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

MeteredOut

Zandoni said:

Let’s not be silly here, with the valve closed there can only be a very negligible gas usage as there will be no pressure to pass the gas through to the burners and a vacuum would be created.

I have noticed this little green "switch" (top of picture) between the valve and the meter, and I've sure i've seen it move when I've turned the valve back on. Could that be some sort of return valve to manage the pressure? I can move it from around 12 o'clock to around 2 o'clock positions, but doing that has not changed anything and it springs back into its original position.

 

MeteredOut

Stuart_ said:

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing the exact same situation to the one I had, with the exact same type of meter. You're right to be diligent in your efforts to get this resolved, as it could indeed be a fault with your meter that has gone unnoticed for some time., perhaps years.

<snip>

Thanks so much - i'd seen that article in my own searches and have been taking regular readings and lots of photos, but not so many videos unfortunately. So other than the ones i've sent them, they'd have to take my word for it that no gas appliances were in use, since i hadn't previously isolated the meter from the gas.

The intermittent nature of the issue is my biggest concern - as of earlier today, the issue has gone away, but i'll be keeping an eye on it and getting more videos as soon as it happens again.

LoopySnooker

MeteredOut said:

Stuart_ said:

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing the exact same situation to the one I had, with the exact same type of meter. You're right to be diligent in your efforts to get this resolved, as it could indeed be a fault with your meter that has gone unnoticed for some time., perhaps years.

<snip>

Thanks so much - i'd seen that article in my own searches and have been taking regular readings and lots of photos, but not so many videos unfortunately. So other than the ones i've sent them, they'd have to take my word for it that no gas appliances were in use, since i hadn't previously isolated the meter from the gas.

The intermittent nature of the issue is my biggest concern - as of earlier today, the issue has gone away, but i'll be keeping an eye on it and getting more videos as soon as it happens again.

One other thing to mention, it might be worth using an app like Lens Buddy on your phone. You can set it up to automatically take photos every X amount of seconds or minutes so it will capture everything without you having to stand there.

Stuart_

MeteredOut said:

Stuart_ said:

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing the exact same situation to the one I had, with the exact same type of meter. You're right to be diligent in your efforts to get this resolved, as it could indeed be a fault with your meter that has gone unnoticed for some time., perhaps years.

<snip>

Thanks so much - i'd seen that article in my own searches and have been taking regular readings and lots of photos, but not so many videos unfortunately. So other than the ones i've sent them, they'd have to take my word for it that no gas appliances were in use, since i hadn't previously isolated the meter from the gas.

The intermittent nature of the issue is my biggest concern - as of earlier today, the issue has gone away, but i'll be keeping an eye on it and getting more videos as soon as it happens again.

yep it's random, mine would sometimes tick up by just a few digits every half an hour or so, sometimes it would make huge jumps.

It's a bit concerning that millions of these meters have been installed, and there's been no investigation. Because the jumps are random people might not have noticed them, so well done for being vigilant and spotting it. Try to get as much evidence as you can, If you do have this fault I hope you get your money back on all the over-reporting on your previous bills although determining how much they have randomly jumped by may be challenging. I hope it's worth it.

MeteredOut

LoopySnooker said:

One other thing to mention, it might be worth using an app like Lens Buddy on your phone. You can set it up to automatically take photos every X amount of seconds or minutes so it will capture everything without you having to stand there.

Thanks, great idea. I've downloaded it and I'll be getting that in place as soon as the issue starts again,

MeteredOut

LoopySnooker said:

One other thing to mention, it might be worth using an app like Lens Buddy on your phone. You can set it up to automatically take photos every X amount of seconds or minutes so it will capture everything without you having to stand there.

After seemingly working correctly for all of Saturday, the meter started doing its thing again yesterday, so I set up my camera on a small tripod over it, clearly showing the shut-off value engaged (so no gas to meter) and set up Lens Buddy (great little app) to run for around 70 minutes, taking a photo every minute. In that time, the reading went up 0.25 units (roughly 2.8kWh).

Perhaps interestingly, the diagnostic code on the meter changed from b to C yesterday (its back to b today).

EDF are meant to be getting back to me today, but I sent that photographic evidence off to them last night anyway.

DPatroller

I am going through an extremely similar experience with my Siemens E6 Meter (1998 vintage). It looks identical except for the branding. I have been reading it daily for almost 6 months to try to understand very excessive and expensive usage in 2021 and 2022. After months of frustratingly accurate looking readings it started to misbehave slightly. Once in April, and then once in May - both on hot days. It stole another few cubic metres in early June and we raised an official complaint to SO Energy. Over the last 5 days however it has shown its true colours. The final letter on the readout had been an 'F' all through to 5th June. Since then it has been  'C'   'b' and 'd' and currently back to 'C' just like MeteredOut. It has been recording at up to 10 cubic metres an hour and turning the gas supply off to the meter makes no difference.  It has added 650 cubic metres in 5 days (and counting). I have lots of video and photographic and video evidence and am awaiting response from SO Energy. With the Guardian article and other evidence from many years ago, how on earth could this scandal have been allowed to continue?              

CSI_Yorkshire

Because people whinge whenever it's suggested that they get a new meter.  There have even been people saying things like "my meter is making funny noises and I have to hit it to make it work, but nobody can force me to get a smart meter".

The overall minimum hassle is that most people don't care, and those that do can have the arguments.

The articles also say things like "could be millions of meters", when all they actually know is that it is somewhere between two and millions.

Zandoni

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Because people whinge whenever it's suggested that they get a new meter.  There have even been people saying things like "my meter is making funny noises and I have to hit it to make it work, but nobody can force me to get a smart meter".

The overall minimum hassle is that most people don't care, and those that do can have the arguments.

The articles also say things like "could be millions of meters", when all they actually know is that it is somewhere between two and millions.

I’ve never come across a meter the you have to hit to make it work, there are many of the old diaphragm meters that make a noise and there are many that register happily without passing gas, a whole lot more than two.

CSI_Yorkshire

Zandoni said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Because people whinge whenever it's suggested that they get a new meter.  There have even been people saying things like "my meter is making funny noises and I have to hit it to make it work, but nobody can force me to get a smart meter".

The overall minimum hassle is that most people don't care, and those that do can have the arguments.

The articles also say things like "could be millions of meters", when all they actually know is that it is somewhere between two and millions.

I’ve never come across a meter the you have to hit to make it work, there are many of the old diaphragm meters that make a noise and there are many that register happily without passing gas, a whole lot more than two.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6451609/old-electricity-meter-humming/p1

It was an electricity meter thread that I was referring to.

The problem with "many" is that it doesn't help work out a proportionate response.  If it's 10,000 then it can be argued that case-by-case when reported is proportional.  If it's 10,000,000 then a recall/replacement programme would be more sensible.  Given that we don't reliably know how many of these meters were installed, or how many of them have been replaced, we don't know the actual scale.