Confused

extremely_high_gas_bills

I live in a three bed terrace and have been paying on average £45 per month for my gas. In July 2010 Southern Electric came to my door saying they could save me money if I switched to them. Since changing supplier I have have used 2096 units to date. I am now being told that my average useage of gas per month is £112 and that this is about right for my size property. They are increasing my direct debit to £163.00 per month to cover arrears. When I entered my useage into a gas calc it showed my useage as £42 per month. Southern Electric insist they are right saying it is because my meter is imperial therefore i would pay three times as much as someone on a metric meter. Is this correct?

YorksClare

Your old meter is probably reading in cubic feet, whereas a new meter would read in cubic metres. There are roughly 3.14 feet in an equivalent length to a metre, and so that will probably account for the company saying you have to multiply by 3. However, energy usage is usually displayed in kWh. This requires more messing about with calculations to turn cubic metres of gas into energy measurements - see this link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_meters_pic.shtml

So, with a calculator, a following wind and some patience you should be able to get an idea of where it has all gone. Best of luck!

notbritishgas

It is important that you find out what kind of meter you have and that Southern Electric are billing you for the correct type.
Look at your meter, if it has Cu ft on it it is an imperial, if it has m3 or something similar it is a metric meter. From your comments about prices I guess they are billing you as an imperial one.

For a metric meter your 2096 units will be about 23475 kwh costing about £939.
For an imperial one it will be about 66024 kwh costing about £2640.

macman

You don't pay 3 times as much! Any CS rep who told you that needs sending for retraing. But a metric meter will clock up the units 3 times faster, so you'll seem to be using more gas. However you are billed in kWh, and once the correct conversion is made, the unit price you pay will be exactly the same.
You real problem is that you've fallen for the old 'we can reduce your DD' sale patter. Which they can of course, by under-estimating your consumption. What happens then is that you build up arrears and then get a big catch up bill and a higher DD to recover it. By which time the door-knocker is long gone, along with his commission.