Extremely high gas bill during the same month (May) each year- Why??

orourj

Hi,
I am hoping that somebody here can help me!

At the beginning of June, I completed a gas meter reading and was completely shocked to see the extremely high reading (readings detailed below). It does not make sense why it would be this high when the only things that run in the house using gas are the water, the hob and the heating - and this hasn't been on as it has been warm.

As you can see below, the reading is much higher than what we have used in the coldest winter months -how?!?! For the reading in both April and June, they are a much higher daily amount, even when we have been using the heating all day in winter. (We are a household of 2 adults and 2 children and we are at home most of the day as I work from home).
I don't really know if our usage is high or normal. We have a boiler that is 5 years old and serviced annually, and a fully insulated house.

We also had a spike like this at a similar time last year but the previous company we were with (Iresa) went bust so I was unable to contact them to query the increase and so assumed it must have been a one-off error, so imagine our surprise to see the same thing happening again.

There is NO WAY we have used that much gas and as you can imagine, we are extremely concerned about this.

I am now with Octopus and so far we have sent in all the details regarding the meter, completed a creep test (which showed a very minimal increase) and now they are suggesting that the next step would be to send the meter for a test which we would have to pay for if no fault was discovered. The readings are back to normal now.

Does anyone know why this would happen each year or what we could do???
Thank you for any help on this!

READING DATE
USED - DAYS - PER DAY

27 February 2018
369 - 46 - 8.02
23 April 2018
358 - 55 - 6.51
24 June 2018
472 - 62 - 7.61
29 July 2018
78 - 35 - 2.23
18 August 2018
5 - 20 - 0.25
09 October 2018
61 - 52 - 1.17
07 November 2018
120 - 29 - 4.14
07 December 2018
172 - 30 - 5.73
02 January 2019
183 - 26 - 7.04
15 February 2019
199 - 44 - 4.52
26 March 2019
122 - 39 - 3.13
22 April 2019
233 - 27 - 8.63
01 June 2019
463 - 40 - 11.58 >>> 463 used in 40 days!!??!!
01 July 2019
46 - 30 - 1.5
09 July 2019
5 - 8 - 0.625

Robin9

Are these all ACTUAL readings taken by you ?

orourj

Hi, Yes, all actual readings taken by us.

Robin9

What type of meter - the old clock type where the dials go different ways (and you ignore the smallest; digital type where the figures occasionally seem to stick, modern digital

PennineAcute

Those readings seem very high throughout the year.

Robin9

2000 meter unit s = 22000 Kwh = about £660. Above average but not excessive.

I think this is a meter reading issue

orourj

It is a digital smart meter that was put in around 7 years ago.

Robin9

Is this the type where there is a small keypad and you have to press 9 to get the reading or (like mine) a simple black button to refresh the screen (it reads 01234(decimal)567) ?

Could you post the actual readings from your bill please.

Gerry1

Your figures clearly aren't the actual meter readings (cubic feet or cubic metres) unless your meter is going backwards.

Are they kWh? If so, how were they calculated ?

Talldave

I was assuming they're cu m.

orourj

It is just a black push button to update and then tells you the reading. A Landis Gyr Libra 310P

Above wasn't the actual meter readings, I have now included them below.
We have put the date of the reading, the actual reading, how much has been used (as in how much the meter has increased by), the number of days since the last reading and then how much we are using per day.

READING DATE READING USED DAYS PER DAY
12 January 2018 8021
27 February 2018 8390 369 46 8.02
23 April 2018 8748 358 55 6.51
24 June 2018 9220 472 62 7.61
29 July 2018 9298 78 35 2.23
18 August 2018 9303 5 20 0.25
09 October 2018 9364 61 52 1.17
07 November 2018 9484 120 29 4.14
07 December 2018 9656 172 30 5.73
02 January 2019 9839 183 26 7.04
15 February 2019 10038 199 44 4.52
26 March 2019 10160 122 39 3.13
22 April 2019 10393 233 27 8.63
01 June 2019 10856 463 40 11.58
01 July 2019 10902 46 30 1.5
09 July 2019 10907 5 8 0.625

( eg on 9th July the reading was 10907 which had increased by 5 since the last reading 8 days ago and in those 8 days the meter is increasing by an average of 0.625 per day)

Sorry it isn't easy to read and I hope this makes sense.