help problem with gas supply

alm721

Hi I wondered if anyone could offer any advice. My husband has a shop and has a gas boiler to heat water and central heating is run from gas. For ages I have been telling him that the gas bill was way too high and that we were using loads. He eventually told me that it was because the cetral heating was on all the time because the boiler was faulty and they couldnt turn it on and off. I made him get a plumber who switched ythe boiler off. He now has no hot water or heating but the meter is still going at quite a rate. He is certain that the meter is only for the shops. I know there are flats upstairs but i know they get a different bill for gas as they belong to my father in law and have been empty anyway for about 18months. Question is what dpo we do now. the plumber/gas boiler man is coming back to check. He said that either we have a leak or are supplying gas elsewhere, is this likely. If he comes and finds we have no leak what do we do. Any help appricated, apologies for lack of question marks etc, having to type onehanded.

thanks

Cardew

Leak and someone using your supply are the 2 obvious possibilities - in that order.

You are sure that 'your' meter is the correct one for the shop? It is not unknown to be billed for the wrong meter, especially in conversions.

surfcat

Given that the flats above are in the same family as the shop itself is it possible that the supply pipe to them was originally taken from the supply in the shop below, with a meter added?

Then the flats are probably paying their own bill, yet the shop is being metered on the total of its and the flats above usage, so really it might need to calculate shop minus flats to give correct reading.

To test this, turn off the gas meter to the shop and see if the flats complain!

Errata

The flats upstairs are empty ! Phone and report a suspected leak !

Pssst

For a leak to be so substantial that it makes a significant difference to your gas bill, I can promise you that it wouldnt go on for more than a day or so becuase you would either

(a) smell it and report it

or

(b)your house would have blown up

alm721

Hi there, thanks for the replies, its not a leak thank goodness we had the plumber down yesterday he has shut the boiler off again so my husband tells me (I thought this had already been done but they're not sure it was completely off or something). Anyway we are now waiting to see if the meter keeps going. We'll check tomorrow when back at work. If its stopped then it looks like a faulty boiler if not then what do we do? as the only thing I can think is that someone else is using the gas but how do you find this out and who do you contatc about it, is it British gas?
Thanks