Gas Usagev 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”.