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Astronomical gas bill - very stressed and need advice

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  • Raxiel
    Raxiel Posts: 1,403 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    tj2000 wrote: »
    Raxiel - it's an analogue meter. So there's really just the 5 characters in white, then 3 in red. It's a primitive thing, without much scope for misinterpretation. There is literally nothing that would show in that image other than printer sticker showing 'Schlumberger, made in england', a serial number, 'm3', 'Qmax 5m3/h, Qmin 0.12m3/h, Pmax 75mbar, V 2dm3' ' Property of Transco plc'.


    Is there an up to date gas safety certificate? That would eliminate any leaks, although as you say you'd surely have smelt that much gas escaping.


    Is there anything with a calibration date on the meter? For what it costs* to have the meter checked its a drop in the ocean compared to the bills you're facing, so its a no-brainer to get the supplier out anyway.
    You could get it swapped for free by requesting a smart meter, but I wouldn't recommend it in this instance.


    Cardew said it with a wink, but he's right about 'eliminating the factory next door', in other words, can you be certain that no one is stealing it? Can you follow the gas line out of the meter all the way to the boiler (and any other appliances) and be certain there are no unexplained branches? We're getting into the improbable for sure, but no less improbable that you used - in the summer - over four times the amount of gas I used over the whole of last year which included 'The beast from the east', 'Beast from the east 2' and 'Beaster 3 - Putins revenge'



    *in the event no fault is found - its free if one is of course.
    3.6 kW PV in the Midlands - 9x Sharp 400W black panels - 6x facing SE and 3x facing SW, Solaredge Optimisers and Inverter. 400W Derril Water (one day). Octopus Flux
  • OK, I've been talking with the gas customer services. I think we might have got somewhere after numerous attempts. Of course, with these ridiculous situations, there's always going to be an outrageous set of events that lead to it. Current theory is:

    This is the order of events I know:
    1. The 1st of Jun metre reading was sumbitted by the landlord. They informed us they had done this, and provided us with an original photo, which I have.
    2. We received a crazy bill 4 months later.
    3. Contacted supplier and landlord for pointless arguments that led nowhere.
    4. I checked the start reading on the utility bill, then checked the photo provided by the landlord that these were the same. They were. So I assumed that part was correct as I have a photo of it.
    5. I then went to check the metre, and got the updated reading, and took photo.
    6. Scratched my head, worked out all the numbers, posted on this forum, contacted landlord....

    So. It seems what has actually happened is on 1st of June, the landlord photographed somebody else's gas meter, and submitted those readings. Despite those no doubt being insanely different from what the supplier would expect, those were accepted. Yet when they came to creating their estimate bill, they apparently ignored that 1st of June reading, and extrapolated forward from a previous bill, leaving us with a huge disparity. That part of it I have no explanation for, beyond their system must have some a bug in it to have calculated their estimates like this.

    So that gives me some explanation for the horrendous usage numbers.

    So it seems like we have a magical combination of:
    - Landlord photographing wrong meter
    - The specific order at which I checked the facts (looking at photo before looking at the real meter, which meant I didn't realise it was not ours)
    - Utility provider accepting a wildly wrong reading and basing start reading on that
    - Utilitiy provider system quirks ignoring the start reading in estimate creation

    that created this situation.

    I seem to have been able to argue that's what's happened with the utility provider, so they're recalculating on that basis. Incidently - Bulb customer service are totally unhelpful. I had to work all that out myself - all they would tell me is that that was the initial reading, and the bill looks in line with what they would expect.

    I'll be checking the metres closely for now, but hopefully that is case solved.

    Thanks very much to everyone who read / responded. I hope this has been an entertaining tale...
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 12,784 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    There's a message here - never, never let the landlord give your meter readings.
    Never pay on an estimated bill. Always read and understand your bill
  • D_M_E
    D_M_E Posts: 3,008 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper
    ...................and ALWAYS check the meter you think is yours actually is the one which is recording your consumtion.

    Would have been sorted long ago if the serial numbers on the bill and meter(s) in the photo matched, which they would not given that you have discovered the lanlord phtographed the wrong meter - did the phot include the serial number or just the reading, and why did nobody think to look up the previous tenant's closing read, or even try and contact previous tenant and ask?
  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 9,081 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Robin9 wrote: »
    There's a message here - never, never let the landlord give your meter readings.

    I second that.

    Also read the meter more often than once every three or four months. - at least once a month and send the readings into your supplier.

    Always check your bills and on-line statements (again at least monthly) to ensure that your bills and statements are based on accurate up to date readings and get them corrected immediately if not - do not pay an estimated bill.

    I guess you can now have a sigh of relief and life can get back to normal. Hopefully there's been a valuable lesson learned that it's up to you to keep on top of your own readings, bills and payments etc. Five minutes once a month can save hours of grief.

    BTW, keep your own records.

    The threads on failed energy companies just show what happens when you rely on the suppliers on-line systems and billing - it all goes to hell if there's an IT failure or the supplier turns up it's toes.
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,060 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Rampant Recycler
    So a 17 post thread occurred because in your opening post you stated:

    Moved into a property on 1st June; gas metre reading taken (have photograph)


    Not unreasonably we all assumed YOU had taken the photo! and you didn't correct/answer this statement.

    I can only think you misread the meter on 1st June(I appreciate you said you took a photo) or you have a faulty meter. Did you notify supplier of initial reading of 25974?
  • Yep, in hindsight that was an important thing to note. And apologies I have a busy day, and sometimes you skim by things. Given the sequence of events, the possibility of it being a photo of a different meter and the provider accepting negative meter usage (but then seemingly discounting that in creating the estimate for the new bill) just hadn't factored into my thinking. I was much more focused on broken equipment given I thought I had ruled out any possibility of readings errors.

    Anything thanks for everyone's time.
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 12,784 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    On a general point this forum regularly gets - my DD has doubled, consumption has gone up ten fold. The posters say is there gas leak, is my boiler faulty, I only have a PC, mobile phone charger, I only shower once a month ...............

    Have there ever been any posts other than the meter readings, wrong meter, faulty meter not been the cause.
    Never pay on an estimated bill. Always read and understand your bill
  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 9,081 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Robin9 wrote: »
    On a general point this forum regularly gets - my DD has doubled, consumption has gone up ten fold. The posters say is there gas leak, is my boiler faulty, I only have a PC, mobile phone charger, I only shower once a month ...............

    Have there ever been any posts other than the meter readings, wrong meter, faulty meter not been the cause.

    Very seldom has there actually been a faulty meter, it's not unheard of but very rare.

    Generally its not actually putting in the effort to read the meter yourself, not checking that the bills are correct and not understanding the difference between a direct debit and a bill.
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
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