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Gas meter is clocking incredibly high usage with no one in the house?

  • 13 December 2022
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  • epwg
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We have been seeing incredibly high gas usage for the last few months or so, even when no one is in the house. We’ve not even had our heating on yet and it’s mid December because we are so concerned about the usage clocking up just using the boiler for hot water. For example on Sunday no one was home between the hours of 4.30pm-11.30pm and we clocked up around 60kwh of usage according to the OVO app:

For reference I live in a moderately sized 4 bedroom flat, in a block of 5 flats. We are currently only using the gas for hot water for showers or washing up.

Temperatures are now below freezing so we want to put our heating on but with the extra usage clocking up our bill is already unmanageable and we are lost at what to do next. Can anyone offer any advice?

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Best answer by BPLightlog 14 December 2022, 11:44

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A
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Can anyone explain to me the usage graph shown in attached photo from yesterday. This was my supposed gas usage. I was at work,out of the house from 6:30 am until close to 5 pm. Heating was set at 13c.

 

G
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Combi or standard boiler? Hot water cylinder with hot water on constant?

BPLightlog
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Hi @Amerififer this is from the Bright app, yes?

If you look under settings, you will see time probably set as UTC. We are currently UTC+0 and so check for the right time zone. For some reason on mine I have to make this adjustment each time I open the app. 
I expect that your system also intermittently came on as it was quite cold outside. Also if you have pre-heat on the hot water, that will show use in between times too

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Combi or standard boiler? Hot water cylinder with hot water on constant?

Combi boiler. Under a year old. 

Jeffus
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Combi or standard boiler? Hot water cylinder with hot water on constant?

Combi boiler. Under a year old. 

May be best to ask company who installed the boiler for their thoughts then. Let us know what they say. 

Do you know the make and model of the boiler? Do you have a user manual for the boiler?

A
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Combi or standard boiler? Hot water cylinder with hot water on constant?

Combi boiler. Under a year old. 

May be best to ask company who installed the boiler for their thoughts. Let us know what they say. 

Do you know the make and model of the boiler? Do you have a user manual for the boiler? 

Yep :) Baxi 800 series.. and yep have the manual.. couldn’t find anything in it about a pre heat function or how to find it.. 

 

BPLightlog
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Just read through the manual @Amerififer and you’re right it doesn’t mention pre-heat so perhaps you can’t adjust .. not sure but others talk about controlling with a uSense thermostat. 
On page 16 of the manual it talks about frost control so depending on where the boiler is, perhaps that is kicking in?

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Jeffus
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Combi or standard boiler? Hot water cylinder with hot water on constant?

Combi boiler. Under a year old. 

May be best to ask company who installed the boiler for their thoughts. Let us know what they say. 

Do you know the make and model of the boiler? Do you have a user manual for the boiler? 

Yep :) Baxi 800 series.. and yep have the manual.. couldn’t find anything in it about a pre heat function or how to find it.. 

 

Then i seriously suggest you ask the boiler  installer then. I think they would have a better idea about how to diagnose if it was a boiler or other issue.

I don't think i would try anything else until someone checked your gas boiler etc. 

G
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My instinct, since there's only very little heating being used - unless you live in a very cold area and the room your thermostat is in is actually dropping to below 13° - is that it's something to do with the hot water system or the boiler keeping everything 'unfrozen'. I'd definitely ask the installer if he has a clue why.

Jeffus
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@Amerififer if you are entitled then sign up for this.

You may feel you fit into one of the categories. 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/priority-services-register

You are then entitled to a free gas safety check. 

 

A
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@Amerififer if you are entitled then sign up for this.

You may feel you fit into one of the categories. 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/priority-services-register

You are then entitled to a free gas safety check. 

 

Nope unfortunately don’t fit into any of the catagories.. siggh :) 

Jeffus
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That doesn't look right if you haven't got your heating on. I assume your heating isn't on very low permanently. 

Given they are 30min readings they won't be estimates. 

Even if you have a hot water tank heating the water constantly or a pre heat function etc on your gas boiler, you wouldn't expect to see that usage every 30 min and that total over a day. 

I strongly suggest you get a gas engineer to check you haven't got a small gas leak somewhere asap.

We had a small gas leak once, so it can happen. 

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Hi @Jeffus thank you so much for replying so quickly.

if there was a leak would you expect to see constant usage throughout the day? For example the same day I showed above there was nothing clocking up some hours earlier in the day when there were people in the property. It doesn’t seem to make sense at all with what / when we are using our hot water

 

Jeffus
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Hi @Jeffus thank you so much for replying so quickly.

if there was a leak would you expect to see constant usage throughout the day? For example the same day I showed above there was nothing clocking up some hours earlier in the day when there were people in the property. It doesn’t seem to make sense at all with what / when we are using our hot water

 

So that does look different. As the other screen shot had usage every 30min.

I would still suggest getting a gas engineer to check then.

To see if there is something wrong with your gas boiler firing up when it shouldn't. 

I would be very surprised if you used that much gas on water heating alone with no central heating.

Do you have your gas appliances serviced every year. I strongly recommend it. 

M.isterW
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You mentioned that you're in a block of flats? Is your meter in your flat or in a communal meter cupboard? I'm wondering if the meters are mixed up so you're getting someone else's readings.

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Hi @M.isterW yes our meter is located in a cupboard outside on the street with all the other flat’s meters

Jeffus
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Hi @M.isterW yes our meter is located in a cupboard outside on the street with all the other flat’s meters

You can see the details ovo hold for your meter here. 

https://account.ovoenergy.com/plan

You could check this against the actual meter. 

You could also go back over your old bills to see when the issue started to occur and see if the meter details flipped.

If anyone in your home qualifies on a permanent or temporary basis you could try signing up to the Priority Service Register.

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/priority-services-register

You can sign up online. 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/register-for-priority-services

Then you can ask for a free gas safety check from OVO

BPLightlog
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Just looking at a few other things and noticed this might also help on checking if the meter is correctly identified for your account 

 

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Thanks so much for your suggestions.

 

@M.isterW i have checked and the serial number in our account matches the serial number on the meter itself so nothing looks odd there

@BPLightlog thank you for sending this over we’ve have done some tests a few times and mostly found that it shows there is some gas usage even with all t electric supply to the property (and therefore the gas boiler) turned off 

 

we switched the boiler off at the mains yesterday at 2.30pm and haven’t switched it back on yet. This is our usage graph for yesterday evening

We’re not sure what to do next. OVO have suggested getting someone out to do a meter accuracy test but this is at the cost of £157 to us and only gets refunded if an overclocking issue is found which I’m not convinced is the issue - if it was overclocking wouldn’t the inaccuracy be consistent? Also this can take up to a month to arrange an appointment, up to 2 months to complete the test and then up to 3 months to get a refund of any overcharges - so we are at the mercy of whatever the meter decides to charge us for at least the next few months which is likely to be extortionate, again to clarify without even being able to put our heating on. We are at such a loss!

 

M.isterW
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Matching serial numbers doesn't mean it's your meter. It's unlikely that they've been mixed up but you could check by turning everything off (completely off) and checking that the meter reading doesn't change over a period of time. Then turn appliances back on and check that the meter is recording the usage.

1992 4 bed detached house. Solar PV + battery, Zappi EV charger, Mitsubishi Ecodan ASHP and i-life2 fan assisted radiators.... No gas 😊
juliamc
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Can you see the other meters for the other flats ? Perhaps you could see if any others are Not increasing during a test ?

How well do you get on with your neighbours ? 

BPLightlog
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@epwg I’ve been looking back through the detail here and think there’s a distinct possibility either that there’s a leak (which would need looking at very quickly) or you are seeing usage reading from another property. Is there a possibility of you switching your gas off or are you absolutely sure there’s nothing using any gas?

Another option is to check your actual meter readings over a day and that can be compared with the kWh being reported. 
Just looking at the half-hourly readings you’ve posted and it really looks like a high use over those times, somewhat akin to a boiler switching on for a while. 
The cold weather can affect pipe work and so it could be a leak expanding and contracting but I’m not sure it would be on that scale. 

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@BPLightlog would you expect a leak to show as peaks and troughs through the day or would it show a consistent amount?

When you saying switching the gas off do you mean at the valve? I believe our only gas applicants is the boiler as per our gas safety certificate send by landlord which is currently off at the mains but could switch off at the valve

I’ll have a look at the meter readings over the full day tomorrow and convert to kWh to check if it matches up and report back!

 

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @epwg, 

 

Sorry for the issues you’re having.

 

I can see that other Forum members have already given some really detailed and helpful advice here. 

 

Just wanted to add that I think that @BPLightlog has a point here:

@epwg I’ve been looking back through the detail here and think there’s a distinct possibility either that there’s a leak (which would need looking at very quickly) or you are seeing usage reading from another property. Is there a possibility of you switching your gas off or are you absolutely sure there’s nothing using any gas?

Another option is to check your actual meter readings over a day and that can be compared with the kWh being reported. 
Just looking at the half-hourly readings you’ve posted and it really looks like a high use over those times, somewhat akin to a boiler switching on for a while. 
The cold weather can affect pipe work and so it could be a leak expanding and contracting but I’m not sure it would be on that scale. 

 

I’d advise switching of all of your gas appliances. If the meter clocks consumption you may have a small gas leak (I’m suggesting it’s small because you haven’t mentioned smelling gas) in which case we have information on our website about what to do in a gas emergency. 

 

Or your meter’s mixed up with another flats meter. Again, if all gas appliances are off you shouldn’t expect to see any usage, although there may be a small amount initially due to residual gas in the pipes. If you know any of your neighbors. You could test to see if their consumption pattern matches the readings that can be seen on your meter. 

 

We call this ‘crossed meters’ and would advise you perform a ‘burns test’:

 

How to perform a burns test


It is important that this test is done during a quiet point of the day so that other properties do not inadvertently interfere with the results. 

  1. Ensure all gas meter appliances are off and ensure the meter stops clocking.
  2. Turn on your gas appliances and check that the meter starts clocking again.
  3. Turn off your gas appliances again and check the meter stops clocking again.
  4. If the meter remains on and off as expected, then we can confirm that that meter supplies your home.

 

 

Hope this helps. 

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juliamc
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I’d ask your neighbours if they find the gas bills are low !?! 

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