[moggs]

Hi,

I've been monitoring our meter readings weekly to keep an eye on consumption, but this week the gas meter showed exactly the same as last week (which was suspiciously close to the week before). We have definitely used gas but it has not been registered in the meter reading.

Also, there is a letter 'C' to the right of the reading which I hadn't noticed before, and when I press the 'A' button a second time the display shows "Credit ON Bal=£38.41" - the amount seems to have increased slightly since yesterday.

Can you cast some light on what the 'C' and 'Bal' are indicating, and how I can work out how much gas we are using? Also how to be sure we will be billed correctly?

The meter was installed by British Gas I think, it is a "LandisGyr+" smart meter but we never received the indoor unit. I'll attach a couple of photos for reference.

[retrotecchie]

@moggs

Do you pay the gas bill by direct debit, or is it a prepay meter? Looks to me like Smart prepay.

Credit Bal is your current credit balance and the ON just says the gas supply is on. This changes to OFF if you run out of credit and use your emergency credit, although the anti tamper device can trigger this.

Not sure what the C means to the right of the consumption readings?

If it is a regular credit meter, I don't see why it would have a balance shown.

[moggs]

@retrotecchie
Thanks for the reply - we pay by direct debit, which makes the Credit Bal reading hard to explain. And more puzzling is that today the figure is £38.69 which is an increase of 28p from yesterday's balance.

[retrotecchie]

@moggs

Indeed just a little perplexing. Might be worth an email to hi@eonnext.com with your details, meter serial number and 'Gas meter query' in the subject line to see if they can offer any more info. Possibly not worth waiting on the phone for!

[moggs]

@retrotecchie
I did send an email to hi@eonnext.com yesterday (apart from anything else, to create a record of what's happening) - but I thought I'd try here too in the hope of a quicker response from the community!

[retrotecchie]

@moggs

We try our best. Now not wanting to throw too much of a spanner in any works, but it did ring a bit of an alarm bell with me, so the fact you have already started a record trail so to speak may be a good idea.

Only, there was talk in the media recently about some companies remotely converting smart meters into prepay meters. I wouldn't think this is the case here but the fact your meter is displaying an actual credit balance in pounds and pence makes me think your meter is indeed behaving like a smart prepay.

If you pay by DD, get the usual statements and bills in the usual way, this should never happen, but it may just be a screw-up in the system somewhere and maybe your meter was inadvertantly reprogrammed. Worth keeping an eye on.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63554879

[moggs]

@retrotecchie
Thanks for the info - sounds alarming. I'll be pretty annoyed if Eon have done that to us! But that still wouldn't explain why the "meter index" value isn't changing though?

[retrotecchie]

@moggs

I know, because that is your actual consumption. There's definitely something amiss. The meter seems to be singing all the wrong tunes.

[moggs]

@retrotecchie
Ok, I guess I'll have to wait and see what Eon say. Many thanks for your help, anyway.

[meldrewreborn]

@moggs

Suppliers can only switch customers to prepayment in very specific circumstances.

see here:
Check the prepayment meter rules your supplier has to follow - Citizens Advice