Gas bill in the wrong units

[LJMeek]

I posted a topic around a month ago about my gas bill being in hcf (hundreds of cubic feet) and my gas meter measuring cubic metres.

I've just had a revised bill from my gas supplier: they've scrapped all charges over the last two years and recalculated using the correct units.

The up-shot is, I've gone from being =A31500 in arrears to =A3250 in arrears (I did suspect my monthly direct debit should have been upped).

So, the moral of this tale is: get to understand how your gas bill is calculated.

[manatbandq]

The moral is check your bill every quarter and don't let it get that far in the first place!

MBQ

[Andy Cap]

What's really annoying is that this is a fairly common problem that frequenlty must stand out like a sore thumb but the companies deliberately ignore.

Unqualified people like my sister, quite naturally assume that the fitted meter reads in the units you are charged at and why not ? When the later m3 meters were fitted, the companies should have ensured that their records were updated.

Only when some chance conversation hi-lights the possibilty does the problem come to light and it is NOT the consumers fault.

Andy

[Pete Cross]

Is there a gas meter that shows units ? doesn't the calorific value change from time to time hence the need to calculate the units used based on volume and calorific value ?

Pete

[LJMeek]

Household gas meters measure in imperial (hcf=3Dhundreds of cubic feet) or metric (m=B3=3Dcubic metres). Both these measurements are volumetric.

UK gas bills require that they charge against energy, measured in kWh (kilo-Watt-hours).

To convert from the volumetric measurement into energy, the calorific value is used, along with other correction factors.

My problem was that I had a metric gas meter and an imperial bill. This resulted in an overbilling of 283% (the ratio between hcf and m=B3).

[Dave Fawthrop]

|I posted a topic around a month ago about my gas bill being in hcf |(hundreds of cubic feet) and my gas meter measuring cubic metres. | |I've just had a revised bill from my gas supplier: they've scrapped all |charges over the last two years and recalculated using the correct |units. | |The up-shot is, I've gone from being ?1500 in arrears to ?250 in |arrears (I did suspect my monthly direct debit should have been upped). | |So, the moral of this tale is: get to understand how your gas bill is |calculated.

The moral is: Check all bills.

[Andy Cap]

Quite so but it is the responsibility of the Gas supplier to know what kind of meter is fitted and not the frequently non-technical consumer. Customer Services must hear this same tale time and time again. I bet the casual attitude wouldn't be the same if the effect was an undercharge.

Andy

[Colin Wilson]

IIRC suppliers are now only allowed to back-charge 12 months, so you might *still* be getting overcharged.

It might be worth referring to the

site for clarification :-)