So over the last few days (since saturday) I’ve noticed a substantial increase in the amount of gas being used displayed on our smart meter remote display (I mean actual kwh of gas ) , it shows hour by hour usage , and there is a substantial amount of gas being used at hours of the day when no gas appliances are running, as well as much higher than normal usage when gas appliances are running.

So today I shut the mains gas valve off – this is the main valve before the gas enters the meter, and took a photo of the meter reading on the gas meter itself – it read 32528.836 cubic metres .

71 minutes later I took another photo of the meter reading, it read 32530.375 cubic meters. Which works out to 1.539 cubic meters of gas used, despite the main valve being closed.

This pretty clearly points to a fault with the gas meter doesnt it? ie its counting gas when the main valve is closed

Just checking I havent missed anything before I get on to shell energy.

TIA

Just checked again (132 minutes after turning the mains gas valve off), and the meter is now reading 32531.871 cubic meters.

so the meter thinks we have used 3.035 cubic meters in 132 minutes with the mains gas valve turned off.

anyone know how gen 1 smart meters measure the volume of gas used? This would seem to be an odd failure

Smart gas meters are a lot less ‘real time’ than the electric meters. Turn it off for about 4 hours and see what it records.

Smart gas meters are a lot less ‘real time’ than the electric meters. Turn it off for about 4 hours and see what it records.

Thanks – I was aware of the lag on the remote display, so I’m not using the remote display to determine gas used – I’m looking at the display directly on the gas meter itself – is that display actual realtime?

Looks like others with the same meter have experienced the same

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6089578/high-gas-usage-and-potential-meter-fault-code

including one chap whose meter was recording gas flow when the meter was disconnected completely.

Looks like they start to give wonky readings when the batteries get low

julians
Full Member

Looks like others with the same meter have experienced the same

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6089578/high-gas-usage-and-potential-meter-fault-code

including one chap whose meter was recording gas flow when the meter was disconnected completely.

Looks like they start to give wonky readings when the batteries get low

Brilliant, what a shower these meters have been.

Have reported it to shell – they want me to give them daily readings at the same time for a week and then they’ll decide what to do – hopefully they dont just fob me off by telling me I’m simply using more gas…..

dont see how they can argue that the meter still counting up when the gas is switched off is anything other than a fault, but got to go through their script I suppose.

Stupid question, but have you checked that he valve has actually turned the gas off (i.e. tried lighting the hob)?
Just in case!!

Stupid question, but have you checked that he valve has actually turned the gas off (i.e. tried lighting the hob)?
Just in case!!

not a stupid question – but yes, I did confirm that the valve turned the gas off. Tried the gas fire and the boiler.

Gas meters do have a battery so if the SMETS1 meter has been installed for awhile it could need replacing, Elec meters dont have this issue as they poach directly from the supply.

Your supplier should be aware of the an alert for low battery, but if the teams how answer the phones have access to this data is another question!

I guess there is the potential for gas to be in the pipe between the shut off valve and meter, but not to the extent youve record I would think.

Gas meters do have a battery so if the SMETS1 meter has been installed for awhile it could need replacing, Elec meters dont have this issue as they poach directly from the supply.

Your supplier should be aware of the an alert for low battery, but if the teams how answer the phones have access to this data is another question!

I guess there is the potential for gas to be in the pipe between the shut off valve and meter, but not to the extent youve record I would think.

its a smets 1 meter that was installed in 2011. its a libra 310p gas meter from Landis+Gyr.

The run of pipe between the shut off valve and the gas meter is about 30cm long, if that – so it surely cant hold ~3 cubic meters of gas.

Your supplier should be aware of the an alert for low battery, but if the teams how answer the phones have access to this data is another question!

we switched supplier since the meter was fitted in 2011, and as a result its not sending its readings back to base, we have to do it manually on the website – So I presume they havent had a low battery warning.

I had one go faulty a few years back. The call centre swore blind that they never go wrong, threatened to charge me for the engineer call out etc. guy comes to have a look at it “yeah these go wrong all the time”

I had one go faulty a few years back. The call centre swore blind that they never go wrong, threatened to charge me for the engineer call out etc. guy comes to have a look at it “yeah these go wrong all the time”

Yeah,I’m expecting a battle, but when the meter is still increasing even though the gas supply is closed off ,I reckon thats pretty clear cut.

It’s a bit sh1t that the meter starts to give erroneously high readings when the battery is on the way out.

I guess I’ll keep on just sending meters reading via the website rather than getting a smart meter. What disaster they hsve been.

Hi, I was working in BG when we started rolling some of these meters out. at the time we thought the battery life would be about 10 years, some claimed 15, but it wasn’t certain by any means. 11 years seems like a good innings, but I dont remember anyone detecting this type of fault in testing. I know some of the guys at L+G well, so would be happy to pass details on directly, but unfortunately the argument over disputed consumption will need to be with your current supplier.

I would say generally smart meters are a good thing, I wouldnt be able to export solar to the grid or charge my EV cheaply without one, and hopefully we wont experience these faults with SMETS2, although I suspect the fault is down to the battery and metrology rather than the smets module.

The run of pipe between the shut off valve and the gas meter is about 30cm long, if that – so it surely cant hold ~3 cubic meters of gas

Depends. Is it over 356cm in diameter?
That would seems a little large for a domestic gas pipe

I wouldnt be able to export solar to the grid or charge my EV cheaply without one

If you didn’t have a smart meter you could still export to the grid, but you’d also get a refund on the electricity you’ve used by driving your meter backwards, so I’m afraid that argument doesn’t stack up.

That the FIT rates are so derisory when unit prices for electricity are nudging 40p/kWh is hardly a reasonable state of affairs.

That would only happen on an analogue meter though, so rare these days! I am getting some seriously good export rates from octopus, average for today is 34p.

they want me to give them daily readings at the same time for a week and then they’ll decide what to do

Sorry, I know this was yesterday and you have to do as asked, but I really can’t see how that will help unless they’ve got a week of comparable data to view it against from before the issue started.

Sorry, I know this was yesterday and you have to do as asked, but I really can’t see how that will help unless they’ve got a week of comparable data to view it against from before the issue started.

Yeah it’s an irrelevance,given the meter is counting up when the gas supply is off. but they’re following their script,so I’ll go with it for now. Incidentally the current rate if consumption(as recorded by my faulty meter) would see me paying about £1000 per month for gas alone. Normal bill is £200 ish for gas and elec.

The meter reckons I used 53 cubic metres of gas in the last 24 hours

If they don’t play ball and get the meter fixed/replaced after this week, then I’ll be exercising my legal right to get them to send the meter off for independent testing.

I think they’ll agree it’s broken though before it comes to that.

but I dont remember anyone detecting this type of fault in testing

Have a look on the money saving expert thread I linked to earlier, there are quite a few people with the same problem with the same meter (l+g Libra 310p)as I have.

would see me paying about £1000 per month for gas alone. Normal bill is £200 ish for gas and elec.

That’s going to happen whether you have a faulty meter or not…

update – shell are putting in a new gas meter (and electric meter because they have to work as a pair) on Tuesday.

Need to see how they work out what our bill should be, given that the meter has been inaccurate for a while.

similar here, British gas summer use in 2021 was 10800kw previous summer 4800kw, just no way we have use that gas, oddly the winter 2021-2022 is only 2000kw higher than previous winters…but still no idea why the increase over previous winters given this has bee a very warm winter

BG not really interested and say i must have used the gas…only gas we have is heating and water and the heating is off from april to sept

BG not really interested and say i must have used the gas…only gas we have is heating and water and the heating is off from april to sept

If you think the meter is faulty you have the legal right to get your provider to have the meter independently tested, at their cost if the meter is found faulty, at your cost if it’s found to be fine.

Have a look on citizens advice or which websites.