Gas bill spike after leak on other side of town

Ashgordon123

Recently a vehicle damaged a gas pipe causing a gas leak which affected the whole area where I live. 

Using my energy provider’s app I could see that gas usage in my house went up 4000% that day, and I have been charged as such. This is despite an engineer from the gas supplier turning off our (and everyone else’s gas).

It is accepted it’s not a fault with my boiler

So the energy provider is saying it’s the gas suppliers fault, as the spike was clearly down to the leak which is the gas supplier’s responsibility. 

The gas supplier is saying gas usage in homes is not their responsibility  so I should take it up with the energy provider. 

Upshot being I’m quite a lot of money down having done nothing wrong. 

Any ideas how to contest this? 

teaselMay

Unless the leak was in your house after the meter how is it related the spike in use?

Ashgordon123

teaselMay said:

Unless the leak was in your house after the meter how is it related the spike in use?

I don’t know - I’m not a gas engineering expert. 

what I do know is that, there were major problems with the wider gas network that day and my bill went up 4000% that day before returning to normal . And neither the Energy provider nor gas operator want to take responsibility 

tim_p

Have neighbours had a similar experience?

Ashgordon123

tim_p said:

Have neighbours had a similar experience?

It’s hard to tell. Most don’t have daily reading through smart meter , so maybe they’ll get slightly higher three month bill and put it down to it being winter. 

A few have told me no change though , one told me they’ve had same problem as me 

zagfles

Why are you quoting a % increase, that means absolutely nothing, I quite often have varying gas usage day to day sometimes far more than 4000%. What was the actual usage (in m3 or kwh) on the day in question, and what is the normal usage? 

EssexHebridean

Have you had a bill since then? 

What was the meter reading on the last occasion you read it prior to the leak? What is it today? 

DullGreyGuy

Ashgordon123 said:
maybe they’ll get slightly higher three month bill and put it down to it being winter. 

Ashgordon123 said:

Upshot being I’m quite a lot of money down having done nothing wrong. 

How do these two statements tie up? How would they have a slightly higher bill when you've lost a lot of money assuming you were both equally impacted?

Scot_39

Ashgordon123 said:

Recently a vehicle damaged a gas pipe causing a gas leak which affected the whole area where I live. 

Using my energy provider’s app I could see that gas usage in my house went up 4000% that day, and I have been charged as such. This is despite an engineer from the gas supplier turning off our (and everyone else’s gas).

It is accepted it’s not a fault with my boiler

So the energy provider is saying it’s the gas suppliers fault, as the spike was clearly down to the leak which is the gas supplier’s responsibility. 

The gas supplier is saying gas usage in homes is not their responsibility  so I should take it up with the energy provider. 

Upshot being I’m quite a lot of money down having done nothing wrong. 

Any ideas how to contest this? 

There's been a thread about one range of smart gas meters over readiing even when supply cut off a whilst back.

It's not easy to do on phone or I'd try and find it - try a search for suspect gas readings or similar.

As above how many kWh or m3 we talking about - up 4000% - that's 41x previous / next days in winter seems a lot though.

MWT

Ashgordon123 said:

So the energy provider is saying it’s the gas suppliers fault, as the spike was clearly down to the leak which is the gas supplier’s responsibility.

This simply isn't possible, a gas leak affecting many homes cannot impact on the gas meter for your home.

Whatever has caused your increased use is not the gas leak, so check the meter readings and post some real numbers on your daily consumption for that day and for the days either side if you have the details...

brianposter

MWT said:

This simply isn't possible, a gas leak affecting many homes cannot impact on the gas meter for your home.

This part of the statement is nonsense. Anything which affects the circumstances in which the meter is operating might affect the meter.