Seemingly crazy SSE gas bill.

GeoffreyDee

Hello! 
I live in student flat with 2 other guys in a town in Scotland. We were prepared for the unpleasant rise in gas prices but well, not prepared for what happened when we submitted our most recent meter reading. Our last set of meter reading numbers (approximately 5 weeks ago) on the SSE website were 5560 (with a zero at the start, but they don't record that 05560) . The reading we took today was 9098 (with the zero at the start 09098) and SSE's website cheerily informed us that this meant we'd used well over £3000 in gas since our last reading. This was somewhat surprising. The idea that we'd managed in a relatively mild spring month when we were mostly at work or at the library would incur a bill like this seems kind of bananas. What do you guys think? Two of us run quite hot so don't have radiators on even in feb or march, the other will sometimes put his room radiator on for an hour or so after work. Our electricity costs have gone up in roughly the manner we would have expected given the price hike, but this seems in a different league altogether. Faulty meter? Global conspiracy against skint students? 

GeoffreyDee

GeoffreyDee said:

Hello! 
I live in student flat with 2 other guys in a town in Scotland. We were prepared for the unpleasant rise in gas prices but well, not prepared for what happened when we submitted our most recent meter reading. Our last set of meter reading numbers (approximately 5 weeks ago) on the SSE website were 5560 (with a zero at the start, but they don't record that 05560) . The reading we took today was 9098 (with the zero at the start 09098) and SSE's website cheerily informed us that this meant we'd used well over £3000 in gas since our last reading. This was somewhat surprising. The idea that we'd managed in a relatively mild spring month when we were mostly at work or at the library would incur a bill like this seems kind of bananas. What do you guys think? Two of us run quite hot so don't have radiators on even in feb or march, the other will sometimes put his room radiator on for an hour or so after work. Our electricity costs have gone up in roughly the manner we would have expected given the price hike, but this seems in a different league altogether. Faulty meter? Global conspiracy against skint students? 

Just for context this would be 7.5 times the rent I paid on the property in that time period. 

Alnat1

Is it a combi boiler or is there a hot water tank heated by the gas that could have accidently been left on constant?

Robin9

Have you got any other readings for the flat - going back 12  months-   include the letters A C S or E or words like cust read, our read, smart, 

silverwhistle

Alnat1 said:

Is it a combi boiler or is there a hot water tank heated by the gas that could have accidently been left on constant?

Not to the level they've experienced. Around 38000kWh! Even with the boiler going full chat 24 hours a day it wouldn't be possible..

Are there any commercial greenhouse growers in the vicinity? Next door's cannabis farm tapping in to the supply?

Best start by taking daily readings to see if you can observe anything. Mistake in the readings somewhere?

comeandgo

Who has been taking the previous readings?  Are you 100% sure they have been correct and not reduced to allow a cheaper bill and now it’s a change of person doing the readings?

k_man

silverwhistle said:

Alnat1 said:

Is it a combi boiler or is there a hot water tank heated by the gas that could have accidently been left on constant?

Not to the level they've experienced. Around 38000kWh! Even with the boiler going full chat 24 hours a day it wouldn't be possible..

Are there any commercial greenhouse growers in the vicinity? Next door's cannabis farm tapping in to the supply?

Best start by taking daily readings to see if you can observe anything. Mistake in the readings somewhere?

Or a constant vent of superheated steam coming out of the flat 😄

GeoffreyDee

Alnat1 said:

Is it a combi boiler or is there a hot water tank heated by the gas that could have accidently been left on constant?

It is an Ariston CLAS HE EVO condensing wall hung gas boiler. The manual I've got in front of me on the table says it is a ''designed to produce hot water for domestic use (combi version)" 

theoretica

4 digits versus 5 digits makes me suspect that they have the meter down as measuring in the wrong units.  Does the meter say cubic metres or feet?  Which does the bill say?

GeoffreyDee

I can confirm that no illegal greenhouse farming, drug growing or rocket fuel refining has been happening. The last meter reading (prior to the crazy one) actually taken by an SSE rep of all people . They have sent out reps to our block of flats every quarter of the year throughout the time I've lived here. They are generally quite helpful and once spotted that we were being billed for nextdoor's meter a couple of years age, which I was assured has since been resolved. 

Alnat1

Are you able to access previous bills to see what the readings were? When did you move in and what was the reading then?  If you listed all previous ones with dates, someone here might be able to spot where it's gone wrong