High gas bills - possible meter issue?

duggsy69

Hi all,

We moved into a one bed apartment in January, our bills for gas and electricity, so far are £800 for five months. Previous apartments (bigger ones) have been less than £400 for the whole year. We've been very strict with the timings, but we're using 10 units a day average in Jan/Feb and now, with only hot water on for an hour a twice a day, are using 2.5 per day. We've had boiler checked and it seems fine, so it seems the only option is the meter. It doesn't move when nothing is being used, but spins quickly when in use.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

Owain_Moneysaver

Have you checked your bills against the meter readings, and also that your meter is recording m3 (cubic metres)?

If your meter is recording ft3 (cubic feet) but the bill is treating that as m3 then your bill will be about 3x the money.

D_M_E

Have you checked that the meters which you have been biiled for are the actual ones supplying your premises and are not in fact supplying a different apartment/flat in the same building?

duggsy69

Good thinking, but yes we've checked readings and the meter and bill are both m3... so not the answer unfortunately.

Robin9

In January when you moved in did you ring the existing supplier and give them meter readings ? Are these readings the ones shown on your bill.

Are you still with that exisitng supplier - in which case you will be on their standard (ie expensive tariff) ? Or have you switched ?

In between then and now have you been giving meter readings at least monthly ? Do these readings agree with your bill ?

Are the readings on your latest bill ESTIMATED (there will be a letter E against the reading) ?

nigelbb

It's very simple just take the meter readings when you moved in & subtract them from the current readings. Then you can calculate how much gas & electricity you have used & whether the bill is correct.

dogshome

What type of meter is it? - Maker? - Model No.?



There some Digital meter that are known to be unreliable

Robin9

duggsy69 wrote: »

Hi all,

We moved into a one bed apartment in January, our bills for gas and electricity, so far are £800 for five months. Previous apartments (bigger ones) have been less than £400 for the whole year. We've been very strict with the timings, but we're using 10 units a day average in Jan/Feb and now, with only hot water on for an hour a twice a day, are using 2.5 per day. We've had boiler checked and it seems fine, so it seems the only option is the meter. It doesn't move when nothing is being used, but spins quickly when in use.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

Gas or Electric Showers ?

Shavuot

duggsy69 wrote: »

Hi all,

We moved into a one bed apartment in January, our bills for gas and electricity, so far are £800 for five months. Previous apartments (bigger ones) have been less than £400 for the whole year. We've been very strict with the timings, but we're using 10 units a day average in Jan/Feb and now, with only hot water on for an hour a twice a day, are using 2.5 per day. We've had boiler checked and it seems fine, so it seems the only option is the meter. It doesn't move when nothing is being used, but spins quickly when in use.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

You can request the supplier arranges for the meters to be checked if you believe they are inaccurate.

A charge may apply, typically about £100-£150 per meter, but your supplier will confirm that with you.
The cost will be refunded if the meter in question is proved inaccurate.

But I would caution that to have one meter inaccurate would be very rare; the chances that both gas & electric meters are both inaccurate is almost non-existant.

Perhaps get yourself some smart meters installed and you will be able to monitor usage on the in-house display, which will then assist you in identifying what appliane(s) are using what energy, and so allowing you to limit their use to save yourself money.

brewerdave

duggsy69 wrote: »

Hi all,

We moved into a one bed apartment in January, our bills for gas and electricity, so far are £800 for five months. Previous apartments (bigger ones) have been less than £400 for the whole year. We've been very strict with the timings, but we're using 10 units a day average in Jan/Feb and now, with only hot water on for an hour a twice a day, are using 2.5 per day. We've had boiler checked and it seems fine, so it seems the only option is the meter. It doesn't move when nothing is being used, but spins quickly when in use.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

2.5 cu m (units)per day is equivalent to ~ 28 kwh ; on most common tariffs this would be ~ £1.12 per day plus ~ 20p s/charge ie ~ £40 per month for gas -doesn't seem too excessive for hot water production to me? Do you use gas for cooking?
The higher usage figure in Jan /Feb of 10 units - presumably you had the heating on for more than a couple of hours per day??

dunstonh

We moved into a one bed apartment in January, our bills for gas and electricity, so far are £800 for five months.

That doesnt seem too high when you consider it is covering the months of the year where you use most energy.

It would help to know which provides your heating and cooking. And what temp you have the thermatat set to and how long you have them on.

To help the thread, you can do a daily meter read and post the info here as that would tell us how much you are currently using per day.