Smart Meter - High usage with gas?

jazzy

My gas meter usage seems to be reading very excessive since I switched from British Gas to Octopus Energy. There is a smart meter at the property and the same meter was there when British Gas had control.

This month's usage is 514 Kwh for just the gas. I have used no heating this month and the only use is for the domestic water, no bath fitted.

Is it possible to have a faulty smart meter or when Octopus Energy took over could they have set up the smart meter incorrectly?

Whom do I report a suspected faulty meter to?

MWT

Octopus is the place to report a suspected fault, but first I would check to see if perhaps the central database has your meter still listed as Imperial, measuring in cubic feet, rather than metric measuring in cubic metres, as that would result in your kWh figure being inflated by a factor of 2.83...

There have been a few cases reported where BG had updated their own billing system correctly, but failed to change the central register, so when people switch to a new supplier it all goes wrong...

Take a look at the calculation on your Octopus bill and see if there is a mention of conversion from cubic feet, or a multiplication x2.83...

... or just tell us what the start and end meter readings were on the bill and what Octopus calculated the kWh to be...

[Deleted User]

Hi,

ok, do you have a record of previous usage?

Is your gas meter imperial or metric?

CSI_Yorkshire

Setting up the smart meter doesn't make it count any differently.  Was the first reading you gave to Octopus accurate?

If you think your meter has gone faulty, then you can get it taken away and checked - but there is a cost to this if you were wrong.

[Deleted User]

jazzy said:

My gas meter usage seems to be reading very excessive since I switched from British Gas to Octopus Energy. There is a smart meter at the property and the same meter was there when British Gas had control.

This month's usage is 514 Kwh for just the gas. I have used no heating this month and the only use is for the domestic water, no bath fitted.

Is it possible to have a faulty smart meter or when Octopus Energy took over could they have set up the smart meter incorrectly?

Whom do I report a suspected faulty meter to?

For those who may not know. SMETS2 just uses certified components irrespective of the supplier that fitted the meters. When a new supplier takes over a smart metered home it sends out bespoke security certificates to each of the meters. These certificates protect the meters from unauthorised access by another supplier or entity. It is all part of the GCHQ level layered security built into the system.

The chances of a meter becoming faulty as the result of a supplier change is near to zero. If you look at the Octopus App it should tell you how much gas you are using each day. 

You have the right to request an independent meter check by SGS: the Government approved test agency. The meter will be removed; sealed and sent off for laboratory testing. A new meter will be fitted. If the lab finds no fault then a charge will be raised. I have seen figures of up to £185. Finally, past test reports show that a very high percentage of meters tested were within limits. SGS also removes some in use meters for testing and the last report that I read showed no failures.