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

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 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!

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:

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. 

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

If it’s a small joint leak it could change in the temperature variation during the day, although the energy shown on your readings looks a bit high for that.

There should be a valve by the gas meter. It will look like this 

Ok - it’s worth checking with neighbours as @juliamc mentions if you can

With all this talk about potential leaks, whether or not it is a leak or not, i can't help thinking the only advice we should be giving is to get a local qualified gas engineer to come and diagnose what the issue may be? 

I don't think i would be turning the gas on and off if it were my house to try and diagnose potential causes in this situation. 

Safety first of course - with the readings shown, I doubt it is a leak especially if there’s no smell of gas. If I had a leak I think one of the first things I’d do is to turn the gas off but here if the supply was absolutely off for a specific period of time it will show whether the usage is correct if not

Hi everyone thanks so much for all your previous advice

It’s been a busy week so haven’t been able to focus on this  as I’d have liked but I think I’ve finally cracked it! We turned our gas off at the valve last night and another flat complained that their hot water wasn’t working, while ours was still working - so it seems we have a crossed meter. Will reach out to OVO with this information and hopefully we will finally get a resolution!

Glad you’ve found the cause. Do you know which one is yours now? and hopefully you’ve put your heating on