Meter readings

dustybob

Help. Hi everyone I'm new to this my question is our son moved into new apartments that as gas / elec the electricity is no problem due to smart meter but the gas is. There is one gas supply into the building and each resident as a cupboard with a large cabinet with pump and controls in for heating/ hot water and there usage is connected to a laptop in boiler room that works out their bill and they all receive a print out of each apartments useage which use to show what each person had used ( data breach) but this now removed but what people didn't know there is a meter in said cabinet showing energy useage and my son discovered it and when he pressed the button his useage is nothing like what he's being charged ( overcharged) plus residents don't know what the unit rate is.The electricity can have different suppliers if you want but gas can not also this is all run by the building management company and will not reply to numerous emails that residents have sent also my son as emailed ofgem who replied saying they don't deal with this issue can anyone help or give direction...thanks

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like a Building Heating Network which in reality is almost unregulated. It's like the Wild West !

https://www.heattrust.org/complaints

If he's renting it's probably best to move, preferably to somewhere with its own independent GCH, or at least nothing worse than High Heat Retention Night Storage Heaters if it's all-electric.

Scot_39

A very common setup for a block of flats or wider area with community heating or heating and hot water scheme.

Where a central boiler supplies individual flats in a block ("communal") or across many properties ("district") often via a so called Heat Interface Unit.

And as yet, there is if I read this Ofgem post correctly, nothing to regulate bills akin to Ofgem domestic cap in force, the current consultation period on initial proposals ends late October - so could be months or years away see e.g. 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-policy-and-regulation/policy-and-regulatory-programmes/heat-networks


As to the meter reading it could be in any unit (although when my sister's HA upgraded all HIU around 10 years ago iirc the programmable controller lcd panel also showed metered kWh  - but only remember graphical and monthly ?).  Just as old gas was 1=100ft3 and new 1=1 m3 etc - than have to covert to kWh, multiply by unit rates - and standing charge vat etc etc.

There could be a genuine error mapping flats to bills - which is why even with conventional meter central cabinets people recommend doing meter sanity checks to flat occupiers  - but to resolve will need cooperation from supplier.

Your son may need to contact the subcontracted energy supplier who bills him if different from building management team.

But if they are not supplying the info - is there a tennants or leaseholders association for the block to collectively force it to do so - via legal action if necessary ?

Commercial rates per kWh and standing charges in such schemes vary wildly.

Bearing little reletation to capped domestic epg rates.

Most of us would have been paying c17p for gas and c67p for electric without govt epg subsidies from Jan-Mar, c13 and c50p Oct- Dec and Apr-Jul. Not the c10p and 34p epg capped. Wholesale tariffs often still reflect those higher levels.

There was a post just a few days ago still paying 45p electric cf new domestic 27p on commercial rates.


And at times in recent past some on shorter term price models exposed occupiers to live wholesale price spikes - like the near 800p per therm price spike last autumn.

ArbitraryRandom

Depending on how much the difference is, it could also be that there's an element added for communal spaces/service charges etc? 

I would agree the 'easiest' option is to move. 

matelodave

the problem with building heating systems, is that there are quite high losses because the hot water is pumped around all day and all night and the individual flats just tap off heat from the heating circuit. There should be a heat meter for each flat which works out how much heat you've extracted from the hot water by integrating the incoming and out going temperature with the volume of water flowing through the flat.

However I'm guessing that there are a fair number of "fiddle factors" added in by the management company to compensate for system losses. maintenance, fuel cost etc that you'll find it difficult if not impossible to get a direct comparison with what you think you use compared with what you are being charged. As said above its not regulated like straightforward mains gas and electricity so they can virtually get away with what ever they can.

My bro has had a similar district system where he lives for the past 40 years and he's just given up trying to work it all out and just pays it.

dustybob

Thanks everyone for your comments but my point is the other residents readings are just about spot on with the meters in there apartments but my son's was nearly 700 units over to what  the meter is reading and the management company just won't get back to him and one other resident is refusing to pay and another resident is worried about using the gas .