Gas meter not working

jhs123

My main gas meter is not working. Discovered this when I went to read it for this quarter’s bill. Display is blank. Scottish power have estimated the bill and say I used £100 per month more gas in October, November and December than in September. I was really careful this year and didn’t put the heating on until near end October. They initially said they couldn’t fix meter until March but have now given me an appointment in January. Now they either want to (over) estimate my bill or base whole winter on the 2 weeks after meter is fixed which will be second two weeks in January ie when it is very cold. 

I have lodged a complaint regarding the estimated bill and have said I will not pay over the odds but don’t hold out much hope. 

Any suggestions? (Apart from using no heating or hot water for 2 weeks in January) 

Woodstok2000

What about agreeing to pay based on your usage in the same month last year?  Or could you agree to the January option and then put up with 2 weeks of no heating to minimise your costs?

QrizB

Scottish Power are allowed to bill you using estimates based on your consumption in previous years, so your efforts to be careful this winter have been wasted.

On the plus side you can turn the heating up until the meter is replaced

Are SP also your electricity supplier? If so you might be lucky enough that they replace your electricity meter too, and give you a pair of smart meters (electricity and gas) that will automatically send your meter readings in future.

IOWJJBTM2025

Am trying to work out if this is good or bad deal? It obviously depends on a lot of factors.
I have worked out that the offers made to you would increase our actual Gas Cost and so it suggest it should be argued.

I have records going back 4 years of monthly Gas consumption so I have a very good forecast for our gas bill providing that the weather does not have a massive freeze.
Our yearly bill is £822 for gas (Including the standing charge) I have shown the percentages how this splits throughout the year. As you can see 19.7% of our bill is in January.
Hopefully you may be able to use our usage of a sample for how gas usage could be split fairly.



My only suggestions are: -
If you have any old records of monthly usage it may help you to argue your case and justify a lower amount.
It is not your fault that the Gas Meter has broken and therefore you should not be financially impacted because of it.
There are so many variables for what makes up your gas usage - how can your energy supplier fairly base your usage based upon the coldest weeks of the year.

There is one thing for sure - your home will be nice and toasty over the Xmas period.

Hope That January is very mild with southerly winds.

IOWJJBTM2025

Just thinking again - see link below
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news-and-media/media-centre/weather-and-climate-news/2025/2025-likely-another-record-year-for-uk-annual-temperature
This year is heading for the warmest on records in the UK.
Basing usage on previous usage could be argued to compensate for it being warmer outside.
The amount of heating used links exponentially very closely with the temperature outside.
The graph shows over the last four months the temperature has been above average.(Where Orange) maybe use this to justify why your gas usage is lower.

sheenas

Checking the stats from last year November and December are very close and October this is way cheaper than last year. So if they are basing your estimate on last years figures I would say a good deal.