Gas bill up five fold- Advice needed!

teaandcakeordeath

Right. I'm going round tomorrow so will check the meter to see what it is- whether it's imperial or metric. I'm assuming they're billing it correctly. This is what the latest bill says:

Gas readings How do we work out your gas? Details on the right
Period 8 Aug 12 to 22 Oct 12. Meter no.XXXXXX. Previous 4463 E-Present 4650 C. Units 187 hcf. Kilowatt hours 5908.

•187 units x 2.83 (to get cubic metres) x 1.02264 (conversion factor) x 39.3 (calorific value) ÷ 3.6 (to get kilowatt hours) = 5908 kWh•

Stupid question but if the figure the energy supplier have used (52000 kWh) is imperial and the meter is metric what reprecussions does that have on the bill? Would the consumption be higher or lower than they are billing for?

I agree with the turning things off. My family are pretty lax about it since me moving out so tomorrow I will go in when they are all at work and see what they've left on and then tell them off! I'm also going to take my spanners and see if any radiators are on unnecessarily (I have a feeling a couple of them are on because you can't turn them off without a spanner...). Every tiny bit helps I suppose.

Is there an easy way of telling if the meter is metric?

closed

you shouldn't need a spanner, but a bleed key may be useful

it will say m3 on the meter.

the billing assumes the meter is imperial

if the meter is metric, the difference would be the usage would appear as 2.83 times as much as it should

as shown in your example 187 units x 2.83 (to get cubic metres)

if the meter is imperial, the bill is correct, as that what you are being billed for.

187 imperial units is 5908 kwh
187 metric units is 2087 kwh

teaandcakeordeath

Thank you!

One last stupid question? I suppose if it says that it is metric but prior to new boiler it was imperial would there be anyway that they were still measuring it as though it was imperial? I don't have gas so all of this is like another language to me!

closed

they are measuring it (assuming it is) as imperial

if it has been replaced with a metric meter, and their systems don't know it's metric (m3), they will still be assuming it's an imperial (ft3) reading.

the meters get changed periodically, every 20 years, so all old imperial meters should gradually be replaced.

as a comparison 5908kwh is 6 times my usage for the same period, but hers was based on an estimated reading

a rough way of understanding the difference is to multiply m3 by 11 to get kwh, and ft3 by 32, if you take some readings 24 hours apart for a week, you'll get some idea of how much they are using.

macman

It's got nothing to do with a boiler change, unless the gas meter was changed at the same time.
A modern condensing boiler should reduce gas usage, so (everything else being equal) a meter unit mismatch could be the culprit here-but either way it's a one minute job to rule it out.
52,00kWh pa is incredibly high usage, that's over 3 times the UK average.

teaandcakeordeath

I think it's really high too! I know the house is big and doesn't have double glazing but for the consumption to have risen so much... I just don't understand it. It's almost like she's paying for her neighbour's gas as well!

teaandcakeordeath

This is the fitted boiler model:

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Find-Energy-Saving-Trust-Recommended-Products/product/heating/natural-gas-lpg-boilers/british-gas/bg330-

jalexa

teaandcakeordeath wrote: »

In addition to that her gas bills have risen five fold from about £900 to over £4000 yearly.

First of all you need to get a focus on the issue you want help on.

Take the consumption for starters. Unless proved faulty the meter is proof positive of consumption. Slightly formal but the occupier needs to understand that. As soon as there is a question mark about consumption the best thing to do is to take daily readings for a week.

Given what you have said "With the old boiler the heating used to be on none stop (the boiler was that ricketty that it couldn't be switched off for fear of never working again- even summer times were tropical)" and "(they used to be so hot that you couldn't touch them with naked skin)" no way was previous actual annual consumption "£900".

Almost certainly the "£900" was an estimated amount and the £4000 is reflective of "catch-up" plus actual high consumption.

You cannot get meaningful help here until daily meter readings (and meter metric/imperial type) are posted.

HappyMJ

teaandcakeordeath wrote: »

This is the fitted boiler model:

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Find-Energy-Saving-Trust-Recommended-Products/product/heating/natural-gas-lpg-boilers/british-gas/bg330-

An A rated 90% efficient boiler. The high bills are not due to the boiler.

Just how big is this house in square metres or square feet.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi teaandcakeordeath

Already some excellent advice on here. Just thought I'd add a couple of things.

As others have said, a metric meter will have m3 on the front. An imperial meter, though, will have hundred cubic feet (hcf) on the front.

Usually, domestic metric meters have 5 dials; whilst domestic imperial meters have 4 dials (this doesn't include the digits in red).

You say in a previous post that 'the meter is cubic meters.' However, the readings posted suggest it's imperial as they only have 4 digits. Have you missed off a zero at the start?

The meter records gas usage in either cubic meters (m3) or cubic feet (hcf). We then convert this to kWh. The conversion calculation you've posted is also for an imperial meter.

If the meter is metric but we've charged as imperial then we've overcharged. If this is the case, we'll re-bill the account correctly.

On another issue. As jalexa says, were bills before the recent ones estimated and now catch up bills have been received? If this is the case, it will give a false impression of annual usage.

I'd follow jalexa's advice and keep a check on the ongoing usage. Take regular readings and see if there's a pattern. Concentrate on the actual kWh used rather than the monetary value.

Hope this is useful. Let me know if you need any more info as happy to help.

Malc