Gas meter query/possible problem

[MaxxPower]

Ok, I'm hoping someone can help me here.

 

A few months ago I switched from Eon to Scottishpower, and my house is a new build so when I switched my final meter reading (taken by Eon on July 7th) was 271.

 

Now on the 4th of this month I was asked by Scottish Power to enter my meter readings online, and I took a reading of 957. However it was dark at the time so there's a possibility I mis-read this.

I just checked my meter again however, and my reading seems to have suddenly gone to 1667 units! Now I'm out of the house most of the day and rarely, if ever, use my gas.

 

However I have two house mates. One of them is out at work all day, however his wife is in the house all day so I have no idea what she might be doing. Even so, even with the boiler and our gas hob on all day for 2 days I wouldn't have expected my meter reading to shoot up by that much.

 

Can anyone possibly advise what kind of a rough cost I might expect to pay for that kind of usage? I've tried to work it out myself but I seem to be coming out with either ridiculously high or ridiculously low values for my KwH. Or does it look like there's something wrong with my meter? I'm going to start taking daily readings to watch for anything strange too, because I'm suspecting there may be an issue with my meter here. (Well, I'm praying there is for that kind of usage anyway!)

 

UPDATE - Ok, I just ran a little test. I ran a single gas hob for 4-5 minutes, then went out to check the meter. In those 5 minutes of running the hob, my meter reading went from 1667 to 1685. Surely that can't be right? Could the problem be with the gas meter? Or with the hob? My housemates wife does use the hob a lot for cooking so that might explain why it's so high, but given that it's only shot up these past two days it would indicate there's a problem somewhere along the line.

 

Update 2 - Ok, did a second test, this time with my gas boiler upstairs running for 5 minutes (just the boiler, no hob or anything). Before I turned it on, meter reading was 1685. After I turned it off, it had shot to 1861!

When both hob and boiler are switched off however, the meter reading isn't increasing at all, so it's only when something actually starts using the gas supply.

 

 

Update/Edit 3 (Last one I promise!) - I phoned Scottish Power who agreed that something definately didn't sound right when I gave them the readings, so they're going to organise to get the meter changed. Hopefully I should get a call for an appointment pretty quickly.

 

The irony is that I only checked my meter again today because on Monday, Scottish Power asked for my online readings, then today they e-mailed me to ask for the meter serial number since they didn't have it. When I went out to get the serial number I noticed the massive increase on the meter! Good thing something went wrong with the switchover and the serial number got missed or I might not have checked the meter again for a month or two!!

Edited October 6, 2010 by MaxxPower
Update

[2Grumpy]

Sounds 100 times too high - is there a decimal point in the meter that you are missing?

 

n.b. what type of meter is it - presumably not one of the new smart ones that reads itself?

[MaxxPower]

There was no decimal point that I could see, and I'm not sure what kind of meter it is. The house is a new build that was only constructed last year though.

 

When I get home tonight I'll take a picture of the meter and post it up.

 

Scottish Power have said that they'll go on estimated readings rather than what the meter says (since it's clearly hugely over what it should be) until the meter is replaced with another one. After that I'll have to keep an eye on it and do the same tests again, hopefully I wont somehow consume 200 units of gas for 5 minutes of heating

[MaxxPower]

Well.....this is embarassing....

 

It turns out that I was reading my meter wrong....what I thought was my reading, wasn't my reading. My meter is a metric one, and so the last 3 digits are in a red area. Turns out I wasn't ignoring the red area like I was supposed to be doing....ehehehe....and the 3 partway across the meter I was ignoring. Turns out my actual reading is 301, not 1900....

 

Oh so embarassing......ehehehehe......oops!

 

 

Well hey, nobody actually tells you how to read a meter.....it's one of those things people just seem to expect you to know! I'm a victim of circumstance! .....Or something.....