High gas usage... Please help

Jo14

I have completed my gas readings today and in 90 days we have used 6129kwh of gas

I know it's been winter but this seems like an awfully high amount for a family of 3 in a 2 bed roomed house. We had a new boiler fitted in September

Speaking to friends their usage is no where near as high as this.

I have spoken to scottish power who say there is no problem but I do think this is high

Just wondered what people's thoughts were or whether this was normal

Thanks

Jo14

No we did have a baxi combi boiler previously it was about 4 year old when it was replaced in September

dogshome

Was the previous bill Estimated ?
If so and it was Underestimated, and now the new bill has been issued on a Meter Reading it's a catch-up bill, and both bills should be taken together when calculating the gas used.

mattcanary

What type of gas meter do you have?
Is it imperial (ie: it displays ft3 on the meter) or metric?
If it is an imperial meter, check to see if your supplier has been billing you on that basis. If they haven't, and have billed you based upon your having a metric meter, you will have been vastly overcharged (by well over double) - bearing in mind the readings used have not been estimates.

lindsaygalaxy

Does my bill sound right to you? We moved in to this house in November. We recently got the bill (readings given) and it was 280 units). It is an imperial meter. On the side of the bill it says 'converting to kWh' and it takes the imerial units and x it by 2.83 to convert to metric units. They then charge from the new kWhs which makes it 8733.55 kWh making a very expensive bill! Does this sound right? Doesnt that mean if the units are imperial then it becomes more when converted to metric not less?

mattcanary

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

Does my bill sound right to you? We moved in to this house in November. We recently got the bill (readings given) and it was 280 units). It is an imperial meter. On the side of the bill it says 'converting to kWh' and it takes the imerial units and x it by 2.83 to convert to metric units. They then charge from the new kWhs which makes it 8733.55 kWh making a very expensive bill! Does this sound right? Doesnt that mean if the units are imperial then it becomes more when converted to metric not less?

No, it doesn't look right at all.
They should not be converting the bill into metric units because your meter does not calculate your usage in metric terms.

They should not be multiplying the imperial units used by 2.83 times.

I think you need ro ring your supplier and tell them you have an imperial meter.
Make a note of the meter serial number (long combination of numbers and letters that is displayed on your meter) so that you have that to hand when you ring them. Your supplier will need this information - it is fairly likely also that this serial number does not correspond with the serial number that is given on your bill.

mattcanary

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

Does my bill sound right to you? We moved in to this house in November. We recently got the bill (readings given) and it was 280 units). It is an imperial meter. On the side of the bill it says 'converting to kWh' and it takes the imerial units and x it by 2.83 to convert to metric units. They then charge from the new kWhs which makes it 8733.55 kWh making a very expensive bill! Does this sound right? Doesnt that mean if the units are imperial then it becomes more when converted to metric not less?

Also, what was the start reading used on your bill? I ask because your imperial meter may have gone round the clock (ie: reached 9999 and so then gone back to 0000). Imperial meters only have 4 digits in the reading (the red digits at the end of the reading are ignored as they are tenths of a unit), whereas metric meters have 5 digits in their reading.

That may explain also why you have billed so many units. Your supplier thinks you have a metric (ie: 5 digits) reading when you ahve an imperial (ie: 4 digits reading). Therefore as the reading is really low, a vast number of units have been charged based upon your having a 5 digit reading, when in fact it has only gone round the clock on a 4 digit reading (ie: from 9999 not 09999).

I have probably wrote this in a confusing way but I hope you understand what I am saying!

Does your supplier think your reading is 00280 or 0280?
As it seems you have an imperial meter it should be 0280.
Unfortunately most suppliers only display the 280 part of your reading on your bill for gas meters. That doesn;t help you work it out yourself.

lindsaygalaxy

The meter has space for 4 numbers then 2 red ones. The meter numbers do match. I will contact them and double check it. Thank you.

notbritishgas

mattcanary wrote: »

What type of gas meter do you have?
Is it imperial (ie: it displays ft3 on the meter) or metric?
If it is an imperial meter, check to see if your supplier has been billing you on that basis. If they haven't, and have billed you based upon your having a metric meter, you will have been vastly overcharged (by well over double) - bearing in mind the readings used have not been estimates.

Afraid this is incorrect, if an imperial meter is billed as a metric one then there will be large undercharge. Each imperial unit is approx 31.5 Kwh and each metric one is 11.2.

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

Does my bill sound right to you? We moved in to this house in November. We recently got the bill (readings given) and it was 280 units). It is an imperial meter. On the side of the bill it says 'converting to kWh' and it takes the imerial units and x it by 2.83 to convert to metric units. They then charge from the new kWhs which makes it 8733.55 kWh making a very expensive bill! Does this sound right? Doesnt that mean if the units are imperial then it becomes more when converted to metric not less?

Your bill is correct, 280 imperial units is approx 280 x 31.5 = 8820Kwh so very near toyour figure of 8733.

macman

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

The meter has space for 4 numbers then 2 red ones. The meter numbers do match. I will contact them and double check it. Thank you.

You ignore the ones in red. Give whole units only.

mattcanary

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

Does my bill sound right to you? We moved in to this house in November. We recently got the bill (readings given) and it was 280 units). It is an imperial meter. On the side of the bill it says 'converting to kWh' and it takes the imerial units and x it by 2.83 to convert to metric units. They then charge from the new kWhs which makes it 8733.55 kWh making a very expensive bill! Does this sound right? Doesnt that mean if the units are imperial then it becomes more when converted to metric not less?

I apologise. Of course notbritishgas is correct. I was getting mixed up.
Problems normally occur when you have a metric meter but the supplier thinks you still have your old imperial gas meter (not the other way round).