High gas bill

sarahfaith399

My husband and I were receiving extortionate bills from a previous supplier even during the summer, we asked them to investigate the meter but they refused to come out (prior to covid - 19). As such I changed supplier. 

However the same thing has happened. We've just had a bill for over £290 for 1 month supply of gas.

I work as a hca in mental health for the NHS and work four 12 hour shifts a week sometimes more, my husband is at home. However there is no way he has used this much gas in a month. We have the heating on low for a couple of hours at night and maybe an hour or so during the morning.

We turned off the boiler and gas oven hobs for an hour to check the meter wasn't still rolling which it wasn't. We turned it back on and turned the boiler on with the heating on low as normal and checked the usage. I don't really understand it but it seems to have gone up quite a bit.

Please can you help as we cannot afford these bills.

Gerry1

Unfortunately your information is so vague that it's not really possible to comment.  Are you including electricity readings as well?

If you are saying that your gas meter showed 5681.6387 cubic metres and advanced to 5682.2704 some 3hr 24 min later, that corresponds to usage of 0.6317 cubic metres corresponding to 7.03kWh, which on my tariff of 2.37p/kWh would have cost 17p.  Your tariff may be much more expensive - what is its name, how much is a kWh and how much is the daily standing charge?

What are the other two sets of figures?  As above, what are your electricity rates, and what sort of meter do you have, e.g. single rate, E7, E10, white meter?

Are your bills based on estimated readings?  To make any progress with this issue you need some solid facts.  Start by thinking in kWh not direct debit amounts or bill amounts, take actual meter readings not estimates (use the meters on the wall, not any portable device), and then do the sums yourself.  You can quickly convert from cubic metres to kWh and ££ at https://www.businessenergy.com/business-gas/gas-bill-calculator/

And then get a competitive tariff !

Matthaus73

Im not sure what your figures mean but check out the 'faulty meter' and 'rogue meter' threads for tips on what u need to check and do.
What make and model is your meter ? 

Matthaus73

Im no expert but that seems exceptionally high. We are low users at about 60m3 per month or 670kwh.
Have u tried turning gas mains off for an hour to see if meter continues rising ? 
As i said check out my 'faulty meter' thread. I ended up at the ombudsman as gas supplier refused to take me seriously 

Talldave

The bill's estimated (wrongly), assuming that "E" stands for estimate.  I've no idea what "O" means against a reading?

You've written down gas readings of 5681 & 5682 on 27th March and yet the bill's showing 6277 for the 17th March.  If the bill had been issued on 27th March using your 5682 reading, it would be about £73 for 2827kWh.  Not bad for a month and 10 days.

Are you taking readings from the In Home Display?  Might just be worth checking that readings are the same on the meters.

But the big question is why are the gas readings on the bill wrong?

Although gas consumption is OK, how did you use over 7kWh of electricity in 3 hours??  That's nearly a day's consumption for homes with gas heating.

On a positive note, well done for being on a tariff with a decent gas price.  Most of the bill shock posts on here come about because people are on daylight robbery tariffs.

Gerry1

Two of the three readings are estimated, note the 'E' so the bill is meaningless.  Has your opening meter reading been correctly recorded on an earlier bill?

The good news is that at 2.23575p/kWh it's a VERY competitive tariff !

sarahfaith399

Matthaus73 said:

Im no expert but that seems exceptionally high. We are low users at about 60m3 per month or 670kwh.
Have u tried turning gas mains off for an hour to see if meter continues rising ? 
As i said check out my 'faulty meter' thread. I ended up at the ombudsman as gas supplier refused to take me seriously 

Hi yes I did that this morning and the meter didn't move 

sarahfaith399

Talldave said:

The bill's estimated (wrongly), assuming that "E" stands for estimate.  I've no idea what "O" means against a reading?

You've written down gas readings of 5681 & 5682 on 27th March and yet the bill's showing 6277 for the 17th March.  If the bill had been issued on 27th March using your 5682 reading, it would be about £73 for 2827kWh.  Not bad for a month and 10 days.

Are you taking readings from the In Home Display?  Might just be worth checking that readings are the same on the meters.

But the big question is why are the gas readings on the bill wrong?

Although gas consumption is OK, how did you use over 7kWh of electricity in 3 hours??  That's nearly a day's consumption for homes with gas heating.

On a positive note, well done for being on a tariff with a decent gas price.  Most of the bill shock posts on here come about because people are on daylight robbery tariffs.

I searched for a long time to get a decent tariff. But then getting this bill just blew me out of the water. 

Where are you seeing the electricity reading? The readings I gave were from the gas only meter.

I've just been advised to remove the picture of the gas bill. 

sarahfaith399

Matthaus73 said:

Im no expert but that seems exceptionally high. We are low users at about 60m3 per month or 670kwh.
Have u tried turning gas mains off for an hour to see if meter continues rising ? 
As i said check out my 'faulty meter' thread. I ended up at the ombudsman as gas supplier refused to take me seriously 

Sorry you've been through that. What happened with the ombudsman? 

sarahfaith399

Gerry1 said:

Two of the three readings are estimated, note the 'E' so the bill is meaningless.  Has your opening meter reading been correctly recorded on an earlier bill?

The good news is that at 2.23575p/kWh it's a VERY competitive tariff !

I gave them the opening readings as did bulb I think but I'm in conflict with them because they reckon I've used £300 electric in a month. I'm so sick of these companies and I really really don't need this stress right now as none of us do I'm sure so thank you all so much for helping me. 

Matthaus73

Very long winded but eventually got a new meter installed which they are monitoring to then compare with last years bill. 
The problem with my meter (and a few others here) seems to have been a low battery (indicated by 'b' after the digits on the meter display)