Outfox want to charge me to check my meter

wormdazzler

Switched to Outfox from Octopus at the end of July. Electricity handover all OK but gas meter readings are off the scale, giving rise to large bills. No point in my checking the meter as I know the readings Outfox are getting are the same as the meter but the meter is running at about 3-4 times the rate of historical consumption (I have >5 years data).  Outfox want to charge me £257.62 to come out and check the meter at my risk. 
I know the readings Outfox are getting are correct, but I don't understand why they are running so much higher, coincidentally as Outfox took over. 
Is it fair that I should bear the charge to inspect the meter - no guarantee the meter is malfunctioning but something has gone wrong.
Has anyone dealt with this or can recommend the best course of action?
thanks

Isthisforreal99

I believe it's one of these situations where it turns out to be faulty then no charge but if there are no issues with it then you will be liable.

WiserMiser

Welcome to the forum.

Is the meter metric or Imperial, and is it wholly within your property?

MattMattMattUK

wormdazzler said:

Switched to Outfox from Octopus at the end of July. Electricity handover all OK but gas meter readings are off the scale, giving rise to large bills. No point in my checking the meter as I know the readings Outfox are getting are the same as the meter but the meter is running at about 3-4 times the rate of historical consumption (I have >5 years data).  Outfox want to charge me £257.62 to come out and check the meter at my risk. 
I know the readings Outfox are getting are correct, but I don't understand why they are running so much higher, coincidentally as Outfox took over. 
Is it fair that I should bear the charge to inspect the meter - no guarantee the meter is malfunctioning but something has gone wrong.
Has anyone dealt with this or can recommend the best course of action?
thanks

You have to pay, but only if there is no fault found. 

What makes you think the meter is running fast, versus there being a leak though?

wormdazzler

Yes, the charge would be refunded if the meter turned out to be faulty, but why would it suddenly start reading at a considerably accelerated rate on changeover of suppliers? Can Outfox have logged into it incorrectly and affected the readings?  The meter is a newish smart meter located in the exterior wall of my house. I know the meter is running fast because I have a record of the readings now and for the last 5/6 years.

MWT

wormdazzler said:

Yes, the charge would be refunded if the meter turned out to be faulty, but why would it suddenly start reading at a considerably accelerated rate on changeover of suppliers? Can Outfox have logged into it incorrectly and affected the readings?  The meter is a newish smart meter located in the exterior wall of my house. I know the meter is running fast because I have a record of the readings now and for the last 5/6 years.

Your meter is metric, f they think it is imperial then you'd be charged 2.83x as much as you are actually using.

This is quite a likely cause if it is a new smart meter as the central database make still show it as imperial....

... on the other-hand, if the actual meter readings are a lot higher than they were before then it may suggest a leak, do you have a gas boiler that has recently been serviced?

IOWJJBTM2025

I would be surprised if a meter is all of a sudden over reading. Is there a gas leak somewhere and you should be able smell it very quickly. Even a very small gas leak is very quickly noticed.

If there is a big difference I have seen before where meter readings are assumed to be cubic meters and your meter is measuring cubic feet.
This would result in gas usage been 35.3 times the actual. 1 !!!!!! = 35.3 CuFt
It is easy to look on your meter to see what the units are - mine states ft3 very clearly on the front.
Your bill will show readings in ft3 and then there is a formula which converts the volume to m3 % then kWh.

molerat

The simple sanity check is to divide the kWh billed by the meter units, around 11 is metric charging and around 32 imperial.

MattMattMattUK

The easiest way to check for a leak is to turn your boiler off and not use anything else, then see if the meter moves over a period of say 12/24 hours, or longer if you are away for a weekend. If it moves you have a leak, if it does not then you have another issue. 

You might not be able to smell a leak if it does not vent into the property. 

MWT

IOWJJBTM2025 said:

If there is a big difference I have seen before where meter readings are assumed to be cubic meters and your meter is measuring cubic feet.
This would result in gas usage been 35.3 times the actual. 1 !!!!!! = 35.3 CuFt

The mistakes are usually the other way around as the minimum meter reading unit for Imperial is 100 cubic feet which equals 2.83 cubic meters, so you'd be charged a lot less if they assumed your meter was reading in cubic metres when it was actually Imperial. 

WiserMiser

IOWJJBTM2025 said:

If there is a big difference I have seen before where meter readings are assumed to be cubic meters and your meter is measuring cubic feet.
This would result in gas usage been 35.3 times the actual. 1 Cu M = 35.3 CuFt

Nope.  You've got the calculation the wrong way round, and Imperial meters show readings in hundreds of CuFt.