Expensive gas bills with Bulb - what could have happened?

hughjonesd

Hi,

I switched to Bulb when I moved house in September 2017. I had some estimated bills, then got a much higher bill when I gave my first reading. My first meter reading was 11508 in mid September. By mid January I was on 14385. I.e. about 23 metric units per day.

Later that year I averaged more than 30 units per day! This was in the warm summer of 2018.

My house wasn't well insulated, but it is only 3 bedrooms with a single gas boiler and a gas cooker. Is it possible that my gas usage can have been that high?

I wonder if either my meter was wrong, or if Bulb recorded some of my data wrongly. Especially since they have been in the news recently for overcharging customers.

Any advice?

Gerry1

Sounds like you've misread the meter, it's a metric meter but Bulb think it's imperial, or you have a rogue meter.  Post a photo or video of the meter and a redacted copy of the bill calculation.

victor2

hughjonesd said:

Hi,

I switched to Bulb when I moved house in September 2017. I had some estimated bills, then got a much higher bill when I gave my first reading. My first meter reading was 11508 in mid September. By mid January I was on 14385. I.e. about 23 metric units per day.

Later that year I averaged more than 30 units per day! This was in the warm summer of 2018.

My house wasn't well insulated, but it is only 3 bedrooms with a single gas boiler and a gas cooker. Is it possible that my gas usage can have been that high?

I wonder if either my meter was wrong, or if Bulb recorded some of my data wrongly. Especially since they have been in the news recently for overcharging customers.

Any advice?

Are you still in that house? If so, what is your usage like now?

Even in winter, 23 m3 of gas a day is quite a lot, never mind 30!

hughjonesd

Gerry1 said:

Sounds like you've misread the meter, it's a metric meter but Bulb think it's imperial, or you have a rogue meter.  Post a photo or video of the meter and a redacted copy of the bill calculation.

Here's a bit of my bill calculation. The meter looks fine - it's a relatively modern one - but I'll try to get a picture. I doubt if I misread it that many times, though.

Reading type	Gas reading	Date	Difference	Time difference	Units per day
Opening Read	11508	13-Sep-17
Customer	14385	16-Jan-18	2877	125	23.02
Customer	14965	16-Feb-18	580	31	18.71
Customer	16309	31-May-18	1344	104	12.92
Customer	17943	20-Jul-18	1634	50	32.68
Customer	18323	02-Sep-18	380	44	8.64

hughjonesd

Here is a not very accurate picture of the meter:

hughjonesd

Ah. It appears to be a Landis Gyr. The thread you linked says their 310 p model is "notorious for this...."

I am beginning to see the light....

hughjonesd said:

Here is a not very accurate picture of the meter:

Gerry1

hughjonesd said:

Gerry1 said:

Sounds like you've misread the meter, it's a metric meter but Bulb think it's imperial, or you have a rogue meter.  Post a photo or video of the meter and a redacted copy of the bill calculation.

Here's a bit of my bill calculation.

It needs to show their calculation, not yours; you need to think in kWh. You need to make sure that they haven't assumed that the readings are in (hundreds) of cubic feet and that they haven't mistakenly converted them to cubic metres. If so, you'll be charged £2.83 for each £1's worth of kWh usage.

It would also be worth photographing the meter reading (clearly), turning the gas off at the meter overnight and taking another photo in the morning before turning it back on. Look closely for any 'b' symbol that denotes a failing battery.

victor2

hughjonesd said:

Gerry1 said:

Sounds like you've misread the meter, it's a metric meter but Bulb think it's imperial, or you have a rogue meter.  Post a photo or video of the meter and a redacted copy of the bill calculation.

Here's a bit of my bill calculation. The meter looks fine - it's a relatively modern one - but I'll try to get a picture. I doubt if I misread it that many times, though.

Reading type	Gas reading	Date	Difference	Time difference	Units per day
Opening Read	11508	13-Sep-17
Customer	14385	16-Jan-18	2877	125	23.02
Customer	14965	16-Feb-18	580	31	18.71
Customer	16309	31-May-18	1344	104	12.92
Customer	17943	20-Jul-18	1634	50	32.68
Customer	18323	02-Sep-18	380	44	8.64

As Gerry1 says, you need to look at kWh usage rather than meter units, as that is what you are billed for.

As a quick guide, multiply m3 used by 11.1 to get kWh. It won't match the suppliers figure exactly, but will be close. The calculation used should be shown on your bill and one element of it (calorific value) can vary very slightly from one bill to the next.

Looking at your opening read on 13-Sep-17 and the reading on 02-Sep-18, your readings show nearly 76,000 kWh usage in almost a year. So you'd be looking at say 78,000 kWh annual usage of gas. That is high - a "typical" high usage figure is around 17,000 kWh per year.

What is your meter reading now, and what have you been billed for since 2018?

Talldave

I disagree. The gas consumption is ludicrous - whether the ludicrous consumption is quoted in m3 or kWh it’s still ludicrous!  Who cares what the bills say, it's the galloping gas meter that matters.

I don't understand why you're only worrying about this three years later? Is the consumption still ludicrous?  If so, shut off the gas at the meter and see if the reading continues to increase.

For what it's worth we spent a year in a sprawling, single glazed cottage where the boiler ran almost 24/7 struggling to heat the place and annual consumption was 53,000kWh. So the 78,000kWh here is clearly crazy.

If this is another case of an L&G 310p measuring phantom consumption it would be interesting to know how long ago it was installed and whether the low battery "b" was ever showing. If not it could be that these meters are crap even without a dying battery.

brewerdave

To support Talldave's comment - I live in a 5 bedroom detached house. Even in the very cold Winter spell in February a couple of years ago, I used a maximum of 10 cu metres a day with the heating on 24/7.

moneysaver

From your pic it looks like a small b in the viewing window.  I am in the process of getting a meter accuracy test done in Sept on behalf of Bulb. I done another test on mine a few nights ago & with the gas off at the meter it used 20 units overnight. But it has went back to normal again, seems odd but I will need to wait until the test is done.

Moneysaver