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Raxiel

Hengus wrote: »

Ok - an update for those considering a move to Iresa. My gas account online account went live today. Sadly, it was incorrect. Iresa had imported meter readings that I gave to my previous supplier and updated my transactions page to a date three weeks BEFORE the transfer went through. This immediately put my gas account into debit. To complicate matters further. Iresa failed to ask for a switch meter reading (to be more accurate they asked for a meter reading for the 27th December 2015!!). This has resulted in an industry estimated reading 80CM3s out.

In the 2 months or so that it has taken Iresa to set up my online account, my old supplier has closed my account. After 10 minutes on the phone, Iresa has agreed to use this reading to open my account.

I have also looked carefully at the multiplier that Iresa uses to calculate the kWh figure.

Their statements say:

Suppliers are required to maintain a calorific value between a legal limit of 38MJ/m3 to 41MJ/m3. Our calorific value = 40.3841MJ/M3
- Conversion from M3 to KWH: Multiplier = 40.3841 * 1.02264 /3.6 = 11.47177
- Conversion from FT3 to KWH: Multiplier = 2.83 * 40.3841 * 1.02264 /3.6 = 32.4651

It would seem to me that Iresa is using this figure - which as Molerat helpfully pointed out is a breach of the Licence regulations:

Calorific values vary and the figure quoted on your bill (eg 39.5 megajoules per cubic metre (MJ/m³)) will be an average of the gas supplied to your property (the regulations explain how this is calculated). Gas transporters are required to maintain this figure within 38 MJ/m³ to 41 MJ/m³.

CVs should be to 1 decimal point.

In sum, suppliers are to use CVs provided to them by the gas transporters not some arbitrary figure that they have calculated. Looking back over the past 2 years, the CV of the gas supplied to my property has been in the range 39.2 to 39.4*. The difference between 40.3841 and 39.4 isn't great but it adds up to pennies on every bill. Others might like to check their statements for the CV used.

* As shown on my Final Bill from Zog covering the period 31st October to 5th December 2016.

Interesting, thanks Hengus.

For the last two and a half years E.ON have been billing me against a CV of 39.5. With Iresa's Flex v3 unit rates and 880m³ (about 10mwh) of gas, it makes about £6 difference over the year if my calculations are correct.

Like you say, not the end of the world but irritating given it's the same gas coming out of the pipe.
Don't feel like there's much I can do about it though, since even factoring the unit rate to account for it, it's still much cheaper than anyone else, just not by as much as I thought.

molerat

Zog did actually use a 4 decimal place, although accurately calculated, CV figure up until August 2014.

Rubidium

Raxiel wrote: »

Interesting, thanks Hengus.

For the last two and a half years E.ON have been billing me against a CV of 39.5. With Iresa's Flex v3 unit rates and 880m³ (about 10mwh) of gas, it makes about £6 difference over the year if my calculations are correct.

Like you say, not the end of the world but irritating given it's the same gas coming out of the pipe.
Don't feel like there's much I can do about it though, since even factoring the unit rate to account for it, it's still much cheaper than anyone else, just not by as much as I thought.

It is not the same gas coming out of the pipe, that is the whole point of measuring calorific values at different points across the network, so that customers actually pay for the heat produced.

Check the historic data here

Select Calorific Value

Select a few different locations and a range of dates to display the actual measured values

The values that I viewed ranged between 39.0 and 39.9

youravinalarrrf

Hengus wrote: »

Ok - an update for those considering a move to Iresa. My gas account online account went live today. Sadly, it was incorrect. Iresa had imported meter readings that I gave to my previous supplier and updated my transactions page to a date three weeks BEFORE the transfer went through. This immediately put my gas account into debit. To complicate matters further. Iresa failed to ask for a switch meter reading (to be more accurate they asked for a meter reading for the 27th December 2015!!). This has resulted in an industry estimated reading 80CM3s out.

In the 2 months or so that it has taken Iresa to set up my online account, my old supplier has closed my account. After 10 minutes on the phone, Iresa has agreed to use this reading to open my account.

I have also looked carefully at the multiplier that Iresa uses to calculate the kWh figure.

Their statements say:

Suppliers are required to maintain a calorific value between a legal limit of 38MJ/m3 to 41MJ/m3. Our calorific value = 40.3841MJ/M3
- Conversion from M3 to KWH: Multiplier = 40.3841 * 1.02264 /3.6 = 11.47177
- Conversion from FT3 to KWH: Multiplier = 2.83 * 40.3841 * 1.02264 /3.6 = 32.4651

It would seem to me that Iresa is using this figure - which as Molerat helpfully pointed out is a breach of the Licence regulations:

Calorific values vary and the figure quoted on your bill (eg 39.5 megajoules per cubic metre (MJ/m³)) will be an average of the gas supplied to your property (the regulations explain how this is calculated). Gas transporters are required to maintain this figure within 38 MJ/m³ to 41 MJ/m³.

CVs should be to 1 decimal point.

In sum, suppliers are to use CVs provided to them by the gas transporters not some arbitrary figure that they have calculated. Looking back over the past 2 years, the CV of the gas supplied to my property has been in the range 39.2 to 39.4*. The difference between 40.3841 and 39.4 isn't great but it adds up to pennies on every bill. Others might like to check their statements for the CV used.

* As shown on my Final Bill from Zog covering the period 31st October to 5th December 2016.

It appears that Iresa are basing their CV calculation on out of date information dated June 2014 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gas-meter-readings-and-bill-calculation

I believe this was replaced by updated guidance from Ofgem issued to all domestic suppliers in August 2014 https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/guidance-all-domestic-gas-suppliers-how-calculate-calorific-value-used-domestic-consumer-billing

I have emailed Iresa to inform them of this error on their website FAQ's and asked them what they're doing about it but have had no response as yet which is pretty much what I expected.

It maybe a case of head in the sand and hope it goes away or that their super doopa "Unique Technology" MS Excel and MS Access software just can't cope with it.

I would suggest that others also contact them to point this out.

System

Out-of-interest - as I have two overlapping bills for the same units from two different suppliers for the same gas - I have done my sums.

Usage over a given period in Nov to Dec was 166 C3Ms. Iresa's transactions page shows a multiplier of 11.4711 (equating to a CV of 40.3841 or 1904kWhs.

The same consumption on my Zog bill equates to 1857kWhs (Cv 39.4) - a difference of 47kWhs.

At Iresa's unit price this is a cost to me of £1.11 plus VAT.

I have passed all the details to consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk

System

youravinalarrrf wrote: »

I have emailed Iresa to inform them of this error on their website FAQ's and asked them what they're doing about it but have had no response as yet which is pretty much what I expected.

Can I suggest an e-mail to consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk

The more that complain the sooner it can be resolved.

Raxiel

Rubidium wrote: »

It is not the same gas coming out of the pipe, that is the whole point of measuring calorific values at different points across the network, so that customers actually pay for the heat produced.

Check the historic data here

Select Calorific Value

Select a few different locations and a range of dates to display the actual measured values

The values that I viewed ranged between 39.0 and 39.9

I'm not talking about the whole network, I mean the gas that's delivered to me won't change the day the switch goes through.
Thank you for that link. Assuming I'm reading it correctly, the CV for EM (East Midlands?) ranged mostly from 39.4 and 39.6 with a few outliers (20% of readings below that range, 13% above) which suggests that E.ON's figure of 39.5 is pretty representative of what was likely supplied.

youravinalarrrf

Hengus wrote: »

Can I suggest an e-mail to [EMAIL="consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk"]consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk[/EMAIL]

The more that complain the sooner it can be resolved.

Done and received the obligatory "We will endeavour to provide you with a response within the next 10 working days" email.

Will update should I receive any response - although being the pessimist that I am I honestly don't expect to receive any.

The words Ofgem, regulator and chocolate teapot suddenly spring to mind for some reason.

System

youravinalarrrf wrote: »

Done and received the obligatory "We will endeavour to provide you with a response within the next 10 working days" email.

Will update should I receive any response - although being the pessimist that I am I honestly don't expect to receive any.

The words Ofgem, regulator and chocolate teapot suddenly spring to mind for some reason.

It does say in the latest guidance that Ofgem will monitor compliance. I would have thought that they would be grateful for consumers pointing out potential non-compliance.

jlfan

Not got as far as others. Instructed switch and immediately following end of cooling off period received email with account link. Now waiting again and ddr will go out shortly in advance, but that is fine. Seems to be on track, but next will be the switch so will wait and see. I will supply readings when they request. Interestingly I did a quick quote on their www and see now v4 at increased price compared to my v3 or whatever they call their 1 year fixed tariff.