Outfox want to charge me to check my meter

WiserMiser

35.3147 ft3 is 1 m3

100 ft3 is 2.83168 m3.

100 ft3 on an Imperial meter is 1 unit.

As all UK smart gas meters are metric, if they think you still have an old Imperial meter, their calculated kWh usage will be almost three times what it should be.

wormdazzler

I have been advised that the readings appear 2-3× higher not because the meter is faulty, but because your supplier’s billing system is multiplying the actual meter volume incorrectly (wrong calorific value or correction factor).

Your meter is recording gas correctly — the problem is entirely on the supplier side. Once they fix it, your bills and apparent usage will return to normal.

WiserMiser

Nothing to do with the calorific value or correction factor.  Their effects are very minor.

As previously stated, billing a metric meter as if it were Imperial could well explain what's gone wrong.

QrizB

wormdazzler said:

I have been advised ...

By whom?

What are your meter readings, and how are OFTM converting them into kWh? Can you share the relevant part of your bill?

IOWJJBTM2025

Just to try and help here is an extract from my bill with Home Energy - My gas meter readings are in 100x Cu.ft
22 units used = 689.75 kWh
Calc is
Units used 22
x Volume Correction Factor (2.83)
x Volume Correction (1.022640)
x Calorific Value (39.0000)
Convert to kWh - divide by 3.6

QrizB

In IOWetc's calculation above, the "2.83" Volume Correction Factor is the bit that converts their meter reading from hundreds of cubic feet into cubic metres.

That step should be omitted with a metric meter (like a smart meter).

brianposter

You never ask a supplier to check your meter because they usually go about checking in a way that is nonsense. You tell them that the meter readings are incorrect and why you believe them to be incorrect.

As people have said, it is probably a clerical error and your meter is working perfectly.

Ectophile

brianposter said:

You never ask a supplier to check your meter because they usually go about checking in a way that is nonsense. You tell them that the meter readings are incorrect and why you believe them to be incorrect.

As people have said, it is probably a clerical error and your meter is working perfectly.

There have been a few cases on this forum when smart gas meters have gone rogue.  This tends to be meters with failing batteries.

Those meters will start clocking up units of gas that haven't even been used.  It's the meter glitching as the battery fails.  In those rare cases, it needs an actual meter check to prove the fault.  Checking that the meter readings on the meter match the ones on the bills doesn't help, and checking the calculations on the bills doesn't help either.

brianposter

In general I agree - but you dont check the meter to find a failing battery.

QrizB

but you dont check the meter to find a failing battery

OK, I'll bite.

How else would you find a failing battery?