Gas usage mega increase

rjmiller

And so, ladies and gents, this morning's reading is showing a 3 unit usage overnight on a meter whose supply has been turned off for 24 hours.

Alnat1

Are you able to video the meter showing it turned off and the readings going up?

Zandoni

rjmiller said:

doodling said:

Hi,

rjmiller said:

A quick update on this. I took a picture of my reading this morning: 21840 019

I then turned off my supply.

When I got home this afternoon I took another picture of the reading: 21841 978.

This despite the supply being turned off?

I assume that you turned off the supply by operating the valve just before the meter?

If that is the case then either your shut off valve is faulty or the meter is faulty.  I would contact the "if you smell gas" number on your bill and explain what has happened.  They will almost certainly want to check that the valve is OK.  Presumably at that rate of "consumption", you can see the meter incrementing when the valve is turned off?

Once they have carried out that check then, assuming they don't find anything, I would talk again to your supplier explaining that the meter is incrementing even with the supply turned off and that it is therefore clearly defective.

One the plus side, if the meter is incrementing like that then an independent test should spot it very quickly!

Yup, that's what I did. The valve has remained off overnight and I'll be heading home soon to see if there's been a change in the reading.

My worry about them testing it is that they take it on a day that it behaves itself and decide it's fine. I don't know if that's a possibility.

When the meters were made they would have plastic caps on both ports has even a breeze can cause them to register, when it goes to test it will be capped and observed over a period of time.

rjmiller

Called the emergency gas number as advised and, surprise surprise, the engineer confirmed there's no leak.

Now re-contacting Bulb.

rjmiller

Alnat1 said:

Are you able to video the meter showing it turned off and the readings going up?

Not really - it's outside and I'm not in all of the time.

EssexHebridean

rjmiller said:

doodling said:

Hi,

rjmiller said:

A quick update on this. I took a picture of my reading this morning: 21840 019

I then turned off my supply.

When I got home this afternoon I took another picture of the reading: 21841 978.

This despite the supply being turned off?

I assume that you turned off the supply by operating the valve just before the meter?

If that is the case then either your shut off valve is faulty or the meter is faulty.  I would contact the "if you smell gas" number on your bill and explain what has happened.  They will almost certainly want to check that the valve is OK.  Presumably at that rate of "consumption", you can see the meter incrementing when the valve is turned off?

Once they have carried out that check then, assuming they don't find anything, I would talk again to your supplier explaining that the meter is incrementing even with the supply turned off and that it is therefore clearly defective.

One the plus side, if the meter is incrementing like that then an independent test should spot it very quickly!

Yup, that's what I did. The valve has remained off overnight and I'll be heading home soon to see if there's been a change in the reading.

My worry about them testing it is that they take it on a day that it behaves itself and decide it's fine. I don't know if that's a possibility.

If you CAN see it incrementing as you watch, then a video of it doing so could be your friend here? Video yourself (or ask someone else to do it) switching the valve to the shut position, and then move to the dial showing the changing figures? 

[Deleted User]

rjmiller said:

doodling said:

Hi,

rjmiller said:

A quick update on this. I took a picture of my reading this morning: 21840 019

I then turned off my supply.

When I got home this afternoon I took another picture of the reading: 21841 978.

This despite the supply being turned off?

I assume that you turned off the supply by operating the valve just before the meter?

If that is the case then either your shut off valve is faulty or the meter is faulty.  I would contact the "if you smell gas" number on your bill and explain what has happened.  They will almost certainly want to check that the valve is OK.  Presumably at that rate of "consumption", you can see the meter incrementing when the valve is turned off?

Once they have carried out that check then, assuming they don't find anything, I would talk again to your supplier explaining that the meter is incrementing even with the supply turned off and that it is therefore clearly defective.

One the plus side, if the meter is incrementing like that then an independent test should spot it very quickly!

Yup, that's what I did. The valve has remained off overnight and I'll be heading home soon to see if there's been a change in the reading.

My worry about them testing it is that they take it on a day that it behaves itself and decide it's fine. I don't know if that's a possibility.

It doesn’t work like that. The gas meter is sent to an independent testing facility. The testing lab will have historical data on all known meter faults for each particular meter model.

The process is described here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gas-meter-accuracy-and-disputes

rjmiller

Quick update as this is (almost) becoming comical.

Apparently I used 6 units of gas overnight. Which would seem odd anyway, but especially so given the supply was switched off.

Robin9

You might as well grasp the bullet and pay the cost (£150 ?? ) of a meter change.  Then you will have something to argue with

[Deleted User]

Robin9 said:

You might as well grasp the bullet and pay the cost (£150 ?? ) of a meter change.  Then you will have something to argue with

For you my friend, a bargain at £120.

https://help.bulb.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360033353271-Faulty-or-broken-meters