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"Trickling" or "gas drip" when it's turned off at meter???

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Has anyone ever heard of gas trickling out to appliances when it's turned off at the meter? Or a drip, (ie "sometimes the amount that drips through is too small to charge, so these charges only appear every so often when a certain amount of gas has dripped. Gas lines are like water lines, they will send gas to the appliance even if they are turned off. ")?

 

These are 2 of the, to us, very strange reasons we've been given by Ovo staff for charges on our online gas account being added when our gas is turned off at the meter and all appliances turned off. 2 days ago, for example, there was over 4kWh of such trickles or drips in a one hour period when the gas was off, all appliances were off & we were out of the house (out if a total of 6.5kWh for the whole day!)

 

We are at our wits end with this, we've been trying to get Ovo to sort this out for around 4 weeks now. We are pensioners, and, to be honest, it's making us ill & we really don't know what to do next. All we want is for someone at Ovo to admit there is something odd going on and to tell us what they can do about it. 

 

Can anyone advise, or suggest what we should/can do? Our gas is currently turned off apart from when we absolutely have to use it for personal washing (we've found all sorts of wonderful ways to do everything else without gas, even considering using the barbecue instead of the hob 😂)

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Best answer by M.isterW 14 May 2023, 13:15

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M.isterW
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Your isolation valve is probably allowing a small amount of gas to get through and one or more of your gas appliances is leaking. Neither of these are OVO's responsibility so I'm not surprised they haven't been much help.

 

As gas is normally the cheapest way to heat water and cook, even with the price increases over the past few years, I'm not sure turning your gas off and using other heating sources is saving you money.

1992 4 bed detached house. Solar PV + battery, Zappi EV charger, Mitsubishi Ecodan ASHP and i-life2 fan assisted radiators.... No gas 😊
A

Your isolation valve is probably allowing a small amount of gas to get through and one or more of your gas appliances is leaking. Neither of these are OVO's responsibility so I'm not surprised they haven't been much help.

 

As gas is normally the cheapest way to heat water and cook, even with the price increases over the past few years, I'm not sure turning your gas off and using other heating sources is saving you money.

All we are asking of Ovo is that they actually respond!!!!

Our appliances are all relatively new, the strange amounts being added are random, different amounts, some days nothing, other days all through the night, other days a few separate times a day.

Surely a leak would be constant, as none of the appliances are actually being used most of the time so nothing changes with them.

It's not to save money that we're turning our gas off, it's to stop us having to pay for something we are not using, we're not using other heating sources as we don't need heating at present - it's not cold.

I have no idea what an isolation valve is.

A

Your isolation valve is probably allowing a small amount of gas to get through and one or more of your gas appliances is leaking. Neither of these are OVO's responsibility so I'm not surprised they haven't been much help.

 

As gas is normally the cheapest way to heat water and cook, even with the price increases over the past few years, I'm not sure turning your gas off and using other heating sources is saving you money.

And furthermore, these random charges are appearing when the gas supply is turned off at the meter so if gas is not getting further than the meter it is irrelevant if all of our appliances were leaking as they have no gas being supplied to them anyway!!!!!!!!!

M.isterW
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The isolation valve is what you use to turn the gas off. There's no way to turn the meter off so I'm assuming you're turning your gas supply off at the valve on the pipe just before the meter?

 

Are your meter readings changing... i.e. is the meter registering a flow of gas?

1992 4 bed detached house. Solar PV + battery, Zappi EV charger, Mitsubishi Ecodan ASHP and i-life2 fan assisted radiators.... No gas 😊
A

The isolation valve is what you use to turn the gas off. There's no way to turn the meter off so I'm assuming you're turning your gas supply off at the valve on the pipe just before the meter?

 

Are your meter readings changing... i.e. is the meter registering a flow of gas?

Yes, meter readings are going up. Usage on account is showing gas being used when gas is turned off at what I now know to be the isolation valve. There is no smell of gas. Meter is in an understairs cupboard on so an enclosed space, so I would assume that any leak from the isolation valve would be noticeable by smell. We believe the meter is faulty as these amounts are not consistent. If it was a leak causing it we feel it's unlikely to be quite so intermittent and so different in quantity, is some days there are no"phantom" charges, other days there are numerous, at different times, and different amounts, from 0.02kWh up to around 2kWh in any half hour spell, not connected to any appliance having been used. Ovo are trying to tell us this is normal and is a trickle or a drip, but f it is normal it has only been normal for the last few weeks and never in the last 5 years (which as far back as I've checked).

A

The isolation valve is what you use to turn the gas off. There's no way to turn the meter off so I'm assuming you're turning your gas supply off at the valve on the pipe just before the meter?

 

Are your meter readings changing... i.e. is the meter registering a flow of gas?

Yes, meter readings are going up. Usage on account is showing gas being used when gas is turned off at what I now know to be the isolation valve. There is no smell of gas. Meter is in an understairs cupboard on so an enclosed space, so I would assume that any leak from the isolation valve would be noticeable by smell. We believe the meter is faulty as these amounts are not consistent. If it was a leak causing it we feel it's unlikely to be quite so intermittent and so different in quantity, is some days there are no"phantom" charges, other days there are numerous, at different times, and different amounts, from 0.02kWh up to around 2kWh in any half hour spell, not connected to any appliance having been used. Ovo are trying to tell us this is normal and is a trickle or a drip, but f it is normal it has only been normal for the last few weeks and never in the last 5 years (which as far back as I've checked).

I should probably mention that the people at Ovo telling us about this trickle or drip are customer service people who reply to Twitter and/or phone calls, so not necessarily people with technical knowledge (though I could, of course, be wrong and they may be qualified gas engineers - though I suspect not)

M.isterW
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Is it a smart meter and are you getting half hourly readings? Half hourly readings will tell you exactly what is being used so you can see if it's a steady trickle or big jumps in use.

You can ask OVO to check your meter but there is a cost. I think it might be refunded if the meter is found to be faulty but I'm not sure.

 

https://help.ovoenergy.com/article/01767034-993d-4a91-a17a-0b3515861f63-apollo

1992 4 bed detached house. Solar PV + battery, Zappi EV charger, Mitsubishi Ecodan ASHP and i-life2 fan assisted radiators.... No gas 😊
A

Is it a smart meter and are you getting half hourly readings? Half hourly readings will tell you exactly what is being used so you can see if it's a steady trickle or big jumps in use.

You can ask OVO to check your meter but there is a cost. I think it might be refunded if the meter is found to be faulty but I'm not sure.

 

https://help.ovoenergy.com/article/01767034-993d-4a91-a17a-0b3515861f63-apollo

 

 It is a smart meter and we are getting half hourly readings.

The readings are making no sense. For example, on 2 consecutive days our actual gas use was identical, (I'm keeping a note of everything we do) apart from an extra boiling of a kettle on the 2nd day, but the total usage according to our meter readings jumped from 4.87kWh on the 1st day to 22.95kWh on the 2nd, with a whole list of extra readings being during the night when no gas was being used (fire off - hadn't been used for many months, hob off, boiler off).  We have sent various screenshots to Ovo, at their request, but have had no response from them. As I said, there are days where there are no strange readings, eg the last 2 days, but then tomorrow there will probably be lots. W

We have requested that the meter is replaced, we know we'll have to pay for it but we're prepared to do that for peace of mind. If they do agree to check it we don't actually trust them enough to expect our money back regardless of the outcome of their checks.

A

Is it a smart meter and are you getting half hourly readings? Half hourly readings will tell you exactly what is being used so you can see if it's a steady trickle or big jumps in use.

You can ask OVO to check your meter but there is a cost. I think it might be refunded if the meter is found to be faulty but I'm not sure.

 

https://help.ovoenergy.com/article/01767034-993d-4a91-a17a-0b3515861f63-apollo

 

 It is a smart meter and we are getting half hourly readings.

The readings are making no sense. For example, on 2 consecutive days our actual gas use was identical, (I'm keeping a note of everything we do) apart from an extra boiling of a kettle on the 2nd day, but the total usage according to our meter readings jumped from 4.87kWh on the 1st day to 22.95kWh on the 2nd, with a whole list of extra readings being during the night when no gas was being used (fire off - hadn't been used for many months, hob off, boiler off).  We have sent various screenshots to Ovo, at their request, but have had no response from them. As I said, there are days where there are no strange readings, eg the last 2 days, but then tomorrow there will probably be lots. W

We have requested that the meter is replaced, we know we'll have to pay for it but we're prepared to do that for peace of mind. If they do agree to check it we don't actually trust them enough to expect our money back regardless of the outcome of their checks.

This is a screenshot of the second day. Our only gas usage on that day was 7.00 personal washing & washing up, 9.00 kettle, 12.00 washing up, 2.00 kettle, 4.30 washing up. No cooking or heating on this day. 

M.isterW
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Do you have a combi boiler? I'm wondering if you've got a pre-heat setting on the boiler as that could result in similar usage patterns.

 

If it isn't that then I'm stumped. There are other forum regulars who might have some ideas. Hopefully they'll be along to help.

1992 4 bed detached house. Solar PV + battery, Zappi EV charger, Mitsubishi Ecodan ASHP and i-life2 fan assisted radiators.... No gas 😊
A

Do you have a combi boiler? I'm wondering if you've got a pre-heat setting on the boiler as that could result in similar usage patterns.

 

If it isn't that then I'm stumped. There are other forum regulars who might have some ideas. Hopefully they'll be along to help.

Yes, combi boiler. No preheat, hot water on demand. We too are stumped. Last week the gas was turned off at the meter, the boiler switched off at the electric switch, the fire and hob not in use, we were out of the house, and over 4kWh was recorded over 2 half hour readings. We have tried just about every avenue open to us to get Ovo to look at this, with nothing but a standard "We've got your email" response. We are in our 70s, we are becoming really stressed about this, but feel that we're just being treated like stupid old people. Ah well, we'll keep trying. 

juliamc
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I’m a forum regular and have been lurking! My only suggestion would be to play it safe and get the meter checked. In your other thread about this Abby_OVO said there would only be a charge if the meter wasn’t found to be faulty but I don’t think she said what that charge would be. Has anyone given you a price for this? 

A

I’m a forum regular and have been lurking! My only suggestion would be to play it safe and get the meter checked. In your other thread about this Abby_OVO said there would only be a charge if the meter wasn’t found to be faulty but I don’t think she said what that charge would be. Has anyone given you a price for this? 

No, no-one has even replied to our emails, apart from standard holding replies. We have emailed to request that our meter is replaced, no reply. We'll chase tomorrow when phone lines open.

Blastoise186
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The charge is around £165, but is refunded in full if the meter is found to be faulty.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
juliamc
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Phone or chat would be the best contact route. Monday morning prob v busy so you might join a sizeable queue, or wait till Tuesday.

A

The charge is around £165, but is refunded in full if the meter is found to be faulty.

Thank you. We'll ring them tomorrow.

A

Phone or chat would be the best contact route. Monday morning prob v busy so you might join a sizeable queue, or wait till Tuesday.

Thank you. Maybe use chat then 🙂.

Firedog
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… play it safe and get the meter checked ... Has anyone given you a price for this? 

 

Meter accuracy testing

Gas: £157

Our energy charges and fees | OVO Energy

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
A

… play it safe and get the meter checked ... Has anyone given you a price for this? 

 

Meter accuracy testing

Gas: £157

Our energy charges and fees | OVO Energy

Thank you.

A

Just to update, I finally spoke to someone at Ovo a couple of days ago whose first comment on hearing what has been going on was "sounds like your meter is faulty". Hallelujah!! Someone finally listened to what I was saying. They are now going to change our meter, free of charge. It can't be done for a month but at least something is being done.

We've also had our gas fitter call today and he has confirmed that there is no leak, trickle or drip, so we at least have peace of mind on that score. 

Thanks to everyone who tried to give us help and advice. 

R
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My gas meter always shows a minimum of 29p a day usage even when the gas is off and we are on holiday? Do we have a gas leak?

BPLightlog
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Hi @rapunzelm , if you’re talking about your in home display (IHD) it will show the standing charge each day plus any usage and vat

Independent volunteer - Sitting in a Faraday cage, waiting for a signal

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