Incorrect gas meter calculations

Partviking

I have just been informed by my current provider, SO Energy that my gas meter is registered centrally as recording useage as m3 when actually it is recording cu ft. The result is I've been overcharged by about £500 since October. Whilst it is great they spotted it I am now thinking perhaps I've been overpaying with previous suppliers since British Gas installed the SMART meter about 5 years ago. Is there any way of getting information on previous suppliers through the Cheap Energy Club so I can try and get information to what i have been paying for (m3 or cu ft) in the past? I know some of the suppliers but not sure I can remember them all as I change every year on the advice of the Cheap Energy Club. Looking on the web they don't seem to provide historical information. Any assistance would be appreciated. Alan

Reed_Richards

Are there really SMART meters that record in cu ft?  

dunstonh

I would think it would just be a case of looking at one of your old BG bills.   if you don't retain them (and there is no excuse for not doing that nowadays), then you should ask BG.  You are still within the period they would retain data on you.

Carrot007

Reed_Richards said:

Are there really SMART meters that record in cu ft?  

No.

(Some more characters)

Reed_Richards

So it is most likely that SO Energy are wrong and there is no need to go back over payments to previous suppliers?

Carrot007

Reed_Richards said:

So it is most likely that SO Energy are wrong and there is no need to go back over payments to previous suppliers?

100%. A quick look at the meter will confim it is metric. Then send them a photo (probably repeatedly until you get someone with half a brain!).

Partviking

Thanks for your replies. I have taken pictures and sent them and they tell me it is a metric meter but records in imperial units which I agree seems crazy. However, they were estimating my annual usage as £4750 against about £1000 to £1200 with the last three suppliers. Like many people we did spend three weeks work from home in the winter but over £4000 seems crazy. I have contacted Ovo Energy who I was with 2017 to 2019 and they confirm they charged me for m3 so I have asked them to check and see what they can find out. BG installed the meter about 6-7 years ago and I know it's 1st generation so basically cr*p as no one else has been able to read it remotely. I appreciate the comments but it's clear to me the whole system is not fit for purpose. One individual mistake has huge consequences for the consumer. Absolute madness.

[Deleted User]

Partviking said:

Thanks for your replies. I have taken pictures and sent them and they tell me it is a metric meter but records in imperial units which I agree seems crazy. However, they were estimating my annual usage as £4750 against about £1000 to £1200 with the last three suppliers. Like many people we did spend three weeks work from home in the winter but over £4000 seems crazy. I have contacted Ovo Energy who I was with 2017 to 2019 and they confirm they charged me for m3 so I have asked them to check and see what they can find out. BG installed the meter about 6-7 years ago and I know it's 1st generation so basically cr*p as no one else has been able to read it remotely. I appreciate the comments but it's clear to me the whole system is not fit for purpose. One individual mistake has huge consequences for the consumer. Absolute madness.

I assume that the supplier is receiving smart meter readings? Some SMETS1 meters also give a kWhs reading which some people have confused with the volume reading in M3s. Passing this reading to a supplier can result in endless hours of fun.

pete-20-11

Wouldn’t it be the other way around? It’s metric meter but the supplier things it was imperial?

I had the same issue with British Gas recently. My bill was a lot more than it should have been and I was apparently circa £500 in debt. I gave them readings from a m3 metric meter. They thought it was an imperial meter. 

They corrected their records to show I have a metric meter and I now owe them £30, rather than £500. 

Partviking

Imperial meyers measure in 100 cu ft not 1 cu ft,  this is about three times a m3 

QrizB

Partviking said:

Imperial meyers measure in 100 cu ft not 1 cu ft,  this is about three times a m3 

If your estimated bill is 3x what you expect, it's because your supplier is treating measurements in cubic metres as though they were 100s of cubic feet.

Example follows.

Imagine you are on  a tariff of 3p/kWh, and your meter increments by one unit. If that one unit is a cubic metre, that will be ~11kWh and you will owe 33p. If however its 100 cu. ft., that will be ~33 kWh and you will owe 99p.

If over the year you use 3000 units, if those units are cubic metres you've used 33000kWh (quite a lot of gas) and your bill will be £990. If it's reading 100s of cubic feet you've used 99000kWh (a huge amount of gas) and your bill will be £2970.

It seems to me that your meter is measuring cubic metres, not 100s of cubic feet, all your previous bills have in fact been correct and it's SO Energy who are now overcharging you.