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Electric meter wrong?


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We have just recently moved house to a relatively new build. I have noticed over the last 2 months (since we moved) our electricity and gas bills have been reduced dramatically.

 

The houses are similar sized (4 bed) and was previously being charged on average £55 for Gas and £60 Electricity.

 

after the first month we used £24 Gas and £14 electric and just gave meter readings again after month 2 and was surprised we have only used £24 Gas and £7.90 Electric.!!

 

Whats happening? do we have faulty meters?

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We have just recently moved house to a relatively new build. I have noticed over the last 2 months (since we moved) our electricity and gas bills have been reduced dramatically.

 

The houses are similar sized (4 bed) and was previously being charged on average £55 for Gas and £60 Electricity.

 

after the first month we used £24 Gas and £14 electric and just gave meter readings again after month 2 and was surprised we have only used £24 Gas and £7.90 Electric.!!

 

Whats happening? do we have faulty meters?

 

Insulation. One of my friends built a state of the art six bedroomed, four bathroomed passive house in S.Wales and his last quarterly gas bill was just over £20 (we were talking about it just the other day). Admittedly, that's for summer, but winter is very much the same.

I stayed there for a few weeks before last Christmas and although bitterly cold outside, was a very toasty 22 degrees inside, heated only by one wood burning stove in the lounge. No central heating whatsoever.

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We have just recently moved house to a relatively new build. I have noticed over the last 2 months (since we moved) our electricity and gas bills have been reduced dramatically.

 

The houses are similar sized (4 bed) and was previously being charged on average £55 for Gas and £60 Electricity.

 

after the first month we used £24 Gas and £14 electric and just gave meter readings again after month 2 and was surprised we have only used £24 Gas and £7.90 Electric.!!

 

Whats happening? do we have faulty meters?

 

Gas bill being exactly the same (£24) would suggest that it is a Direct Debit/Standing Order amount and not based on actual usage.

 

The low electricity bill could be a result of credit adjustment from a previous overpay.

 

Are you sure that the transfer of accounts from the previous consumer has been carried out correctly?

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If you have the meter readings from the day you moved in then you can calculate a rough estimate of your energy usage for the past couple of months.

 

one unit of gas ( 1 cubic metre ) costs roughly 50 pence.

one unit of electricity ( 1 kWh ) costs roughly 15 pence.

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Gas bill being exactly the same (£24) would suggest that it is a Direct Debit/Standing Order amount and not based on actual usage.

 

The low electricity bill could be a result of credit adjustment from a previous overpay.

 

Are you sure that the transfer of accounts from the previous consumer has been carried out correctly?

 

It just coincidence that gas are same. I have direct debit set up for £117 pm and I'm already £182 in credit. These are based on actual meter readings as well

 

---------- Post added 27-10-2015 at 09:27 ----------

 

The electric figure seems far too low for it to be correct . Usually if things seem too good to be true they are not true .

 

I rang British Gas to query and gave meter readings and she assured me they were correct. I even m motioned that my meter might be faulty(stupid) but she just laughed and told me to give it another month before claiming my credit back.

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  • 9 months later...

Thousands of gas consumers have been overcharged because energy suppliers have made basic mistakes reading their meters, industry executives have told the Financial Times. Companies have been confusing old imperial gas meters, which measure usage in cubic feet, with newer metric ones, which measure it in cubic meters. Industry insiders said that some people have been undercharged by about 60 per cent while others have been overcharged by 130 per cent or more. So if you think your gas bill is too high .....

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Domestic gas meters are changed every 10 years, so by now all ( or almost all ) will have a metric gas meter.

 

The ratio of cubic feet to cubic metre is about 35:1 so if you did have a Imperial meter and were charged at the metric rate your bill would be around 35 times higher than it should be, and not double as implied by the article.

 

Having been through the enlightening process of having my gas meter checked, if you think you are being over/under charged, ensure the meter serial number matches the serial number on your bill ( this is not your account number ). According to the meter-man the company sent to verify I was reading the meter correctly this is a common issue, although he did say 'I didn't tell you that'.

 

And as I have written in post #5 'one unit of gas ( 1 cubic metre ) costs roughly 50 pence', is still a pretty good guide.

 

FT article:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/12109e88-620d-11e6-8310-ecf0bddad227.html

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I recently had a note to say we've been to read your meter and you were not in, said they would call back or I would get an estimated bill etc. I left my card with actual readings in the window but when the man came back he knocked on the door saying"meter reading", I gave him the card and he entered the figures, gas and electric whilst stood in front of me then went, later in the week when I received my bill it said, gas, we read your meter on whatever date, electric, we estimated your reading on whatever date!, what's the point taking details if they don't enter them correctly?

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We moved into a newly converted flat last year as the first tennants, so had a brand new account with a brand new smart meter (we only have an electricity supply). For the 3, 6 and 9 month bills we found we were charged a fairly low amount (around £44 iirc), therefore we continued to use stuff as normal (water heater, electric room heaters, towel heater etc).

 

Unfortunately we then received our 4th bill to find it £500 more than expected. It turned out our first THREE bills were estimates! Why the hell we were even receiving estimated bills with us having a real time smart meter I don't know, but in the end we're having to back pay hundreds of pounds.

 

This may be different to your case, but I would say double check your readings and get the company to confirm how much you should be paying.

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