Faulty Gas Meter Dilemmas: Determining Responsibility and Seeking Resolution

A gas meter and electric meter are normally installed in the box. This meter cabinet is usually situated near the main entrance of a house. Generally, the gas meter is installed in a wall-mounted box, but sometimes it may also be found in a floor-mounted cabinet.

Finding the location of the gas meter in your house is important as you will often need to observe whether it is functioning correctly. Typically, a gas meter should perform flawlessly but chances of a fault are always there. More importantly, the fault often remains undetected because, in most cases, you get a regular gas supply in your house without knowing that the meter has developed a fault. The consequences of a faulty gas meter may be reflected in unusual gas bills. That's why you must have at least a basic knowledge about working a gas meter and any possible faults it may develop occasionally.

Types of Gas Meters

The purpose and utility of a gas meter are to measure gas usage. Based on this information, the supplier charges the cost of gas. Gas meters are of different types, from traditional to the latest smart meters. In recent years, smart gas meters have gained popularity and replaced most conventional ones in the UK.

• Traditional or Conventional Gas Meters—These are the most primitive type of gas meters installed in most buildings in the UK. These meters continuously record gas usage without creating backup data. Hence, the meter reading has to be checked manually, either by the consumer or the supplier's representative, to send energy bills on a periodical basis. These are also known as Credit Meters.
• Pre-Payment Gas Meters – This type of Energy Meter slowly replaced traditional gas meters. Unlike the traditional meters, the cost of gas is pre-paid, which means you pay the fee before using the gas. Here you need to buy the credit by feeding the key or a smart card into your pre-payment gas meter. The major drawback of this type of meter is that the gas supply will be disconnected as and when the credit is utilized. You need to add another credit to get the gas supply restored.
• Smart Gas Meters – A smart gas meter keeps an accurate record of the gas usage and transmits it to the supplier for sending the gas usage bill on a periodical basis. The data is transmitted from the meter to the supplier through a secured wireless national connection that ensures the accuracy of the data. A smart gas meter needs a battery connected to it to transmit meter readings once every half an hour. Besides that, the meter remains in sleep mode as far as the data transmission is concerned.

Faulty Gas Meter – Indications and Signs

Gas meters don't get faulty so often. However, your gas meter could be defective in case you observe one or more of the following signs:

• The gas supply suddenly stopped
• You are receiving an usually higher amount of gas bill
• You suddenly get a gas bill beyond your expectations
• If a pre-payment gas meter is installed in your home and it is giving an “Error” message

However, a faulty gas meter does not necessarily result in an increased energy bill. Sometimes, a hidden gas leakage somewhere in your home may also cause this. So, you need to take into consideration this important fact before venturing to call on the supplier for a faulty gas meter.

Faulty Gas Meter – Responsibility

A gas meter is the property of the gas supply company. Any fault or error in this meter is the direct responsibility of the Suppliers. Under the prevailing rules and regulations, the suppliers are bound to get the fault removed or replace the faulty meter with a new one if required. They are legally bound to do so within 3 hours on a working day and 4 hours on weekly holidays.

If you are a tenant, you must inform the landlord immediately once you notice a fault in the gas meter. In this scenario, the landlord is responsible for removing the fault through suppliers within 3 to 4 hours.

Compensation

If the supplier fails to remove the fault in your gas meter within the stipulated time, you have the right to claim compensation. The suppliers are bound by the law to pay the compensation within 10 working days. If they fail to pay the compensation within 10 days, they will have to pay double the compensation. For example, if the compensation is £30 and they haven’t paid it to you within 10 days, they will pay you £60.

Faulty Gas Meters – Fault Testing

If you are convinced, based on your basic checks, that the gas meter has developed a fault, you can call your gas supplier for a fault test. They will book you an appointment to carry out the fault testing processing. The appointment is normally fixed within the working hours of the day. However, the appointment has to be agreed upon mutually, based on your convenience and the availability of the supplier's representative.

Compensation

Under the provisions of the prevalent laws, the supplier is liable to pay compensation in the following circumstances:

• If they do not turn up on the agreed appointment date and time.
• If they change the appointment without your consent
• If they change the appointment on short notice of less than one working day.
• If they send a person who is not qualified for that task.

In this scenario, they are bound to pay compensation within 10 working days. Failure to do so within the stipulated time will have to pay you double the amount of compensation.

Important

• Suppose the suppliers take the gas meter away for testing by an independent meter examiner. In that case, they will install a replacement meter so that you can get an uninterrupted gas supply during this period.
• If the gas meter is declared faulty, the suppliers are required to install a new one. In this case, they are also bound to pay back the excess amount charged based on the faulty gas meter's reading.
• If the gas meter doesn’t turn out to be faulty after testing by the independent examiner, you will have to pay the cost of testing.
• If you are not satisfied with the testing process, you can lodge a formal complaint to your supplier.

Conclusion

Gas meters should normally function flawlessly. However, there are rare chances of a gas meter getting faulty. Under normal circumstances, it is hard to establish whether the meter has developed any fault unless you get a regular gas supply in your kitchen. The only thing that should alert you is the unusually high gas bill, although it may also be due to a gas leakage.

If you are convinced that the gas meter has developed some fault, you need to call the gas supply company to check and remove the fault or, if required, replace the faulty gas meter. It is their responsibility to remove the fault at their cost. They should also pay you compensation if the independent meter examiner declares the meter defective.