Black Spot Gas Meter - Faulty?

shs

Hello,

I am hoping that someone can offer me some advice regarding my gas meter. The suppliers are British Gas - and I have tried to discuss it with them, however they have been pretty unhelpful thus far.

A bit of background... I have been with British Gas for the last 3 years. My previous home was a 1 bedroom flat with 3 radiators - and at this property we paid just below £170 for a year's worth of gas, and from looking back at a winter bill we were using around 12 kwh per day. I am aware that this is very low compared to average.

Myself and my husband have now moved into a 2 bed flat (as of July 2012) which has 6 radiators. The heating is via a combi boiler which has recently been serviced by British Gas. We use the heating for 4 hours per day - but on occasion this rises to 6 hours if it is very cold. The hot water is the only other thing in the flat which uses gas - and we use about 4 showers worth of hot water per day. We do not have a bath.

We received our first bill at the new flat in September 2012, for £128.96. At the time I thought this was very high, but due to being very busy at the time I did not look into it. However we have now received our second bill which covers 31st October to today, and is for £181.66. This bill states that we have used 3511.47 kWh during this period, which I calculate as an average of 39 kwh per day.

When we discussed this with BG, they said that this was very normal usage and not cause for concern. However what I am struggling to understand is how our usage could have risen so dramatically. With the move from 3 to 6 radiators I would expect the usage to rise - but not this much! Neither property was a new build - but both are pretty well insulated, double glazing etc. This new flat has concrete walls as opposed to plasterboarded, not sure if that makes any difference.

I have tried to do a bit of research into faulty meters, as I wondered if this was a possible cause - and I have come across information stating that 88% of a certain model of UGI Black Spot gas meter were found to be over registering. I have checked the model of my meter, and it is a 1984 UGI Black Spot.

I have checked BG's calculations from imperial to metric and everything adds up there. We are going to record the meter every day for the next week, as well as how much heating and hot water used to try and get a clearer picture.

I know that we can ask them to remove the meter and test it - but I don't want to end up paying for the test if there is nothing wrong with it! Therefore what I am hoping that someone can help me with is to establish whether or not this is reasonable usage for a home of this size, and whether there is cause for concern that this Black Spot meter might be faulty. I don't want to create unnecessary hassle and I'm not trying to wriggle out of paying for what I've used - I'm just anxious to make sure that we are not being continuously overcharged!

I look forward to hearing people's opinions, and I thank you very much in advance for your time.

Sophie

rogerblack

shs wrote: »

. With the move from 3 to 6 radiators I would expect the usage to rise - but not this much! Neither property was a new build - but both are pretty well insulated, double glazing etc. This new flat has concrete walls as opposed to plasterboarded, not sure if that makes any difference.

'both are pretty well insulated' - alas this is something you actually would often need to get into the walls to work out.
Double glazing plays almost no part in insulation, unless you have unusually large numbers of windows.
Insulation between apparantly similar properties may vary by a factor of five, easily.
And heat from other properties in the same building in the case of flats too.
It sounds like you were being heated by other people in your prior flat.

It is unlikely your meter is seriously overreading.

As a simple check.
Take a reading on your meter before your gas goes on for the day.
turn your boiler thermostat up to maximum, and the thermostat up to maximum.
Read the meter after an hour, ensuring that the boiler is on full all the time.
If your boiler is 20kW - and it uses about 20kWh in an hour when on full, then your meter is not very inaccurate.

alanq

Have you compared the actual amount of gas used with what you used to used as opposed to how much you paid for it? The price that you are paying will reflect any change of tariff and recent price increases.

Is the bill based on actual readings or estimates?

SwanJon

shs wrote: »

I have tried to do a bit of research into faulty meters, as I wondered if this was a possible cause - and I have come across information stating that 88% of a certain model of UGI Black Spot gas meter were found to be over registering. I have checked the model of my meter, and it is a 1984 UGI Black Spot.

I've not heard that (but, I've not looked).
However if your meter was over-registering by 10% you would still be using 35kWh/day. It would need to be overregistering by 60% to get to 24 kWh/day.
I don't know if it said how much tohose 88% were over-registering by, but I would be surprised if many of them were in double figures.

This doesn't mean that faulty meters shouldn't be investigated & replaced, but it does mean that you will still have a substantial increase over your previous home even if the meter is found faulty.

shs

Hello All,

Thank you ever so much for your speedy replies, very helpful stuff.

alanq - I have indeed checked the actual energy used, and it is now showing to be considerably higher (39 kwh per day instead of 12 kwh per day).

SwanJon - this is very helpful to know - from reports I have read it doesn't seem like the meters are over registering by anywhere near 60% - 6% is the highest I have seen reported.

rogerblack - I do agree that we were probably being heated by other flats in the previous property. Your suggested test sounds like a very good idea, and I shall carry it out this evening.

If the test doesn't show any problems, then I think I shall have to drop the issue and pay the bill - as it doesn't seem worth the financial risk of investigating the meter when even if it was faulty it would only be affecting the bill by 6% or so.

I shall look forward to eventually getting the Smart Meters and being able to keep track of the usage more easily!

Thanks again for all your kind help and advice.

Best wishes to all.

Sophie

chanz4

take a read everyday at the same time for a week, if its around the same your meter is fine

C_Mababejive

Maybe you could buy your own meter and have it fitted downstream of the existing one?

southcoastrgi

if it was installed in 1984 it should have been replaced by now

chanz4

southcoastrgi wrote: »

if it was installed in 1984 it should have been replaced by now

could be a reconditioned one

SwanJon

shs wrote: »

If the test doesn't show any problems, then I think I shall have to drop the issue and pay the bill - as it doesn't seem worth the financial risk of investigating the meter when even if it was faulty it would only be affecting the bill by 6% or so.

Depends on how much of a gambler you are!
Take into account how long you are likely to be at the property, and how much you might spend in that time.
E.g. 2 years at £50/mth = £1200, 6% = £72 (around the cost of the test?)

southcoastrgi

chanz4 wrote: »

could be a reconditioned one

it's in ft3 & should be m3 so it's an old meter & therefore should be replaced