Huge, Massive Gas Meter Reading Help ???

turnbulltj

I would like to apologise to Mute Posting. I have read his comments after a nights sleep and completely understand now where he is coming from. I was looking at the 18th Jan reading as an estimate made on the 18th Jan without the knowledge of Jan to Aprils actuals, however what you are saying about it being prorata just to show usage pre and post increase makes perfect sense
I am sorry, bear in mind that I am still fuming over £700 gas bill which has probably tainted my thinking process.
Incidentally there is some conflict between your thoughts on Constant Hot water and other seemingly knowledgeable users.Would be interested in your reasoning as to why you think it would massively increase the bill as I tend to agree that it would not.
Trevor

mute_posting

turnbulltj wrote: »

I would like to apologise to Mute Posting. I have read his comments after a nights sleep and completely understand now where he is coming from. I was looking at the 18th Jan reading as an estimate made on the 18th Jan without the knowledge of Jan to Aprils actuals, however what you are saying about it being prorata just to show usage pre and post increase makes perfect sense
I am sorry, bear in mind that I am still fuming over £700 gas bill which has probably tainted my thinking process.
Incidentally there is some conflict between your thoughts on Constant Hot water and other seemingly knowledgeable users.Would be interested in your reasoning as to why you think it would massively increase the bill as I tend to agree that it would not.
Trevor

Apology Accepted

Like I said, it was my opinion based on all the other "leave on" (or leave on at lower) versus "use only when needed" type of discussions that happen for energy usage i.e. heating, flourescent lighing etc

Just in case you have the top forum box collapsed, I'll post the first point as I think it explains my position best,

Remember, this is an open forum! Anyone can post so always exercise caution when acting on info.

You mentioned in your original post that it would barely make a difference which is probably true on a correctly opperating system, but this is rarely the case (again, my opinion)

I suggest cheking out Cadrew's penultimate paragraph (tank constantly heating) as personally I think this the most likely.
I discounted the leak bacause you have already considered "as if I have vented the gas to the atmosphere 24/7" so I assume you have checked for leaks and all gas has actually been "burnt"

Finally, I feel I owe an apology also, if I had quoted (part) your post #10 in my #11 you may have realised the point I was making about prices rises on 18th Jan (i.e. I was refering to the estimate in #10 and not the huge bill from OP)

MP

S_t_e_v_e

Cardew wrote: »

However there is virtually no way a gas meter can 'run fast'(over-read) as it is simply a vane which the gas spins.

We had a gas meter with an electronic display which ran fast. It was sent away to an independent testing organisation for testing. The testers report said the meter reading was increasing even before it had been connected up for testing.

ianmr65

Reagrdless of wether you have a well lagged tank. There is absolutly no logic in anyone NOT having a combi bolier keeping their hot water on 'all the time.'

If there is a problem with the thermostat (which there might be) or the timer (which there is) the risk is the boiler will keep plugging away trying to heat up a large tank of hot water which it does not need to.

The advice to people with combi boilers, is to keep there hot water on 'all the time' as the water tank in the combi is tiny. and when working properly the boiler only fires up very briefly and is said is save energy marginally.

I would follow the advice about measuring gas usage, when you boiler is on, and if a proffesional (plumber) told you to keep it on all the time consider a claim against him.

ianmr65

Cardew wrote: »

turnbulltj,

Could you have a plumbing fault where somehow the HW tank was permanantly having HW siphoned out to a drain? For instance if the water thermostat was faulty, the boiler would keep heating the water and it has to go somewhere.

Hot water tank is like a big radiator, with taps, if the thermostat is faulty, the hot water would just keep recirculating, and re-heating, no need for venting.
IE the boiler thinks the water is colder than it actually is and keeps burning away, the water heat exchanges round the pipe system, as it is too hot, but all seems normal when it comes out of the tap.

Cardew

ianmr65 wrote: »

Hot water tank is like a big radiator, with taps, if the thermostat is faulty, the hot water would just keep recirculating, and re-heating, no need for venting.
IE the boiler thinks the water is colder than it actually is and keeps burning away, the water heat exchanges round the pipe system, as it is too hot, but all seems normal when it comes out of the tap.

If the thermostat is faulty(eg doesn't open when the water gets up to temperature) it will boil - literally boil - and it will most certainly NOT seem normal when it comes out of the tap.

If the boiler "keeps burning away" where do you think the heat goes? A HW tank - even an unlagged tank - cannot dissipate heat quick enough to prevent it boiling.

If you didn't have a safety mechanism and water boiled in a system that was totally sealed; you would have an explosion; and the (non)plumber who fitted the system would go to jail

The venting is exactly what happened in the case with the baby I referred to above, the boiling water vented up to the plastic expansion tank in the roof - which melted.

It is obviously a very rare occurance, but somebody else on this forum had exactly this problem.

What is a more common occurance is for those of us who have a Baxi back boiler combined with a CH system, or indeed just a back boiler. It can easily happen that the water boils - and makes a hell of a racket and sometimes the only solution is run off some hot water.

Strawberry1_3

Hello ..

I hope mute_posting, Cardew, lil_me will be able to help me as you seem to know what you are talking about...

Turnbulltj ... I hope you won't go crazy on me for using this thread but same here I was in tears when I received my last gas bill (I don't understand my electricity bill but this is another issue!)and I thought i will ask for some help/advise here!

First of all I need to specify that i am on a standard price and pay quarterly (not good already I know but Npower has this crazy thing of asking you to leave 1st and then re apply as new customers in order to get the best offers...so I take full responsibility for this but in my defence I've only been in this flat for 10 months (just bought) and had other unexpected things to deal with!

Nevertheless few things doesn't seem to add up!!

OK to cut the story short!
I moved into my 1 bedroom flat in July. (with 2 normal size radiators in bedroom/living room and small one in entrance hall)
1st Gas Bill - £22. (1 month also an 1/2 from July to Aug)
2nd as bill - £133. ( 3 months and 1/2 from Aug to Dec)

At that time I thought this was quite expensive and because I had some problems my boiler (over 20 years old) / heating systems (Ex, heating off / water on constant but radiators warm!), I thought I was doing doing something wrong or my system needed to be checked.
So 2 plumbers came to check my system and told me the only issue was maybe the valve not working properly (which obviously can be a problem for summer especially if the heating is off) but a part from that I was actually told that despite my boiler being old it was still in a good working order and reliable.

I also had few other recommendations from some of my friends who told me to leave the heating on constant (15 degree all the time and maybe put it to few more degrees in the evening, 20) as opposed to use the timer. I checked with my energy supplier and they told me that it was the best way forward and by doing this I would consume less than using a the timer.

Beginning of January, I called npower to check if I was making any difference with leaving the heating constantly and gave them a metre reading so they could compare and let me know if I was on the right track or if it was not making any difference. I was told that what ever I was doing ( so in my case leaving the heating and water on constant) was the right thing to do and advised me to carry on as I used gas less than the previous month!..

Anyway last surprise was that I just received my bills and I have to pay £246 (from Dec up to beg of April)..... I was in tears!!....
Call Npower to talk about that and "funny" (I am been sarcastic here!!) enough, they had no recall of my previous conversation with their sales advisor's and in another words I just have to pay.....(Was advised to take a metre reading for 10 days, everyday at the same time to see if there were any problems... I am due to report back the results this week) .
(I know the price went up in Jan but it doesn't make sense!

I have a thermostat in the living room. Unfortunately the radiators in not as warm in the living room than it is in the bedroom or entrance hall! (The pipes may needs to be flushed?!)..

I am new to this forum and I have spent the last 6 hours on this website to see if I could learn anything valuable but getting a it tired now so hope you can make some recommendation or maybe advise?!( a part from switching my energy suppliers and tariffs which I will!).


Many Thanks in advance,

turnbulltj

I have now spent the best part of two whole days trawling through old gas bills, checking readings etc.I am becoming paranoid about meter readings it's driving me insane.

I have called my old provider Scottish Power who have been ex.helpful in providing me with meter readings (actuals) right back to 2005 and also giving me kWh usage and pence prices.

If you have been following this thread (Sincere Thanks to MutePosting and cardew) To give you an update I can conclude my investigations as follows.

The bill I have just received for quarter Jan to April shows usage of 800+ units, however my previous quarter Oct to Dec showed only 69. Both of these are stated as Actuals. Compared to my previous years usage I can definitiely conclude that Oct to Dec quarter was most definitely not an actual reading and I think British Gas obviously have an issue with their Meter Readers.

I am therefore concluding that 800+ unit usage is more like 2 quarters use i.e 6 months not 3. This would concur with 2005 and 2006. Further to this given that in 2005 and 6 I was on a capped rate of 1.3p per kWh with SCTT PWR and I am now paying more towards 3p per kWh this will explain why my DD should really be in the region of £100 per month for gas and not as previous £40. I am still somewhat concerned though that BG are not upping my DD, but I am most definitely doing this myself so as to keep on top of my Gas bill and now pay off some of the deficit.

I think it highlights how massivley Utilities have gone up and we may only be talking pennies but when you convert it into percentage it equates for me at over a 120% price increase over previous years. I am staggered, but that is my findings.

I would be grateful of your comments (especially Muteposting and Cardew) to see if you concur with my findings.
regards,

Trevor

mute_posting

Deffinitely sounds like a miss-read back in Jan, further you may want to get onto BG because you've paid the majority of the past 6 months usage at the new prices (the cynic in me would say that if BG read the meter, they deliberately read-low in Jan knowing prices were about to rise)

As for prices, I'm no expert as I'm not a gas user, but obviously if they were 1.3p and they are now 3p that would more than double the bill for the same usage.

Be interesting if anyone else had a "low" usage read by BG in the Oct - Jan quarter...

MP

gillian46

Hi Strawberry1,

I personally would never leave my heating on constantly unless I worked from home or was ill. I don't think it's a good idea to have a hot house while you are asleep. This will definately make your heating bills larger unless your house is very very well insulated (triple glazing, hugh cavity wall insulation and tons of loft insulation), and if it was that well insulated I think the house would be like a greenhouse. Best to have it on in the morning before leaving for work then switch it off while at work and time it to come on just before you return. My heating generally goes off at about 9:30 or 10:00 before I go to bed. I don't think that you will get provider to admit the advice they gave you.

Hope this helps