New gas meter, and bills are lower????

chrishoggy

We've had a few issues with British gas over the last few years, so had to have a prepayment meter fitted 7 days ago. Our average quarterly bills have been around £130 for summer and £180 for winter, and all we have is a gas hob and the CH/hot water system (7 rad's) in a 3 bed house . Our landlord fitted us a new CH/water boiler after the last gas safety check 3 weeks back, as the guy said it was getting a bit old (11 years), and an ignition part could do with replacing. He said it was still working fine, but our landlord gave the OK to fit a new one anyway (we have a very good landlord, who doesn't mind spending on his properties).
We decided to keep an eye on what the new meter said we were using, as we suspected our bills were too high before, even though meter readings were right. For the last 7 days, we have used around 80p's worth of gas per day (£5.66 worth in 7 days). Now that would make our quarterly bill around £74.00 :T . We have made no changes to temp settings, CH timings (been on all this week), or tried to use less gas in any way, so we were VERY surprised. I phoned the plumber to ask if this could be down to the new condensing boiler he had just fitted, and he said it was more efficient than the old one, but it would be an "act of god" for it to be that much better. Through the summer, we don't even have the CH switched on, so I would expect summer bills to be even lower:eek: .
I understand that we pay a higher rate for the gas, as we are on a prepayment system. So if we were paying for the gas at the standard rate, this would make our bills a little less. I am now beginning to wonder if our old gas meter was faulty, as the savings we are making are massive.
My main questions are:
1/ Does anybody think this reduction in bill could be down to the boiler, as the plumber said "NO CHANCE" ?
2/ Should I raise my concerns about the meter with British gas?
3/ Is there any way of getting the old meter tested, now it's been out for just over a week?
4/ Should I monitor this for longer, before contacting someone about it?
5/ If this is a case of a faulty meter (I understand it is VERY rare), would the clear difference in usage prove this?
We have had big bills like this for the past 6+ years. The meter guys came round in early 2001, to change the meters for new ones (Jan 01 date written on old meter). We moved here in mid 2000, so there will not be many records of usage by us from before that meter was installed. The other problem is we do not have any usage figures with the new boiler installed, using the old meter either:rolleyes: (only in for 2 weeks).
We are buzzing at the moment, as the worries of being skint due to this prepayment meter and paying back £5 pw were not necessary:T Even with the debt payments on top, our bills are going to be the same or less:T

chrishoggy

Thanks for all the helpfull tips and answers:beer: , it's been great reading them all .

Anyway BG are monitoring my usage for 4 weeks to see how it averages out , then taking it from there:T

Joyful

When I changed my boiler 3 years ago I also added a very large radiator for my chilly attic. My bills dropped by a third.

adon30

My friend down the road from me has a 3 bed detached. He said to me that his gas usage was £50 to £100 a month. I said to him that that seemed rather high even for a poorly insulated 1930's home.

At the time he told me someone (metering company?) was going to change his meter.

After it was swapped he said that the metering company had tried to calibrate the meter and were unable to because it was so far out!!
Since then his gas bill has been a lot less. (not sure exactly how much but will ask when I next see him)

It's probably a bit late now but you could of had the old meter calibrated and possibly be able to claim back for any gas that you have been mischarged for. I don't know the procedure for this but maybe contact the people who changed the meter.

I would of thought that the new meter they installed would of been calibrated and the new boiler will help things a little. So I would think that your useage should be fairly accurate.

I'm tempted myself to have my meter calibrated but they will probably charge for the service and no idea who does it. If anyone knows?? rsvp.

nomoneytoday

I would allow longer than 7 days to get a decent sample of usage. If its particularly hot or cold that week the average use could be miles out..