Gas meter imperial v metric conversion KWh

calmspirit

I need help!

been sitting at my laptop ALL DAY trying to work out if I could be right.....EDF are shut until morning:(

I think I have found the reason why my gas bills are so high since moving to this house 2 years ago.
I had previously put it down to a carp boiler and we spent most of winter and ALL of this year freezing under blankets and boiling kettle for washing dishes....using electric shower for us! After the first year's bill nearly killed me!

Looking at the meter and the conversion factors to make that reading into KWh .......I THINK (and I may be very wrong about this) that EDF are doing a conversion based on imperial meter when in fact it is a metric meter.......MAJOR difference. The bills dont seem to show the calculation but google was my friend for this!

Looking at reading of 288 which was on just one bill last year......
Imperial method 288 units = 9057 KWh x3.353p=£303
Metric method 288 units = 3198 KWh x 3.353p=£107

The amount on my bill is £303 but my meter is METRIC ....despite having queried my bills with EDF for 2 years (based on previous costs for similar houses over many many years) nobody has ever mentioned this calcualtion.........could I be right? anyone know anything about these things before I make a fool of myself and query my bills YET again??:D

TIA

chanz4

Is you meter serial start with a G4 or E6? Also it should have M3 on it if metric

calmspirit

chanz4 wrote: »

Is you meter serial start with a G4 or E6? Also it should have M3 on it if metric

It has M3 on it so is metric

I supose my question is .......with a metric meter and a reading of 288 would people expect a bill of circa £100-£150 or £300+? ie have I calculated correctly??

[Deleted User]

I find this mess-up a few times every year. You now need to verify which type of meter EDF are billing you for, I have found two last month alone.

macman

A metric meter billed as imperial will result in a bill around 2.88 times higher than it should be for the unit charges (obviously not for the standing charges). So a nice little credit should be coming your way. Take a pic of the meter (showing the m3) and send it to EDF.
The meter was presumably changed from imperial to metric prior to your occupation and was never updated on the national database. There should be a sticker on it giving the date it was changed.
This site will do an instant conversion for you:
http://www.energylinx.co.uk/gas_meter_conversion.html

calmspirit

Hi macman

yes the meter was changed a few months before I moved in, will phone EDF in the morning ....was rather hoping for a refund so I can put it towards a new boiler rather than a credit to account!

Will see how it goes tomorrow! thanks for your input

macman

If the amount owing is over a set limit then you can ask for a repayment rather than a credit.You should be able to calculate the approx amount due by looking at your old bills or annual kWh consumption.

DVardysShadow

macman wrote: »

If the amount owing is over a set limit then you can ask for a repayment rather than a credit.You should be able to calculate the approx amount due by looking at your old bills or annual kWh consumption.

You can ask, regardless of how little they owe you. And in a case like this, where the the overpayment arises from an error on their part, you should get the money back immediately it is agreed that there is an error IMO

calmspirit

thanks for all your help......spoke to EDF today, they were very apologetic and admitted their error........still waiting for a call back to tell me how much they think they have overcharged me by.........I have my spreadsheet with 2 years of calculations at the ready!

More concerned with the fact that I have queried the bills for 2 years and I never thought to check the actual conversion into KWh - what chance do older less savvy people have if I didnt pick up on this!

I think all suppliers should be forced to check ALL bills that have imperial conversion calculations on to ensure that NOBODY who is being charged this way has a metric meter.

I know watchdog have covered this in the past....I am going to request that they re-visit this issue to prevent others being overcharged.

The my MP is on my list ! So angry ...yes I know I could have picked up on this but it wasnt easy to spot nor did EDF pick up on it despite my protests that my bills were enormous!

I cant believe I made my kids freeze during the winter as I thought it was my gas boiler to blame....

rant over !

[Deleted User]

Yes the suppliers are oblivious to these mess ups and always seem to think its the occupiers have got it wrong. Its happening all the time, a new build I went to 3 weeks ago with a metric meter of course, as all new properties are, was being billed for an Imperial. If a meter reader visits and notices it,and does nt follow it up with the customer, nothing gets done and the bills are huge. I met an old lady with this mess up who was petrified to switch the heating on for fear of massive bills,she was getting £400 summer quarterly bills alone. Can t see Watchdog going for that story again though. I like to feed them stuff when possible, they have my phone number and have phoned me for anything on Brit Gas as they seem to have got it in for them for some reason. They need to get EDF on the radar also

calmspirit

sacsquacco wrote: »

I met an old lady with this mess up who was petrified to switch the heating on for fear of massive bills,she was getting £400 summer quarterly bills alone.

Thanks for your comments ......It's disgusting that this can happen and what you say above is exactly what I am afraid of ........I dread to think the numbers of older people in this position.

I spent all winter living like a prisoner with quilts and blankets nailed over doors and windows because I couldnt afford to put the boiler on......now I realise it wasnt my boiler I am SOOO angry.

Off to do a forum search on MSE - surely Martin has raised this issue?? If not then maybe he should