Ridiculously high gas meter readings?

Dangerous_Beans

Hi - really hoping someone can shed some light on this for me, sorry in advance for the long post but I'm really quite frightened and want to make sure I get the details right:

I moved into my new flat on 1st June. Previous to that I had been living in a flat of exactly the same size, but poorly insulated and with a very old boiler with a very large tank. Expensive to run and the house was always cold and damp no matter what I did. I was glad to move. At least I've experienced "worst case scenario gas bills" though! (or so I thought...)
My new property is fifty years younger than the old one. Decently insulated and I had a brand new combi boiler fitted at the beginning of July. Lovely and warm and dry.

From 1st June to 31st July I was on pre-pay meters. The electric was fine. I was using pretty much what I expected and actually it taught me quite a lot about what to switch off! The gas wasn't, however. It seemed to tick over fine and then suddenly eat my money several times. During the majority of this period my boiler actually wasn't working properly, if at all, and I was having to boil kettles for hot water. I have an electric cooker too - I was using really minimal amounts of gas. After £23 disappeared in 48 hours I lost my rag and rang British Gas for the third time. The first two they had just fobbed me off about daily charges building up and were very unhelpful when I knew (from checking the meter daily) that something just wasn't making sense. So I booked for them to come and change my meters to standard ones. I figured that a new meter would solve the problem. Even the guy who kept coming out to try to fix the boiler kept telling me "There's something going on with that crazy meter!"

So a guy came on 31/07, new meters happened - yay - and in my naivety I just stopped doing my obsessive daily checking. Until now, when it's time to give them my meter reading online and I've just looked at it. As ever, electric is fine. I mean, I'd like to spend a bit less, but I can totally understand my usage. Gas shocked me. My meter is imperial and reads cubic metres. On 31/07 it was all zeros. Today (13/10) it reads 22008(376). I've actually walked out there three times today to check I wasn't hallucinating. I'm not.

I am alone in a one bed flat. I do love a bath a couple of times a week but other than that I'm a quick shower girl. No gas appliances other than the brand new combi boiler. I haven't had the heating on at all other than for half an hour on the day the boiler was fitted to check it, and have been off in London having surgery so actually haven't been around that much. The place has been empty half the time and I don't just control radiators by thermostat - they are actually switched off at the boiler.

So...umm...? I'm lost. I rang British Gas yet again to ask and got yet another person who sounded about 12 and didn't actually answer any questions. He actually didn't believe me and told me to get someone else to read it. I did. It, of course, was the same. Am I right that this works out at over £10k? If there was a leak that bad I would have blown up the neighbourhood by now. Where do I go from here? I know I can't possibly be charged according to the meter, but they're pretty definitely going to try to take me for more than I can surely owe. I honestly am flummoxed at how to deal with something this crazy.

molerat

Firstly is your meter imperial or reading in cubic metres, it can't be both. As it is a new meter it will be metric.

As you live in a flat are you sure you are reading the correct meter, it would be impossible to use that amount of gas in such a short period - that would take me 14 years in my detached house, my meter has not got that far and it was fitted in 2006! The meter should have a sticker on it showing the date and readings at change.

You need to turn everything off in the flat then go and look at the meter a couple of times in an hour to see what it is doing - with everything off it should not move.

This is either an incorrect meter being read or something stranger, I doubt that much of an error could be down to a faulty meter.

[Deleted User]

Is the metric gas meter a digital or an analogue meter ? We have had a couple of instances of rogue digital meters on here in the past with the index going haywire. Does the index move at all when the gas is shut off at the control valve ?

Dangerous_Beans

You're quite right, apologies, I'm tired and stressed and used the wrong word. I meant it's one of the older-style ones without an electronic display. Metric.
I'm definitely reading the right meter, and it has a sticker claiming it was at zero on 31st July, although as I say, I didn't check myself, stupidly.

Dangerous_Beans

Yes, analogue was the word I thought and imperial was the word I typed, mid-panic. Analogue display. I can't answer the question about shutting the valve off yet, but that's what I'll be doing first thing tomorrow.

[Deleted User]

The gas meters going faulty on the index, and I ve seen one myself, were the digital ones.The analogue meter is unlikely to start advancing uncontrolled like a digital one could possibly do. Possibly a pressure test from a gas engineer is needed to completely rule out gas escapes. Another possibility is the sticker was wrongly marked as all zeros. The fitters frequently use meters taken from other properties and start the new reading at the reading on the meter, its not zero `d back. Can you check if the gas consumption is normal now.

Dangerous_Beans

So, I switched the gas off at the mains, before the meter, for eight hours overnight. The meter hasn't moved. Now I'm putting it back on but switching the boiler off completely to see what happens. Thanks Sacsquacco for not automatically assuming I'm being an idiot - this really is happening! - I'm inclined to think it wasn't zero'd as you say. I might not be the kind of idiot who would imagine the problem, but I'm clearly the kind of idiot who doesn't check a brand new meter! The only thing that has me worrying about something more is the weirdness with the previous pre-pay meter.

Feral_Moon

I'd hazard a guess that the meter was actually set to 22000 and not 00000 when it was installed. For the usage you describe then approx 8 units would sound about right.

Kim_kim

Dangerous_Beans wrote: »

So, I switched the gas off at the mains, before the meter, for eight hours overnight. The meter hasn't moved. Now I'm putting it back on but switching the boiler off completely to see what happens. Thanks Sacsquacco for not automatically assuming I'm being an idiot - this really is happening! - I'm inclined to think it wasn't zero'd as you say. I might not be the kind of idiot who would imagine the problem, but I'm clearly the kind of idiot who doesn't check a brand new meter! The only thing that has me worrying about something more is the weirdness with the previous pre-pay meter.

Don't switch the gas off, but turn everything gas off.
If it still moves - you have a leak.

Feral_Moon

Kim_kim wrote: »

Don't switch the gas off, but turn everything gas off.
If it still moves - you have a leak.

A gas leak of 22000 units? Are you serious? :rotfl:

When my boiler developed a gas leak I smelled it immediately. A leak of that enormous proportion would have resulted in a massive explosion and certainly wouldn't go undetected!

Kim_kim

Feral_Moon wrote: »

A gas leak of 22000 units? Are you serious? :rotfl:

When my boiler developed a gas leak I smelled it immediately. A leak of that enormous proportion would have resulted in a massive explosion and certainly wouldn't go undetected!

I thought it had been made known the meter was unlikely to have started at 0.
The op has had concerns about gas usage on the previous meter too.
This would rule out a leak.

No need for rudeness,