Faulty Smart Meter Gas Readings - 67kwh used in 1 hour

buddyslack

When we first got a smart meter we were with edf, but switched to British Gas later. We never received a smart meter from BG and the EDF one never used to display our usage.

When it came to giving a meter reading before the price hike, i entered our meter reading only to find the smart meter had already gave it, and our energy usage was being shown on the smart meter again. Fast forward a few month and I'm pretty sure the smart meter is showing the wrong gas consumption. Current electricity usage for the day is 8khw, but gas is showing as 67khw. I'm assuming BG are getting the correct readings as I've increased my payments to cover the costs displayed on smart meter, but i recently received a rebate of £100+ and they reduced my monthly payments. Currently trying to contact BG to ask for a BG smart meter but struggling to get through at the moment. BG app says only a certain smart meter is compatible with their app, so assuming thats what I need.

Anyone else had a problem like this?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

are you talking about the actual smart meter or the IHD?

EssexHebridean

OK - to clarify - you had a SMETS1 (?) meter installed when you were supplied, with EDF, you've now switched to British Gas and still have the same meter? It's likely that the meter went "dumb" when you changed supplier, but there has been a lot of work done in recent years to get SMETS1 meters adopted so that they will become smart again - it sounds like that may be what has happened to you? 

Why do you think that 67kWh of gas per day, at a time in the winter months when most people are using their heating, is wrong? Your electricity seems pretty high to me though, it must be said. If you've hit 8kWh by 3pm, that suggests you must be fairly high users. 

Don't assume that British Gas are getting the right readings - check what is showing on your last bill (assuming you've had one since the meter went smart again) and see if it matches. 

If your current smart meter is sending readings, on what basis would you ask for it to be replaced? 

buddyslack

I just assumed that 67kWh of gas was alot as we've only had the heating on for 45 min-1 hour today, and don't use gas for cooking.

I'd be asking for my meter to be replaced as the british gas app isn't receiving any data from the smart meter and it says only a certain smart meter is compatible with it

[Deleted User]

Where does this figure of 67kWh in an hour come from? 

A typical gas boiler might be rated at 24kW. If it ran for one hour at 24kW then your In House Display (IHD) would show 24kWh. You have looked at the IHD and seen a figure of 67kWh. This is your TOTAL usage in kWh so far today. It follows that if your boiler came on at 7 am this morning, then by 3pm you have used 67kWh of gas in 8 hours or circa.8.5kWh per hour. Electricity is shown in 2 ways: one instant power in kW and TOTAL usage in kWh.

My gas usage for yesterday is shown in this graph (the bars show kWh per 30 minute period):

You can see my usage is high when the boiler first comes on but the boiler output ramps down as the house reaches the set temperature. Depending on the size of your home; set temperatures; insulation etc 67kWh is not extraordinarily high.

EssexHebridean

I don't think they'll change a meter just because you can't use the app - presumably the app will still show the readings that you have been billed on, it just isn't updating daily from the meter. You can still read the meter daily if you really want the readings though. 

I'm not a central heating person, but that does sound like quite a lot of gas for such a short time heating. How  much hot water has been used though as that will also contribute of course. 

Have you tried the Bright app to see if that can get the info from your meter? You might even find it's better than the app. 

[Deleted User]

A couple of other points are worth making:

 IHD costs are NOT used for billing. The supplier ‘pulls’ index readings from the smart meter and it uses these readings to produce an energy bill.

Costs shown on any IHD are only indicative costs. The supplier has to send the correct tariff information to each of the meters: not all do. The Government EPG has also complicated matters. Some suppliers have retained the unabated tariff and then applied the EPG discount. It follows that the IHD may be showing an inaccurate cost fir the energy supplied.