Gas Meter Still Increasing Whilst Gas Isolated (Siemens/Landis+Gyr E6S)

MeteredOut

Hi,

I'll try to keep this short but can provide more details if required.

Setup: my house has a Gas boiler and a Gas fire. My  gas meter is old: Landis + Gyr E6S. It is not a smart meter. My boiler is Worcester Greenstar 42CDi serving underfloor heating downstairs, radiators upstairs and domestic hot water.

In August last year I went on holiday and turned my boiler to holiday mode whilst away (only kicks in if temperatures fall below 4 degree - it did not during that time). On my return i noticed my gas consumption (as recorded on the gas meter) was significantly higher than expected. I hadn't been doing regular readings over the summer and noticed that my recorded usage over that whole summer was very high. I then spent the next few days monitoring usage, and noticed the meter still increased even if i turned my boiler off. I also isolated the gas fire at the valve during that time.

I then spent the next 3 months corresponding with EDF to try get the meter tested, with no luck. I took daily pictures of the meter to track usage, multiple emails and phone calls were exchanged with EDF, 2 engineer visits were arranged and cancelled by EDF, and in the end I gave up as it was getting into winter and I could no longer keep the boiler off to continue tracking, so I did a very rough calculation on what I was overcharged and was given a bill credit. Once challenge was that the issue was intermittent - so sometimes the meter reading stayed the same when I turned the boiler off, and then started increasing again even when no gas was being consumed by an appliances.

Roll forward to this week when the weather has gotten warmer again, and I’ve managed to put the boiler back into holiday mode, and I’m seeing the same issue. I’ve turned the boiler off and have a video showing the meter still increasing. I’ve kept track of that for 3 days and phoned EDF again yesterday and am again being given the run-around. I’ve to take readings for the next 5 days and they’ll then assess things from there. I’m not sure what they’ll do with that information since the issue is intermittent so the readings themselves won’t necessarily show excessive usage.

I’m pretty sure I need to get the meter tested. The person I spoke to at EDF suggested that if i wanted that then I’d be charged if it turned out not to be a fault (which I agreed with) but I made it clear that this needed to be a proper test, and not someone turning up to look at it at a time when it is working as expected, and stating there is no issue. I believe it needs to be removed to be tested. Aside: I can’t currently request its exchange for a smart meter - EDF are not taking such requests

Other info: Since at least August last year, the gas meter has a “diagnostic code” alongside the meter reading on the digital display. This changes from b, to C to d regularly, with it being b or d most often. I also have a picture of it with an E from September 2021 and also have photos from that year of readings with no diagnostic code.

Does anyone have any clue on how to progress this with EDF. I can see another few months of it wasting my time. I suspect the end game is for EDF to do nothing for 3 months and for it to end up with the Energy Ombudsman, but I wan’t to make sure I’m not missing anything.

Is there any reason, other than a fault meter, why the digital reading would increase even when my boiler is off and my gas fire value is isolated?

Can anyone shed any light on what the diagnostic codes mean (a thorough google search has returned little. ChatGPT did give some details but it cannot be trusted)

Any other thoughts?

Thanks

Robin9

Have you advanced your complaint to 

complaintresolution@edfenergy.com

MeteredOut

Robin9 said:

Have you advanced your complaint to 

complaintresolution@edfenergy.com

Not for this latest one - that's where the previous one ended up and I gave up and accepted the bill credit - i was fed up with how much time it was taking up and could no longer track the issue since i couldn't turn off heating in the middle of winter. I believe I need to let the initial team investigate before i escalate - i only raised the issue again yesterday.

Interestingly i was told i needed to get an electrician to test my appliances before they could do anything. I told them where to go. Eventually he realised he meant a gas technician and i also refused to do that - the appliances are fine.

Whilst on the call, with by boiler off, i was also reading out the figure as it was increasing in front of me. So, eg, 30100.123 then 30100.128, then 30100. 132 etc

and was told that was not an issue since i was only billed for the amount before the decimal point. I was almost tearing my hear out trying to explain why this was an issue but he never got it.

Robin9

Does it advance with the inline lever turned to off ?

CSI_Yorkshire

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

QrizB

OP are you able/willing to share a photo of your meter?

Robin9 said:

Does it advance with the inline lever turned to off ?

This was going to be my question too.

Next to the gas meter there should be an isolation valve. Something like this:

Turn that off. Does the meter still advance?

MeteredOut

Robin9 said:

Does it advance with the inline lever turned to off ?

There is no lever - there is a hex bolt with On/Off on it but i'm not going to be the one playing with that. I'll go get a picture.

[Deleted User]

You have the right to ask for an independent meter check: your supplier cannot refuse. Your gas meter will be replaced and the ‘old’ meter will be sealed and bagged and sent to SGS: the Government-approved independent testing laboratory. You will get a copy of SGS’ report. If the report shows no fault found, then the supplier will raise a meter change charge.

Before you go down this route it is worth taking a note of the comments made by the Office of Product Safety and Standards re meter testing:

To put the above into context, 1209 gas meters were sent for testing out of which 1094 were found to be accurate.  When taken in the context of overall meter numbers 115 out of millions of meters is a very low percentage.

My inclination would be to look to your boiler first. If the increase in usage is only occurring when the boiler is in holiday mode then this suggests to me that the boiler is the culprit.

‘Activating the holiday setting will turn off the central heating system. Frost protection and heating of domestic hot water will stay activated.’ Source: Worcester Bosch website

MeteredOut

Here's some pics - no lever, but a couple of things that could feasibly isolate things - one a yellow cap that is not easily turnable (but I've not tried to force it) and a hex bolt with a yellow On/Off sticker over it (which i've not touched)

mmmmikey

When you have your boiler serviced (which I assume you do anually) the gas safe engineer should be able to do a tightness test to check for leaks anywhere - I expect this is done routinely. When is you next service due - if it's not too far in the future maybe you could get the gas safe engineer to check and that would provide definitive evidence that the issue is the meter not anything else?

MeteredOut

mmmmikey said:

When you have your boiler serviced (which I assume you do anually) the gas safe engineer should be able to do a tightness test to check for leaks anywhere - I expect this is done routinely. When is you next service due - if it's not too far in the future maybe you could get the gas safe engineer to check and that would provide definitive evidence that the issue is the meter not anything else?

Thanks - that's a good idea - it was early last summer so probably due soon and I could look to bring that forward. Could a leak exist without the smell of gas (there is none)?

As to other comment above - the issue is not just when in holiday mode, but when off (I've had it off more when testing so could 100% rule out DHW usage). Could a boiler that is off still consume gas?