this much gas it must be crazy???

Surely we cannot be??

macman

You can't check a gas meter on site. It will be replaced and the old meter sent for bench testing. If it proves to be not faulty, then you will be charged for the meter change. So it's entirely your choice, but you bear the risk.

lovey69

So what would you do? Keep paying the £240 a month and be happy with that???

So do you think that anything could be wrong or are you saying that its just above an average yearly reading ??

macman

Yes it's very high (double the average) but not entirely impossible. Given your expenditure, I'd say the potential cost of a meter change was worth a punt.

HappyMJ

lovey69 wrote: »

So what would you do? Keep paying the £240 a month and be happy with that???

So do you think that anything could be wrong or are you saying that its just above an average yearly reading ??

You can test the meter yourself so I would do that first. It won't be 100% accurate but it'll be close enough. Turn gas boiler to max, thermostat to max, go to meter, take reading and start stopwatch and exactly 6 minutes later take reading again then multiply figure by 10 then work out the kWh used and comparre to the specs of the boiler. It should be close to the same. If it's wildly different as in double what the boiler could use then you have a meter problem.