Gas meter readings - ridiculous

[DorsetDude]

Sorry for the mundanity of this post but its something that is really annoying me.

Ive kept track of my meter readings for a few years now, this is the actual figure I go out and read off of my meter in the cupboard. This is for the gas reading.

Briefly*, from May 2011 to September 2011 my meter reading increased by 124

one year later, from March to September the reading was 454 units used.

At this point I was gobsmacked and rang the company to find out what the hell was going on, all they could say was, that is the reading off your meter sir, theres nothing more we can do. Had I accidentally left all 4 hobs on the stove on for 6 weeks or something? No idea.

This year Ive changed to another one of the cartel as you do and as part of that had to take another set of readings.

From March this year to June the reading is 337!! Projecting that to double the figure in another 3 months gives me a similar figure to what I used over the winter 6 months!

something is obviously not right. Question is, how do I find out what and how do I sort it out?

Even if my boiler was on its last legs surely it wouldnt be so inefficient to use that much gas just for hot water heating an hour twice a day?

Many thanks all!

Skint and annoyed of Dorset.

--
*ish

 

[srichards]

Switch to a prepayment meter or credit meter or real time billing meter? This way you then get that meter out of the equation. I'd also call a gas bloke to check appliances and also test for leaks.

Unless you convert to kw/h those numbers are a bit meaningless!

 

[Martyn D]

Get a gas safe Enginner round to do a soundness test, even if you can't smell gas you might have a leak, simple way for you to check.
Take meter reading.
Turn boiler off (including pilot light if the boiler has one) and everything off
Leave for 6 or so hours
Take another reading.
The reading should be the same.

 

[Martyn D]

If you put the boiler onto full demand, heating and hot water, and take the difference in the reading over a 2 minute period then do the following
X 30
X 35.37
X 1040
Then divide by 3412
This final figure should be within 10% of the rating of your gas boiler in kw's

 

[Spuff]

Looks like you're not the only one according to this article (Daily Wail alert)

I had an issue with an inaccurate water meter a few years back. From memory the water company had an obligation to check the meter but if it turned out there was nothing wrong with it (i.e. you had a leak elsewhere) then they could charge you for the check. Maybe something similar with the gas?

 

[DorsetDude]

Cheers Martyn,

who/what is gas safe?

the multiplication stuff, what would that achieve?

Sorry if being a bit thick!

Thanks

 

[Martyn D]

Keith..Gas safe is the legal body who regulates gas engineers, used to be Corgi, anyone who works on a gas appliance must be registered and have the gas safe licience.
The calculations will work out if the boiler is pretty much ok, sometimes they can over gas.
Look at the boiler and on it will be a rating in kw's... The figure at the end of the calculation should be within 10% of the boiler figure in kw's
You need the gross figure, not nett

 

[DorsetDude]

Cheers Martyn. Do your figures assume my meter is imperial? As I understand it there are metric ones about as well, I'd need to know what type I had I think

Spuff, charge, yes almost certain isnt it.

 

[Martyn D]

Metric meters have numbers....imperial have a dial, like a small clock, that's a different calculation as you have to time the revolution of the dial.

 

[new2me]

Get a gas safe Enginner round to do a soundness test, even if you can't smell gas you might have a leak, simple way for you to check.
Take meter reading.
Turn boiler off (including pilot light if the boiler has one) and everything off
Leave for 6 or so hours
Take another reading.
The reading should be the same.

You could stick a pork shoulder in the oven while you're waiting too

 

[Dave *]

Switch to a prepayment meter

I would never suggest doing this, prepayment meters are more expensive per unit, and the market is severely restricted in tariffs offered to prepayment meter customers.

 

[srichards]

I would never suggest doing this, prepayment meters are more expensive per unit, and the market is severely restricted in tariffs offered to prepayment meter customers.

Not always. If you want to keep an eye on your usage then the real time billing meters or the credit meters are one way. It was basically a way of getting shot of the current meter. There would be no reason the OP couldn't switch back to a normal one later.

 

[Dave *]

Not always. If you want to keep an eye on your usage then the real time billing meters or the credit meters are one way. It was basically a way of getting shot of the current meter. There would be no reason the OP couldn't switch back to a normal one later.

Definitely more expensive, and many providers charge for changing the meter to a credit one (up to £62, depending on provider).

From Martin Lewis's site

You'll often hear "prepay users don't pay more now" - that's compared to bog-standard tariffs with normal bills. Bill meters offer a wider choice of tariffs including cheap online deals, direct debit discounts and more. It's simply a more competitive marketplace.

Things are better, but it's still an outrage some with prepay are among society's poorest. Others use the least energy, yet pay more. If you can, ditch and switch to a credit meter.

Typical average prepay meter cost: £1,345
Typical cheapest prepay meter cost: £1,305
Typical cheapest credit meter cost: £1,155

Correct as at June 2013. Based on average consumption for a typical house using a 'medium' amount of energy. Source: UKPower.com

 

[pepi1967]

Stick a magnet on the meter

 

[DorsetDude]

Stick a magnet on the meter

Knew a bloke who was a plumber and years ago he used to switch the valve round so the meter counted backwards for 3 months in winter. Apparently during the cold winter of '63 his was the only house in the street without any snow on the roof.

 

[pepi1967]

Knew a bloke who was a plumber and years ago he used to switch the valve round so the meter counted backwards for 3 months in winter. Apparently during the cold winter of '63 his was the only house in the street without any snow on the roof.

 

[joker2006]

Knew a bloke who was a plumber and years ago he used to switch the valve round so the meter counted backwards for 3 months in winter. Apparently during the cold winter of '63 his was the only house in the street without any snow on the roof.

Nah you used to be able just to turn the meters around, so it ran backwards.

Best 2 options as one has been stated. Get a soundness test done and get your boiler checked as stated to make sure the boiler is running correctly. Also you can get your meter checked to make sure its still in calibration.
Wouldn't advise getting a card meter.

 

[DorsetDude]

Card meter out of the question.

Other avenues mentioned worth looking into definitely.

Cheers all

 

[mex]

Getting a GSR engineer in to carry out a ' tightness' test will probably offer you little comfort, as the difference in the readings you have quoted are so huge that if there is a leak in on the carcass of your house, it would be in orbit by now mate.

I suspect the reason for your odd figures will lay at either a) you, for not providing accurate readings or ,most likely b) the greedy energy suppliers whose call centre half-witt finds it far too easy to suggest you spend even more money getting a GSR engineer to carry out all manner of tests on the carcass and appliances in your home for you to be told they are fine and if the half-witt bothered to check the data that had been input into their system they might find it not too accurate at all.

You can, perfectly legally, carry out some tests for yourself, the gas rate test on your boiler and other appliances as suggested in a previous post is simple enough,there are a number of apps that will do all of the calculations for you and as it is a visual test, there are no tools involved so you will be breaking no laws.

With regard to fiddling your meter, DON'T, it will cost you a whole lot more.