Hi

The meter using as much as £8 per day seems very high, but the chance of the meter being faulty is extremely low.

As this is a prepayment gas meter the meter settings may hold the answer to why so much money is being taken. The meter may have a debt set on it from the previous owner/tenant and when you top up this money is still being collected.

I recommend contacting British Gas and speaking with their prepayment department, you can either take the meter settings before hand or ask them to talk you through this process (there are around 20 different displays) note down all the information and give it to British Gas.

They should be able to then check you are not paying a debt that isn't yours and that the meter is calibrated to the correct prices. If this does not highlight any discrepencies tell them you are still concerned and ask them to go through your consumption with you.

Swapping the meter is a good idea as you will then have a wider choice of tariffs and payment methods, however some suppliers won't change the meter unless the circumstances suit them, worth discussing anyway.

First and foremost establish why the charges are high as changing the meter might not be the answer to this.

Brian

Employee of E.ON

There must be something wrong with the meter - I live in a detached house with 3 children and our gas bill is about £850 for the whole year!

Watchdog recently covered prepayment meters that were calibrated incorrectly - you could look on their site.

I don't see why British Gas should charge you as there is obviously something wrong. See if you can get rid of the prepayment meter and pay monthly by direct debit as that is always cheaper.

good luck

phone them and ask them to change the meter so that you can pay by monthly direct debit. you can ask them to check the calibration .

you can also check the calibration yourself, presumably you have a boiler or gas fire. find out what the maximum rate is of the boiler or fire take a reading and then fire up the boiler/fire time it for 60 seconds and take another readind you can calculate if the meter reading exceeds what the maximum rate that the boiler/fire can burn. also if they change the meter and you are using less gas then the old meter was faulty.

good luck

I moved house in october and the gas meter in my new property is a pre payment meter. My house has 3 bedrooms but we only heat 1 of these as the other 2 are not used.

I dont dont have a gas cooker but i am using £8.00 per day which if you do the maths works out over £700 per quarter. I want to call out british gas to check my meter to ensure it is set correct but i am worried that British gas will charge me for this.

Is this normal for a 3 bedroomed house with 1 bathroom a dining room and a lounge (Kitchen has no Rad).

I have no debt with British gas. If anyone can give me some advice i will be gratefull.