Smart meter faulty??

Chrissy_p0

His bill said he used 95m last month. I'm going to go through the rest of them when he sends them over. I've been doing his bills for years and it's never been higher than mine, even when his girlfriend was living there, she did a lot of cooking, liked baths and liked the heating on. His section of the electric bill looks fine.
His meter is outside and it's that he was reading. His estimated gas usage for the year is 23,404kwh @ 2.4300 p/kWh and mine is 14,912kwh @ 2.7550 p/kWh, my heating is set to 18 degrees atm on a thermostat. His is on 10 and when he turns it on he puts it to 15 then turns it off.
I would've thought he would have smelt a leak inside the house, although when mine was leaking from a pipe to the meter it took days for me to be able to properly smell it, as it was in a cupboard under the stairs full of junk, and it took a while for the smell to work it's way properly up from the ground. It was great fun when I properly smelt it at 11pm the neighbours were very pleased with my garden being dug up at 4am! :0) I'll get him to do the washing up liquid test. 

QrizB

Chrissy_p0 said:

His bill said he used 95m last month. ... His estimated gas usage for the year is 23,404kwh @ 2.4300 p/kWh and mine is 14,912kwh @ 2.7550 p/kWh

95 cubic metres a month is roughly three a day, around 33kWh a day, which at the rate quoted is about 80p/day + standing charge. The £3.50 you quoted on page 1 shouldn't be trusted.

Tallerdave

Is it a Landis & Gyr meter that's been in a few years? There were reports of some of their meters going bonkers as the battery dies.

Chrissy_p0

Tallerdave said:

Is it a Landis & Gyr meter that's been in a few years? There were reports of some of their meters going bonkers as the battery dies.

I have no idea of the make, I'm asking for pics. I think it's only been there since 2019 when he switched to eon, then he switched to pure planet in 2020. I'll get him to send me over the bills from Eon as well if he hasn't deleted them. 

Chrissy_p0

Readings on the bill 
01 May 2021 3592 Reading
31 May 2021 3687 Reading
01 Jun 2021 3687 Reading
When he read the meter yesterday it was 3692, so that's 5m in 10 days, which seems more likely for someone who hardly uses gas (I think).

Tallerdave

May was colder this year (our gas consumption was nearly double May 2020) so that figure could a be right. Now we're into June there's no heating and consumption is negligible for hot water only. The 5m in 10 days would appear to reflect that. 

Is his boiler older & pipes potentially sludged up? That might account for increased consumption when trying to use the heating?

Chrissy_p0

Tallerdave said:

May was colder this year (our gas consumption was nearly double May 2020) so that figure could a be right. Now we're into June there's no heating and consumption is negligible for hot water only. The 5m in 10 days would appear to reflect that. 

Is his boiler older & pipes potentially sludged up? That might account for increased consumption when trying to use the heating?

No I doubt it, boiler has only been there 5 years and everything was flushed through etc. I doubt very much if he had the heating on at all last month either. I used 80m and my heating is set to 18/19 degrees 24/7. He just doesn't feel the cold, he makes me open windows when he comes here and I force him to turn on the heating when I go there. I'm not allowed to put it over 15 degrees either! He has never put it on overnight. I think he's odd! ;0)

Ectophile

Chrissy_p0 said:

Tallerdave said:

Is it a Landis & Gyr meter that's been in a few years? There were reports of some of their meters going bonkers as the battery dies.

I have no idea of the make, I'm asking for pics. I think it's only been there since 2019 when he switched to eon, then he switched to pure planet in 2020. I'll get him to send me over the bills from Eon as well if he hasn't deleted them. 

If it is a Landis & Gyr, look for a little lowercase "b" at the end of the display.  That indicates that the battery is failing.  Landis & Gyr did a bad batch of meters that are known for going haywire when the battery fails, even registering gas use when the gas is shut off.

Chrissy_p0

I'm going to have to update after the weekend now. I dropped my phone in the dogs water bowl earlier, so I can't message/call him with instructions or receive pics.  I've taken it to the pro's rather than hope with rice. 

Matthaus73

if the meter looks like this and has a small letter b in the display my moneys on faulty meter
You will need to check it very regularly 5-10 times a day because with mine sometimes it was correct other times massively over reading or not moving even when using gas !