Gas reading not falling within the expected consumption threshold 19 February 2020 at 9:57PM in LPG, heating oil, solid & other fuels 1 reply 51 views

romster

 has anyone come across this before?
my supplier  has used restimated  readings  despite me  submitting actual readings and claim that:
reading not falling within the expected consumption threshold; this is much more prevalent during the Winter season, as whilst an increase is projected, often the spike in usage is unpredictable. In addition, please note that Gas meter readings are not automatically accepted at Industry level if submitted within 28 days of each other. Once again, this is not unique to Gulf, but rather standard across the Industry based on the system and procedures in place. Essentially, there is a centralised system which manages meter reading data for all energy providers and it is this system that controls the validation of these readings.
  ridiculous considering ive recently spent  money improving the insulation  and  my  heating efficiency.

Talldave

<<Wrong forum>>

The energy industry in its wisdom (or lack of it) has created these unanswerable organisations that monitor meter readings and reject values that deviate from the meter's historical consumption pattern - replacing your actual reading with a made up estimate.  Unfortunately - and this is the bit where the wisdom totally vanished - they forgot that meters supply appliances that are controlled by humans.  And humans have an inconvenient habit of moving in and out of properties, changing appliances and improving their insulation.  Some people like the heating set to thermonuclear and some like it lukewarm.

So the idiots who set all this stuff up obviously never moved house or changed their boiler or insulated their homes and as a result, the rest of us aren't meant to either.

It's quite frankly insulting to be told that the meter reading you're noting with your own eyes is wrong and that some badly programmed algorithm is apparently superior to you and knows you're wrong.  It's not directly your supplier's fault though, as the incompetence comes from the unanswerable meter reading mangling organisation dealing with your readings.

When this has happened to me, I ended up sending my weekly meter readings spreadsheet to the supplier, along with photos of the meter and, as far as i can remember, they stopped bleating and accepted my meter reading.  I've no idea how many months/years it takes for the inflexible algorithm to adapt to your inconsiderate energy saving improvements, but I'd suggest regular photographs of the meter, followed by the formal complaint & ombudsman route if they keep rejecting your readings.

If the supplier is on Twitter it would be amusing to tweet them photos of your meter asking them to explain the values they're coming up with - a little public humiliation works wonders.