Gas and smart meter

Introduction
We got our solar panels in February ‘22 and things are going well in our first year as the seasons change. I think I’m going to find late autumn as output falls again quite difficult! Anyway, a few issues about gas that I wonder if energy experts could comment on. Am I worrying unnecessarily about my metered gas consumption figures?

We had an in home smart meter installed in December ‘21 as part of the prep for the solar panels, and we had smart electric and gas meters done as well. The new gas meter reads in cubic meters, the old one was cubic feet - you’d expect cubic meters to tick by a lot slower, their being so much bigger, but that doesn’t seem to be the experience so far. Not sure this problem is fully reflected in what we’re actually spending in £££ - but I just don’t want to get a nasty shock at bill time.

Gas consumption
From 1 March to 9 April ‘22 we apparently used 106 cubic meters of gas - from my readings of the new meter.

For December 20 to Feb ‘21 we used 149 gas units - cubic feet? (4672 kWh) on an old bill; for the similar period just gone 381 cubic meters? - (4242 kWh) from our most recent bill, so that’s pretty similar.

I know there’s a formula to get from metered units (old or new) to kwh, and then the tariff gets you to £££. I don’t understand how that is working.

The gas meter gives a £££ “balance” figure, but I don’t know what this is referring to: £29.99 when I looked yesterday.

Smart meter
Next thing: Our smart meter seems to register the standing charge for electricity - like it’s on there when you come down in the morning, but it doesn’t seem to do this for gas.
It has the April electric tariff recorded, but still has the old gas tariff - but I think it is calculating the ££ used correctly post April. There’s a ££number for “billing period” but it comes up blank when you try to see what dates it’s referring to.

Insights gratefully received!

david9694 I'm not sure how much help I can be as I don't have mains gas. However, my understanding is that the tariff for your energy (gas and electric) is updated on your smart meter by your supplier as and when it changes. If the meter has the wrong tariff (as displayed on your In Home Display), then I'd conclude that your supplier is not picking up your readings from your smart meter. Regarding the conversion of volume to kWh, I think that's done periodically by the supplier because the calorific value can change, but I'm not certain about this. Also, just because the smart meter reads in cubic metres, it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't using a tried and tested cubic feet sensor, so the rate at which it "clocks" consumption may not change at all, just the display of volume.

There's another thread that looks at how you can extract data from your smart meter (including gas) for free, if you are interested.

If your supplier doesn't know you already have a smart meter, you can tell them and ask them to use readings from DCC for your bill, which should update the tariff.

Tim thanks - downloaded Bright and it’s a handy little thing, thanks.