Gas meter numbers jumped

EssexHebridean

sammies3 said:

Hi, we moved to our new 3 bed bungalow back in Oct 21, we decided to keep the energy provider that the previous tenant used, Scottish Power as we also used them in our old house, everything was fine for the first few months, meter readings were taken on moving in day and they corresponded with previous tenants final readings. our monthly DD was to be £185, which to start seemed a little high considering this is what we paid in our last house which was 4 bed house with Log cabin, conservatory, extension.

Now we were renovating our kitchen and run a new gas pipe to the new island (All done professionally) but the problen was just after the kitchen reno, we get a bill, our DD has shot up to £285 per month, i get on the phone to SP, who tells me i have somehow managed to use 141kw per day, the lady at SP told me this was impossible, yet they still wanted me to pay the bill of over £1500 for the 3month period. I was contacted every couple of days to give new readins justto get a daily average, these new readings worked out that we were using only 4kw per day, yet nothing had changed. SP couldnt give me a reason as to why my gas had shot up in that period but insisted I still had to pay.

They told me the meter wasnt faulty as the reaings were now ok, they blamed the boiler, but it was serviced before and after the move, they blamed my oven and heating, yet we had no oven it was still in storage, we didnt have the heating on at all as we were staying at my parents while the kitchen was being done. The only explaination was that when we were jack hammering the floor for the new pipe work that maybe it dislodge a digit or 2 and the reading jumped, has this ever happened, can it be proved. It seems now every time i submit a reading our DD goes up, the latest jump in DD is now to £345 per month, this I expected because of the hike in energy prices, but we are still paying off the bill for the gas that we didnt use, is there anything we can do? any help will be appreciated

I take it you are absolutely certain the heating was definitely off? 

Robin9

sammies3 said:

Readings were 28844 on 13th Oct 21

28924 7th Nov 21

29773 2nd Feb 21

29882 17th Feb 21

29887 1th Feb 21

and each week for 3 weeks after we gave readings of 20 24kw per week

April Reading - 30202

today we are at 30263

The readings you take from the meter are in m3 not kWh  

Evan3020

It is likely who ever was in the house doing the kitchen was using the gas?

Evan3020

You are mixing units with kwh, 20-24 units a week is 220 to 270 kwh a week.

born_again

Have you factored in that DD's did increase in April due to the change in Cap? Guessing that you are on a variable tariff. Ours went from £85 to £132, they recommended far more. Purely on the cap. We are still well in credit each month as well, around next months bill.

Rather than just look at the monthly DD amount claimed. How much a month is your account in Credit or Debit a month.

14th Jan. 2022 4767.0 Customer reading
14th Feb. 2022 4893.0 Customer reading
Consumption 126.0 Units (m3 ) Energy Used* 1435.3 kWh @ 3.793p/kWh

That is ours for Jan/Feb. I'm very tight. This is heating & hot water (inc shower) 2 bed bungalow.

Maybe get into the habit of sending a reading each month. so you only get billed for usage & not a estimated figure.

Robin9

sammies3 said:

Readings were 28844 on 13th Oct 21

....................

today we are at 30263

So 30263 - 28844 = 1419  x 11.2 = 15892   

that's very average for a bungalow.... Bungalows are more expensive to run than house.

sammies3

ok so according to SP we used £700 for 1 week in Jan, what is impossible is my husbans was there after work doing the kitchen reno, heating was NOT on boiler was actually switched off at wall, no oven, no heating and no hot water, yet SP insist we used all that gas, Now that to me is impossible

MWT

sammies3 said:

ok so according to SP we used £700 for 1 week in Jan....

Based on actual meter readings, or estimates?

Unless it is actual meter readings then you don't really know what period it covered...

pochase

sammies3 said:

ok so according to SP we used £700 for 1 week in Jan, what is impossible is my husbans was there after work doing the kitchen reno, heating was NOT on boiler was actually switched off at wall, no oven, no heating and no hot water, yet SP insist we used all that gas, Now that to me is impossible

You have not given any meter readings for just one week in January

28924 7th Nov 21

29773 2nd Feb 21

So what is the start and end reading for the week in January and who took and submitted them?

Evan3020

You only used about £665 in gas between Nov and Feb according to your own readings?
29773-28924 x 11.2 x 7p = £665?