Gas bill HELP needed.?

Question

My daughter just had her gas bill and it was £154.86 for 3 months during that time she was away for 3 weeks. she only has a small flat and the gas is only used for heatting (her flat is always cold) and water she is at collage full time so isn't useing it during the day. We have the same supplier and are home all day with heatting on all the time we also use gas for cooking. our bill was half of what her bill was.
Is it possable someone has either tapped into her supply before she moved there or there is a leak? gas saftey check has been done yearly from landlord.
the boiler fires up when nothing is being used.

Answer 1

check if the bill was an estimate, they are always optimistic with their estimates

Answer 2

99 times out of 100 this kind of thing is a clerical/office mistake. They have either confused your account/billing address with someone elses, just blatantly done a typo on the bill, or grossly over estimated the bill rather than using an accurate meter reading. Give them your meter reading and get a revised bill before you pay anything. Its possible it could be a problem with your meter, but probably not. Check the meter to see it hasn't been tampered with...look for scratches or marks where people might have tried to open it up. Also check the meter is not tilted forwards or backwards more than about 45 degrees as this can affect it. Check there is a governor on the incoming pipe....its a metal blob cap type thing on the pipe coming in from the mains just before it enters the actual meter. Also make sure the meter is fitted the right way round.....mains pipe going into the left side, pipe to the house coming out of the right hand side. If you get a smell of gas when you look in the meter cupboard/box, blow around it to get rid of the smell, close the door for a minute, then re open it and see if the smell has come back, also listen for hissing. If the smell comes back quickly and you do hear hissing, call the gas board, open the windows, don't turn anything on or off, and leave the house!
Chances are its just the supplier company messing you around, so query it with them, and if they don't help you sort it out then switch to someone else. Hope this helps and you get it sorted :)

Answer 3

That sounds way too high for a gas bill, considering the situation.
One quick way to check, besides reading the numbers on the meter and the bill, which is wise to do.
Turn off all the gas valves, to the heater, the stove and any thing else that may need gas.
Then check the meter, see if the needle is moving, meaning that gas is being used, somewhere.
If that happens, call the gas company for someone to come out and check your daughters set up. Something isn't right.

Answer 4

You need to check whether the bill is estimated or not - if it is phone the gas company with the proper reading and ask them to send a revised bill out

Answer 5

Your daughter should get in touch with her supplier and explain all this to them and tell them there is no way she has used all this gas. tell them that you think you have a faulty meter or a gas leak and you want it checked out. Insist on this, don't let them give you excuses. Do not pay this bill until they have checked it all out for you. I had this problem once and it was a faulty meter.

Answer 6

As above, and take a reading every week, you can work out how much your bill will be that way.

Answer 7

Have an inspector in to check for leaks and proper operation of all appliance in use.

Answer 8

Theres no way that can be right, so query it.
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ - Contact ofgem in case you have trouble.