Gas Usage v meter readings

I used to have to send in readings for gas, and it can be confusing for a couple of reasons.

the system of daily usage and ‘live balance’ is set up for smart meters.

So when you submit a manual reading ot is attributed to the previous midnight - the midnight at the start of the day that you submitted it. (Because that's basically what smart meters do, usage up to midnight each day is sent/collected the next day).

Then with gas there is a question of how long that takes to get reflected in the figures that you see in the usage chart online or in the app.

To start with those figures will be ‘guesstimates’ but they will change later as your readings are taken into account and the Calorific Values for that day known.

Your reading is in cubic metres which has to be converted into kWh by multiplying it the CV (and a conversion factor).

It all means that the online usage figures for gas can take a while to change from estimated to actual.

But in the end it's what your monthly billing says that matters.

Your gas usage on your bill is charged in kWh, not in the units shown on your meter.

You can, however, approximate the conversion from the units used according to your meter to kWh. The approximation depends on the units measured by your meter (it will be shown on the meter) as m³ or ft³.

To approximate gas units to kWh in the UK, multiply metric (m³) units by 11.2 or imperial (ft³)  units by 31.7.

For instance, I have used about 2 units on February 6th. My meter measures in m³. So, using the approximate conversion 2 X 11.2, I have used about 22.4 kWh of gas. 

This is a useful “guesstimate”.

Hey ​@Lindsay23 

I’m glad to see a couple of our community members have already stopped by with some really helpful advice here, I hope you’ve found that helpful.

As they’ve suggested, the bill each month is what we’ll have calculated and you’ll be charged, the live billing system, especially while traditional meter readings are being submitted, will simply catch up and that reading will be attached to a single day, rather than the time it was submitted in the day.

I do have a few questions here just to gain some clarity, which section of the account are you looking at when you see this? Can you see the meter readings you’ve been submitting on the meter readings page, do they match what you’ve been submitting? You should be able to view a full rundown of all the meter readings you’ve previously sent us by clicking ‘view reading history’. 

I’m also wondering if your bills have been using the meter readings you’ve been submitting, are those accurate? These are where your actual usage is broken down, and these should be accurate. If you’d be able to share some more detail, it will help us better understand if there’s an issue or if it’s just the live billing system.

The following topic may also be helpful here:

And if you’ve not looked into one already, we’d definitely recommend having smart meters installed - that way we can calculate your usage even more accurately with half hourly readings. Check out the topic below for more:

Let us know how you get on, or if you could provide some more information, we’ll try our best to help.

There is a smart meter but, for a second time, it has ceased sending readings - engineer not due to arrive until 17th of this month.

I’ve started taking gas meter readings, not because I’m disputing the bills, but to get to grips with a new boiler and control system in order to optimise the settings. However what I have noticed is that there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of correlation between the readings sent and what appears in Usage.  In answer to Abby_OVO’s questions, I can see the meter readings that I’ve submitted in the Meter Readings areas which are all in cubic metres. I’m then referring to the Usage section to see daily usage (now converted in KWH’s). I’d expect to see a pattern being followed but there isn’t.

To give an example the cu mtrs used per the meter readings for the first 8 days of February are :

11.41      12.93     14.48    15.65    14.9     16.11      13.5         10.7

but the KWH usage levels recorded in my account are :

156.45   168.25   190.97   179.76   191    168.11    123.35     134.42

The later entries seem well out. I used the highest amount of 16.11 on the 6th but usage in my account is a lot less than several other days. Also the usage on the 8th was the lowest at 10.7 yet a lot higher than the previous day in my account. 

What is the explanation?

Apologies! The KWH usage levels in the last post should read :

144.39    156.69    179.53    168.31    179.53    156.69    111.92    134.42

I errorneously sent the combined gas and electricity usage in the last post.

I can also now see that despite the fact that I’m entering the date of the reading it might actually be recorded as a day early in my account as there is a far greater correlation between the 2 sets of figures when read that way. But there’s 2 usages of 179.53 and 2 of  156.69 recorded but the cubic metres used have never been identical. 

On the Gas Details page of every bill, you will see this information. It shows the calculation that is made to convert meter units to kWh. I have underlined the most important part of this statement. The calorific value changes each day (and is different in different areas of the country) so that is why the same unit usage on different days may be produce a different result when converted. 

I have underlined the most important part of this statement. 
  

Old pedant back again … the OPSS guidance on calculating gas bills states quite categorically that “gas transporters are required to maintain [the CV] within 38 MJ/m³ to 41 MJ/m³”. I haven’t been able to find where this requirement comes from. 

This means that the kWh/m³ quick conversion factor (you quoted 11.2) ranges from 10.8 to 11.6. If the kWh figures you see are outside this range, there’s something wrong.

Using Lindsay’s revised figures and applying her one-day shift between readings and consumption, the reverse-calculated CVs are within the permitted range - apart from the latest. That’s not totally surprising: CVs are usually published the day after sampling sampling, but they aren’t finalized until a day or two later.

The actual day-by-day CVs for each zone are published by National Gas.

Lindsay’s figures look quite reasonable.