New Gas Supply - Higher bills!

dankell

We've just had a bit of a shock with our latest meter readings and are trying to work out if the following is correct.

Back in October we had our boiler services and it were told that we needed a new gas supply as the pressure to the boiler was too low.

Cadent came, and luckily the problem was on their side so they upgraded our gas supply gratis (new, wider pipe) and OK'd the boiler. During the process we also got a new meter.

We've just submitted out new reading on the new meter and according to those readings - the initial reading for the new boiler according to the sticker and the new reading -we've used almost double what we used the same period the previous year.

We know that we've used the heating a bit more (maybe 20% more) this year as we've not been away as much, but does this make sense?

Would the higher pressure gas supply mean more gas consumed?

Robin9

It is possible that the meter records haven't been entered properly by Cadent.

Look at your meter - does it show m3 ? and what is the serial number.

Now look at your bill - does the info compare.

Also is the last bill based on an Estimated reading ?

System

Your meter records volume in cubic metres passing through it not pressure. Domestic gas systems work on relatively low pressures.

PIpe work should be sized to cope with all gas appliances (M3/hr) with no more than a 1mBar drop across the pipework with, I believe, a normal starting pressure - set by the governor in your meter cupboard - of 19 to 23mb (MillBar). It would appear that the supply to your property was below 19mb. Even if the new gas supply pressure was, say, 30mb up to the governor, the pressure entering your property would be reduced to 23mb.

The analogy often used is that you are out watering the garden and someone flushes the loo. You should not notice any significant difference in the hose pressure.

It follows that I doubt that the higher pressure has anything to do with your higher usage. It just means that there is less chance of the gas oven going out when the boiler switches on or vice versa.

I would take forward @Robin's excellent advice. Think Occam's Razor.

notbritishgas

If you are just going by the units recorded on the meter rather than kWh then it is most likely your old meter was an imperial and the new one will be metric.
Units recorded on a metric meter will be almost 3 time ( 2.83 ) those on an imperial one.
BUT the gas used will be the same as the meters measure the volume differently.

dankell

Robin9 wrote: »

It is possible that the meter records haven't been entered properly by Cadent.

Look at your meter - does it show m3 ? and what is the serial number.

Now look at your bill - does the info compare.

Also is the last bill based on an Estimated reading ?

Looks like we have the answer. Looking at Photos of the old meter it has "ft" written on it.

The new meter has "m3" on it

Does this mean that the units do not convert to KWh in the same way?

I've been crosschecking the readings using the formula on our bills to date:

GAS UNITS USED X 2.83 X CALORIFIC VALUE (39.2) X VOLUME CORRECTION (1.02264) ÷ 3.6

Is this the correct calculation for M3 or ft3?

Robin9

Robin9 wrote: »

It is possible that the meter records haven't been entered properly by Cadent.

Now look at your bill - does the info compare.?

Progress - now what does your bill say - ft3 or m3 - and the serial number ?

dankell

Robin9 wrote: »

Progress - now what does your bill say - ft3 or m3 - and the serial number ?

Not yet had the bill - Just had the scare from the different in calculated KWh from the meter readings.

Which part of the Serial Numbers are relevant?

dankell

Previous bill Units used - 173. 5452 kWh.
5452/173 = 31.5...

So it was definitely Imperial.

molerat

dankell wrote: »

Looks like we have the answer. Looking at Photos of the old meter it has "ft" written on it.

The new meter has "m3" on it

Does this mean that the units do not convert to KWh in the same way?

I've been crosschecking the readings using the formula on our bills to date:

GAS UNITS USED X 2.83 X CALORIFIC VALUE (39.2) X VOLUME CORRECTION (1.02264) ÷ 3.6


Is this the correct calculation for M3 or ft3?

A metric meter will be converted as
GAS UNITS USED X CALORIFIC VALUE (39.2) X VOLUME CORRECTION (1.02264) ÷ 3.6
missing out the hundreds of cubic feet to cubic metres 2.83 multiplier.

The calorific value, which is the quality of the gas, is variable and will be different on each bill.

Cardew

A gas unit on an Imperial meter is 100 cubic feet and approx 32kWh.

A gas unit on a Metric meter is 1 cubic metre and approx 11.2kWh

Make sure that your gas supply company know you now have a metric meter. You wouldn't be the first to be charged 2.83 times more for gas consumed!

D_M_E

Old meter reads in cubic feet.

New meter reads in cubic meters.

When you finally do get a bill, it should have a calculation for the remainder of useage on the old meter and a separate calculation for useage on the new meter.

Make sure that the 2.8 multiplier is only applied to the cubic foot part and not to either the whole bill or to both the cubic meter and cubic foot consumption.