Ridiculous gas bill..... is my meter knackered?

[darrenh]

Hi all

Just moved into a new house in Feb.

I read the meter when I moved in a sent it off - I did this again a couple of days ago - the meter had moved on 200 units (£110) in a single month!!

This is a small 3 bed house with a combi boiler - heating is on for a few hours morning and night and we hardly use the gas cooker.

The cmobi was put in prior to my first reading - could he have turned up the gas flow or something??

This seems high for me - other people have mentioned it should be around £30.

Ay ideas why this is so? Is my meter knackered? What can i do about it? London Energy are being a bit useless.

cheers

D

 

[sterose]

Hi all

Just moved into a new house in Feb.

I read the meter when I moved in a sent it off - I did this again a couple of days ago - the meter had moved on 200 units (£110) in a single month!!

This is a small 3 bed house with a combi boiler - heating is on for a few hours morning and night and we hardly use the gas cooker.

The cmobi was put in prior to my first reading - could he have turned up the gas flow or something??

This seems high for me - other people have mentioned it should be around £30.

Ay ideas why this is so? Is my meter knackered? What can i do about it? London Energy are being a bit useless.

cheers

D

The cost does indicate that the meter may be malfunctioning, in which case the company should be made aware of the fact, and you should point out that the bill will not be paid until the issue is rectified.

However, it does not neccessarily rule out other possibilities. But my money is with the meter.

 

[weargas]

they will test your meter for you but you will be charged if the test proves the meter is ok and you've just used that amount of gas.

 

[CH4]

You can check the meter yourself quite easily - all that you need is a watch with a second's hand.

Basically, you use the gas meter and watch to measure the gas rate to an appliance, convert this rate into a heat input and compare that to the appliance's rated value. The method used depends on the type of meter that you have.

If you have an imperial meter (one that measures in cubic feet):
With your boiler full on and all other gas appliances turned off, time (in seconds) how long it takes for the meter's pointer to complete one revolution (1 cubic foot of gas). Divide this time into 1093 to get the boiler's heat input in kilowatts. For example, if it takes 55 seconds for one revolution, the heat input is 1093 ÷ 55 = 19.9 kW.

If you have a metric meter (measures in cubic metres):
Again with the boiler on full and all other appliances off, take two meter reading - exactly 2 minutes apart. Subtract the first reading from the second and multiply the result by 30 (to give the number of cubic metres of gas per hour). Multiply this value by 10.72 to give the heat input in kilowatts. For example, if the first reading was 789.212 m³ and the second was 789.274 m³, the volume of gas used in 2 minutes is 798.274 - 798.212 = 0.062 m³, which is 30 × 0.062 = 1.86 m³/hr. So the heat input is 1.86 × 10.72 = 19.9 kW.

Now compare the measured value with the boiler's maximum rated heat input, which is printed on the boiler's data badge (or it can be found in the manufacturer's instructions). If the measured heat input is greater than the declared maximum heat input for the boiler, then your gas meter is faulty.

NB The gas calorific value, used in the constants above, was taken to be 38.6 MJ/m³. This value may be slightly different to that for your location, but it shouldn't make too much difference to the calculation. Also I have assumed that the boiler's rated heat input is a Gross value. If it's Net then multiply it by 1.11 to convert it to Gross (before comparing it with the measured value).

 

[darrenh]

wow.

I'll get cracking .....

 

[salem2000]

I've read stories where the suppliers have got their calc's mixed up.

Meter was imperial & supplier was calculating in metric, turned out the company overcharged by over £300. (source: Which? Mag)

 

[nstreet]

I recently had a similar occurance. We moved into our new property in december, we received our first bill in feb, which was basically for a five week period, it was just over the £100.00 mark. I disptued this with the power company who said they would test the meter but it would be expensive and if it proved ok I would be liable for the costs. You wouldn't happen to be with Powergen would you because this is sounding very familiar?

We moved from a 2 bed semi bungalow to a 2 bed detached chalet bunalow. Our previous gas bill was £150 for the whole year gch + cooker and that was with a 14 year old boiler not a modern like we have now (2 years old)

 

[billy bob]

CH4

That calculation will not prove the meter is faulty, it only proves that the boiler is either over gassed or under gassed, this could be caused by incorrect or blocked injectors, or that the burner pressure is incorrectly set
nothing to do with the meter

 

[bradleybear]

Its probably an E6 meter. There were a dodgy batch of those nationally that all of a sudden seem to go haywire. Notify TRANSCO 0800 111 999 and tell them your problem. They'll tell you to turn off the gas, do not smoke, open all doors etc., standard procedure, don't rely on your gas provider as they're more than happy for you to have a dodgy meter.

 

[CH4]

CH4

That calculation will not prove the meter is faulty, it only proves that the boiler is either over gassed or under gassed, this could be caused by incorrect or blocked injectors, or that the burner pressure is incorrectly set
nothing to do with the meter

billy bob,

It would prove that the meter was faulty if the measured heat input were more that three times the maximum for the boiler; as suggested by the £110 gas bill instead of an expected £30 bill.

If a gas meter indicated that the heat input to a boiler was 50 kW, when the boiler's maximum was only 16 kW, for instance, would you not suspect the meter?

 

[soubriquet]

very interesting, this. I read the previous replies... if it is a u6 meter- most common domestic type, it will be labelled in the area where you read it, I can't see how it can over-read. They are a positive displacement meter, where the displayed numbers are driven by what is effectively a pair of bellows, via a series of gears. there is a direct relationship between the number of times the bellows open, and the number displayed. Therefore it can not over read.... It might be possible for it to under read.
The gas rate calculation is not for this purpose and you would need to use a pressure gauge at the meter outlet, and the appliance input to get any valid data, which you would have to be Corgi reg to do.
An E6 meter is however an electronic type, which is if I remember rightly, using detection of ultrasound to calculate the gas passing, and as such is capable of errors.....
Another design uses a turbine. A fault in this would tend to read low, and is unlikely. Which type of meter you have is very important to the questions you ask.

 

[AdamW]

The gas rate calculation is not for this purpose and you would need to use a pressure gauge at the meter outlet, and the appliance input to get any valid data

I don't even have a gas boiler but surely this would work? I am assuming that a 20kW boiler draws gas at the equivalent rate (from the 38.6 MJ/m³) of 20kW. So you don't have to take into account its energy efficiency (e.g. a 20kW boiler of 50% efficiency should still be drawing 20kW of gas, not 40kW).

Now, whether or not it is accurate to within a few percent is one matter, however if you find out that your 20kW boiler is allegedly burning 80kW of gas then something is not right. A leak inside the house of the magnitude to produce such massive gas bills would have been smelled by now surely.

 

[ollski]

London Energy provide gas at 2.451p per unit which surely makes your bill £49?....not too bad for the winter months.

 

[Stod]

ollski - 200 @ 2.451p = £49? I wouldn't like to get a bill from you!

But you have a point - if they are not kWh units what are the units darrenh is reading? Maybe his calculation of £200 is wrong.

 

[ollski]

lol...yes I did move the decimal point across one place cause £4.90 dont sound right I'm not sure what darren is reading to get £110.