Inaccurate old gas meter or reduced usage

jane_doe

I think I'm about to get into a dispute with my supplier about my gas usage. They keep over estimating my usage, compared to what my gas meter is reading. Just noticed that the manufacturing date on my gas meter is 1985. I'm not sure if it's been installed here since then or if it was refurbed and then reused here, but that date ties in with when the property was put on mains gas, and there's no other indication (seals/labels) on the meter. It's obviously ancient and looking quite rusty. When the gas board were working in the area a couple of years ago, one of their men saw my meter and said it was very overdue for replacement (he said it must be over 20 years old). But no one has ever asked/offered to actually replace it yet.

I've lived here nearly 20 years and I don't recall the meter looking recent when we moved in. I've kept a record of my meter readings over time. Years ago it looks like I was using about 8000-10000 kwh of gas per year. It decreased over a couple of years, and for the last 5 years or so it's been steady at around 3000kwh per year. I'm pretty confident that my usage has decreased due to a number of reasons:

we no longer have baths (combi boiler hot water), and just use electric shower,

Got a dishwasher, so rarely use any hot water at all now,

I've turned down the CH temp on the boiler to quite a low setting,

Turned down the thermostat (usually run it at 16 to 17 degrees now (previously would have been 19 to 20),

Use solid fuel stove more often,

I live in the SW, and we've had relatively mild winters recently, my gas CH only ever comes on from about mid November to mid March,

Installed a smart thermostat several years ago, with geofencing, and

House is empty every other weekend, and sometimes longer when I'm away.

Could those changes realistically support a reduction in usage down to 3000kwh a year, or is it more likely that my old gas meter has started under reading? Maybe a combination of both? I'm now worried that I'm going to be given a new meter sometime soon and my usage/bills will shoot up. Higher bills seems to be a common 'complaint' after having a smart meter.

Netexporter

Your usage won't shoot up. It will just be accurately recorded.

molerat

Did the use drop suddenly ? One thing to check is that you are being billed for the correct meter units. Look on the meter dial and it will state either cu ft or m3. Find your latest bill and divide the kWh by the number of meter units, an answer of roughly 11 means you are being billed for a m3 meter, roughly 32 then a cu ft meter - does that tally with the meter ?

Brie

Do your bills end up reflecting the readings you give? If not and they insist on their estimates there is cause to complain as their estimates have no basis in reality - for you.

Should they decide they need to change your meter just be sure you take your own readings and date stamped photos of the old and new meters so that they can't try to back date anything.

MeteredOut

Along with the above, does your usage go up and down over winter and summer as you'd expect? You have made some significant lifestyle changes that will have reduced your usage, but its impossible to say whether than alone could decrease it by more than half.

Care to share the meter make/model of the meter?

(people complaining about higher bills after getting a smart meter are generally people who don't understand what they're talking about, often conflating direct debit amounts directly with energy usage).

jane_doe

Yes, my meter follows my usage generally - in summer it barely moves, which is what I'd expect given my boiler almost never comes on then. In winter it clocks round with regularity. On the meter it says "Parkinson Cowan meter, made in England by Thorn EMI". It counts 100's of cubic feet, and my bills reflect that correctly - they also state 100's of cubic feet and show the conversion calculation to kwh.

Just working it out, 3000kwh a year is about £200 worth of gas at current prices? I've seen comments in other threads saying winter usage of £7 a day is 'typical' - but that's more like £200 a month? Are people really using that much gas in typical domestic setting?

molerat

Are people really using that much gas in typical domestic setting?

Yes. The average UK use is 11500 kWh so some (way) below and some (way) above. Unless your property is super insulated then your use seems lower than can be reasonably expected. My winter use can be 2000 kWh in a month.

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81919189#Comment_81919189

£7 per day is high, but not excessively so. We have a 4 bed house, 2 people working from home but we are careful with heating and hot water, and in the winter we're averaging about £4-5 a day.

Scot_39

The median TDCV - the figure behind the c£1700 cap level headlines - the gas usage figure used is 11500 kWh - nearly 4x your 3000 kWh - so yes they probably really are on coldest days on winter months - but most probably less on average ( my heating has been off several days - but is back on again - as the temps dropped this week)

£7 - 35p SC - £6.65 - is roughly 110 kWh - or over 3000 kWh per month - but a large family hot water and heating an older home - more than possible. I can hit half tat just for 1 - and heating even more modestly than you do - in a modern 2 bed mid terrace.

Ofgem also produce two other estimated use levels - low and high - from its user data

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/decision/decision-typical-domestic-consumption-values-2023

So for gas the numbers are

7500 (lower quartile I believe - 25% use less, 75% use more),

11500 (median - 50% above 50% below)

and

17,000 high (upper quartile I believe - so75% use less , 25% use more)

Your 3000 number - is only 40% of the lower quartile, 26% of the median.

So yes thats low.

As to your changes

An old rule of thumb was 10% on bills for every 1C on the thermostat - youve taken those down c3 degrees. So say that takes a 1/4 out of normal use.

And your now using a wood stove - I am sure actual stove users mightbe able to put a ballpark figure on it.

But again radically impacts use. Some will comfortably not only heat the main room - but other rooms - to a bearable temperature - just from heat "leaking" from room to room - certainly at start and end of heating season.

So you could well be using the gas fewer weeks per year - and when using it - using a lot less for heating.

WiserMiser

Why are you using an electric shower which costs about four times as much as gas?

Scot_39

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81919233#Comment_81919233

Well spotted as that would also reduce gas use cf others with boiler fed showers.

Another say 1-2 kWh per day - say maybe ave out say 500 kWh per annum per person.

To further explain sub gas TDCV usage.