Gas meter going up on its own?

heyitsroth

Hi,

I live in the top part of a house that used to be flats, so the bottom has gas heating and hot water, while the top has electric. Because I live at the top I have completely unplugged the gas boiler since I have no way to use it.

However. my meter is still going up! Only about 0.3 units a day, so like £5-10 a month, but still..

I've followed the gas pipe from the meter and it doesn't go anywhere other than to the boiler, and I can't smell any gas leaks anywhere either. I couldn't smell any around the meter either, but there were too many spiders to do it properly :eek:

Who should I contact about this? (I'm renting btw) . I was also just about to switch to a no standing charge supplier, should I delay this if I need to talk to the gas company to get it sorted?

molerat

Have you turned the tap before the meter off ?

System

Define 'unplugged'? Is the boiler fully turned off or is the pilot light still burning?

heyitsroth

Well the boiler plugs into a normal wall socket - I unplugged that and the electrical lights went out, it stopped making a noise and there was no more hot water, so I assumed it was off. Could the pilot light still be on despite this?

And yes I read about turning the gas off before the meter after posting - but am I allowed to do that? And could it cause any problems if the boiler pilot light is still on?

System

Most boilers that have a pilot light also have a small viewing window. There is considerate debate amongst professionals about the risk of turning off pilot lights - particularly, if you ever want to use the boiler again.

Forgive me for asking, but why wouldn't you want to use gas in preference to electric heating? What is stopping you from using it?

heyitsroth

Ah yes thank you - the pilot light window was hidden behind the front panel so I didn't see it. I can't find much online about it being a bad idea to turn it off, other than moisture leading to corrosion, which I would have thought could be alleviated by back on every now and then?

And the gas central heating only services the ground floor rooms, mine is on the top floor.

System

heyitsroth wrote: »

Ah yes thank you - the pilot light window was hidden behind the front panel so I didn't see it. I can't find much online about it being a bad idea to turn it off, other than moisture leading to corrosion, which I would have thought could be alleviated by back on every now and then?

And the gas central heating only services the ground floor rooms, mine is on the top floor.

Sorry, I am confused. Why would a landlord leave a working boiler in place when it doesn't supply anything? At the very least, the mandatory Gas Safety Inspection report would cost him a few £s each year.

heyitsroth

The house has 5 bedrooms, 2 of which are on the ground floor and are serviced by the gas boiler, the other three on the middle and top floors with electric HW and storage heaters. The reason for this division is that it used to be two separate flats.

Normally there would be 5 tenants making use of gas and electric collectively, but everyone moved out in August leaving only me. I don't want to move all my things to the lower floor because it'd be quite a lot of effort, and the rooms on the ground floor aren't as nice, so I'm staying on the top floor where gas CH doesn't reach.

I guess the gas safety certificate is less of a cost than ripping out the ground floor CH and HW and replacing with electric.

System

I am still struggling to understand your situation. You have a gas boiler that you cannot make use of but you are paying standing charges for a meter. Surely, this cost should fall to your landlord until new tenants move in or do you have some shared cost arrangement?

heyitsroth

Well I hadn't thought of it like that, but I guess his argument would be that I'm free to live in the lower part of the house that can benefit from the gas central heating if I want.

It's not really worth making time to have that discussion with him tbh, I've switched to a non standing charge tariff now, so am only paying for the fuel the pilot light uses: ~£5 pm. But just a little scared to turn off the pilot light to save that £5, in case it results in problems that will inevitably cost more than £5 to fix

System

heyitsroth wrote: »

Well I hadn't thought of it like that, but I guess his argument would be that I'm free to live in the lower part of the house that can benefit from the gas central heating if I want.

It's not really worth making time to have that discussion with him tbh, I've switched to a non standing charge tariff now, so am only paying for the fuel the pilot light uses: ~£5 pm. But just a little scared to turn off the pilot light to save that £5, in case it results in problems that will inevitably cost more than £5 to fix

Landlords are responsible for boiler repairs - not tenants. Has the landlord spoken to you about keeping some heat on downstairs during a cold snap? Pipes do freeze in empty flats. This really is the Landlord’s problem.