[MarthasMum]

Hi I’m having palpitations about April on.

Had email indicating £330 per month £4000 per year ish.

In a 3 bed semi two adults one child… during the week we out at am not home til gone 6pm and I don’t have heating on.

Even weekend we try to use gas fire instead. Neighbours have said their bills nowhere near and I’ve been told my annual usage is 5700 kWh lec 27000 kWh gas.

could it be fault on metre / metres and how can I get these checked they aren’t smart metres.

I’m absolutely panicking 😢

[theunknowntech]

Howdy @MarthasMum. I'm theunknowntech, an experienced forum volunteer who patrols a lot of places.

Please could you post some photos of your meters? I can help you out with a Creep Test for your electric and a Burns Test for your gas, but I just wanted to see what you've got first, to get a better idea of what you're seeing.

Thanks!

[MarthasMum]

Any use sorry for duplication of second pic EVERYONES said my supposed usage cant possibly be right!

[meldrewreborn]

In setting the price cap OFGEM (spit) use 3,100 kWh of electricity and 12,000 kWh of gas. So your consumption is very high. The likelihood of having two incorrect meters is low.

One problem could be that your gas meter is reading in cu metres, but you bills could be assuming measurement in Cu feet. The difference between the two is about 2.9 times when converted to kWh. If this is happening then your bills are grossly inflated.

I also live in an extended 3 bed semi and am home all day, heating to 20 degrees centigrade. My gas consumption is 17,000 kWH and my electricity consumption is 2,700 kWh. If correct your consumption is indeed high. I have full loft and cavity wall insulation and full LED lighting. A solar hot water panel reduces my gas consumption by 3,000 kWh compared to others.

[MarthasMum]

Where would I go from here then any advice greatly appreciated??

[theunknowntech]

Sorry for the wait! Thanks for the images. This helps me a lot. Your gas meter was installed in 2006 and the electric meter sometime around the 1990's by the looks of things. I'm highly confident your gas meter is being correctly billed using Cubic Metres and I can't think of any reason why a 2006 gas meter would be billed using cubic feet instead.

Now that I know what you've got, I'd like to give you a heads up that your meters appear to be due for re-certification and that means they'll need to be replaced soon. Feel free to arrange that once you're ready.

Let's start with a Creep Test first for your electric meter. We can do a Burns Test for the gas meter later, but I like to handle one thing at a time as it's less confusing that way. Please do the following steps:

1. Safely shut down anything and everything electrical/electronic in the house - I'd also recommend turning off gas appliances as well, just to be safe
2. Take a meter reading from your electric meter and note it down
3. Turn off the power to the entire house using your fusebox/consumer unit
4. Observe the electric meter for about 10 minutes
5. Take another meter reading from the electric meter
6. Turn the power back on

During this time, the electric meter dials should completely stop spinning and the rotating disc below them should also freeze, because there shouldn't be any electricity usage. Please let me know the result of this test and I'll give you the next steps - along with the steps for a Burns Test.
@meldrewreborn Hiya! It's always worth bearing in mind that a picture tells a thousand words. That electric meter is a very, very old Landis+Gyr CL27.2 which hasn't been sold for many years. Based on its Meter Serial Number, I think it's something like 45-55 years old at this point and well past its sell by date. The first three characters being L75 gives the game away for me pretty easily. That model hasn't been sold by L+G for years and it's getting pretty rare to find one. As for the gas meter, it appears to be an Actaris U6P Diaphragm Gas Meter and I can safely say it's from 2006. The fact it's recording in cubic metres would be recorded on the national gas meter database Xoserve and all suppliers would know this. It's extremely unlikely that it's being billed in cubic feet for this reason - otherwise someone would have noticed by now!

In fact, I'm also picking up other clues that both meters have gone round the clock at least once, which is a sign that the meter is getting older and may be starting to lose its calibration.

[meldrewreborn]

You need to do a complete stock check of your energy consumption. You don't have smart meters - neither do I - but for some people these can help identify when a lot of energy is being used.

For Gas the heating is no 1 for usage. Then water heating, then cooking. An uninsulated home leaks heat through the roof, walls draughts and windows. in essence everything you lose in terms of heat has to be replaced at a cost. So leaving the heating on when nobody is home is just facilitating the increased loss of het to the outside world. Turning down the thermostat lowers bill much more than you think and setting timers to limit heating periods will help.. While some ventilation is essential leaving windows open in winter is just like throwing money away. Heating the home at night makes no sense. Showers use less hot water than baths. A short shower uses less than a long shower.

For electricity each appliance uses energy. Fridges and freezers operating 24/7 are big users of power, but its difficult to cut that - unless you've more than one . Leaving appliances on when nobody is using them , mobile chargers, lighting, tumble dryers etc all use power. Boiling more water than you need for tea or coffee is just adding to the heat of the home- but at 4-5 times the price of gas!. Getting the family on board to turn stuff off when its not in use is essential. Much more advice here - good luck.


Home - Energy Saving Trust

[MarthasMum]

Thanks so much guys think I’m gonna consider smart metres so we are more aware. Would eon next charge and what happens if going forward I manage to get a better deal elsewhere? Will they bill me for the metres?

[MarthasMum]

Meters obviously not Metres 😂

[theunknowntech]

There's no charge to get smart meters and the upgrade is free. Even if you jump ship right after the install, it's still free. Any additional charges would come purely from increased usage at most. I can't advise you on which supplier is the best deal for you, because it depends on your circumstances. I can tell you that myself and my friend Blastoise186 are on OVO and we managed to lock in a good deal just before prices shot up, but you'd need to research again for yourself.

With that being said, if you're planning to leave anyway, I'd recommend getting the new supplier to install smart meters instead as it will save you time and you'll probably get a better IHD too. If you're OK with doing my tests now, it would help though. Once the upgrade is done, you'll never be able to find out if the existing meters are/were faulty.