[Knc62]

I have received renewal quote that costs 105% more as of April 16th.
Having compared usage I believe gas meter may be faulty.. Can of the community helpers advise me on testing processes and costs
Thanks

[meldrewreborn]

@Knc62

My own bills nearly tripled coming from a competitive fixed rate to the new price cap from 1 April - and that's just down to prices!.
@theunknowntech is the expert on self help testing meters, but in the meantime what has led you to suspect the meter's accuracy?

[theunknowntech]

Hi @Knc62 ,

I can indeed help with this kind of thing. Would you be OK with doing a Burns Test, as this would help to identify any meter faults?

Here's what you'll need to do:

Here's how to do a Burns Test. This is a quick test and only takes a few minutes, but you need to be able to get to all your gas appliances and your gas meter to do this one. Here's what to do.

1. Turn off ALL gas appliances, the boiler and everything else that uses gas on your supply
2. Wait for around 30 minutes to let things calm down and for the gas meter to completely catch up
3. Check your gas meter reading and make a note of it
4. Turn on just one gas appliance - a single ring on your gas cooker is usually the best option
5. Monitor the readings on your gas meter for five to ten minutes. You must do this on the meter itself. Make notes of the current reading every 60 seconds during the test
6. Shut off the gas appliance you fired up
7. Check the gas meter reading again
8. Restore your gas appliances to normal service once you're done

The reading should only go up by a few units during the test. If it seems to be clocking up excessively quickly, this suggests there might be a fault. A Burns Test isn't perfect, but you'll be surprised how well it works. If you suspect an inaccurate or faulty meter after doing this, you'll want to call for help and request a Meter Accuracy Test (it's an OFMAT for a gas meter). These are not free and you'll be asked to pay the job fee upfront (usually around £160 or so).

If the test confirms the meter is faulty, you will get the fee refunded, the meter will be replaced and you should get refunded for any usage that you didn't actually use if the meter clocked too fast. Recalculations don't occur if the clocking was too slow. While electric meters are only replaced if they fail the MAT, gas meters are usually replaced anyway as part of an OFMAT process. Be advised that over 80% of OFMAT tests come back with no fault and you'll sacrifice the fee in those cases.

Admittedly, I'm not a fan of copy/pasted replies, but with so much info to write up, I hope you can understand this particular reply being heavily copied over from my previous threads.

[Knc62]

@meldrewreborn
Hi.. Sorry to hear that.
I came to the conclusion after doing some research comparing my usage v UK averages
The good news is that eon did check it out and confirmed their calculation were based on national database

They confirmed my actual usage was indeed 50% of estimated usage and provided me with 3 new tariff options. The cheapest selected option was variable with an increase as per price cap £700..

Im very glad I followed my instincts and challenged the figures

[Knc62]

Originally Posted by theunknowntech

Hi @Knc62 ,

I can indeed help with this kind of thing. Would you be OK with doing a Burns Test, as this would help to identify any meter faults?

Here's what you'll need to do:

Here's how to do a Burns Test. This is a quick test and only takes a few minutes, but you need to be able to get to all your gas appliances and your gas meter to do this one. Here's what to do.

1. Turn off ALL gas appliances, the boiler and everything else that uses gas on your supply
2. Wait for around 30 minutes to let things calm down and for the gas meter to completely catch up
3. Check your gas meter reading and make a note of it
4. Turn on just one gas appliance - a single ring on your gas cooker is usually the best option
5. Monitor the readings on your gas meter for five to ten minutes. You must do this on the meter itself. Make notes of the current reading every 60 seconds during the test
6. Shut off the gas appliance you fired up
7. Check the gas meter reading again
8. Restore your gas appliances to normal service once you're done

The reading should only go up by a few units during the test. If it seems to be clocking up excessively quickly, this suggests there might be a fault. A Burns Test isn't perfect, but you'll be surprised how well it works. If you suspect an inaccurate or faulty meter after doing this, you'll want to call for help and request a Meter Accuracy Test (it's an OFMAT for a gas meter). These are not free and you'll be asked to pay the job fee upfront (usually around £160 or so).

If the test confirms the meter is faulty, you will get the fee refunded, the meter will be replaced and you should get refunded for any usage that you didn't actually use if the meter clocked too fast. Recalculations don't occur if the clocking was too slow. While electric meters are only replaced if they fail the MAT, gas meters are usually replaced anyway as part of an OFMAT process. Be advised that over 80% of OFMAT tests come back with no fault and you'll sacrifice the fee in those cases.

Admittedly, I'm not a fan of copy/pasted replies, but with so much info to write up, I hope you can understand this particular reply being heavily copied over from my previous threads.

Hi.
Many thanks for this advice. I have since got it sorted satisfactorily with Eon as per my response above. But I really appreciate your detailed zero cost advice and may well carry out said burns test in the future since eon advised me of meter test process and approx costs.