Gas bill says I've used 0mj in the last 3 months

roberttimmms on 08/02/2022 - 16:32

I moved into a new unit November last year and started my gas/elec. Just received my first bill and it was only $50, but that's purely from the daily supply charge (around 59c/day).

In terms of gas usage, my bill says0 MJ for the whole 3 months, which definitely can't be right because I've been cooking on the gas stove almost every day since I've moved in, the last reading was the start of the month.

Should I call up Origin Energy here and ask what's going on? Or do I just keep my mouth shut and hope they never fix it?

Home & Garden

Related Stores

Origin Energy
Origin Energy

Comments

  • Muzeeb on 08/02/2022 - 16:39
    +5

    They will find out eventually.

    Do the right thing.

  • Ocker on 08/02/2022 - 16:43
    -3

    "keep my mouth shut and hope they never fix it?"………..and let all of their other customers pay for the gas you have effectively stolen———————luvly!

  • Clarky77 on 08/02/2022 - 16:43
    +1

    Totally up to you but most likely they will find out eventually and you'll recieve an adjusted invoice. But you could roll the dice I guess and you might get lucky, funny thing is though unless you have gas heating in winter the actual usage charges are usually less than the supply costs at least in my experience over the last 5+ years and it's only getting worse.
    Good luck either way, I'll be happy if you do get away with it as the more $s kept out of greedy energy companies bottom lines the better lol

  • garetz on 08/02/2022 - 16:46
    +4

    The amount of gas you use while cooking on a gas stove is negligible, even if you are cooking every day it is probably less than 1MJ in total. The gas usage is mostly from hot water heating that really pumps it up.

  • Hithere on 08/02/2022 - 16:52
    +4

    It'll be fixed up when they take your next meter reading.

    They may have missed reading your meter for some reason and didn't have a previous reading to do an estimate from as you had only just moved into the unit.

  • skid on 08/02/2022 - 16:53

    Does the bill match what your meter says?

  • tephra on 08/02/2022 - 16:56
    +2

    does the meter reading match your actual meter? maybe the meter is wrong.

    in some states, there is a time limit for when utilities can back date payment (i think its 12 months)

    they will probably work it out, but for your own checks and balances, you should be able to align their readings with your actual meter… to make sure they aren't over charging you.

  • treekangagaroo on 08/02/2022 - 17:01
    +1

    Looks under YOUR SITE DETAILS in your origin bill

    It will tell you if it is an estimated bill (which should be the case for you) or actual bill . if it's estimated they will adjust it in the next bill or reissue an updated bill if they have the correct details

  • John Kimble on 08/02/2022 - 17:16
    +1

    My wife used to work in restaurants, one of the places didn't receive their gas bill for months even after calling them asking what where their bill was.

    Eventually they got a bill for a year or so worth of gas. Being a restaurant that uses gas cooking, it was in the tens of thousands.

    She negotiated with them to pay only 50% of the bill.

    Winning!

  • Snake 4 on 08/02/2022 - 17:54

    Years ago we received an electricity bill for $3.97. Did the correct thing called them. Fellow came out and said faulty meter.

    Ok what happens now? New meter fitted and was told we would receive a new bill equal to same time last. New bill never arrived. Received a disconnection notice for $3.97. Couldn't pay it quick enough.Never received another bill for that quarter.

    Win win.

  • Caped Baldy on 08/02/2022 - 18:02

    I'd keep my mouth shut but still save up the money for the eventual bill that will be 2x-4x expensive when they realise.

  • justdigi on 08/02/2022 - 18:21
    +1

    Are you sure you have ‘gas’ and not ‘metered hot water’?

    In my apartment (Queensland) under origin, we have central hot water that is metered and then unlimited cooking gas, as usage is negligible.

    Or do you have your own individually metered gas hot water system? Because it would be strange to just have cooking gas only, as the expense of the daily charge vs usage is not worth it.

  • stratbargain on 08/02/2022 - 18:32
    +4

    My water meter was busted for about 3 years. One day they realised and fixed it. I was never backcharged, and from memory they are only allowed to go back 11 months in Vic.

    I was going to say something but I figured if they really wanted to it would have taken a software developer all of an hour to develop a tool to check all meters and alert them to a broken meter with 0 usage over X months. They obviously didn't care enough to do that so I didn't care enough to waste my time alerting them.

    • Benoffie on 08/02/2022 - 19:48

      There's a myriad of reasons why a meter may record zero usage. That reasoning makes no sense. The hours chasing up locked or vacant land just incase of a faulty meter would cost a small fortune.

      • stratbargain on 08/02/2022 - 19:52

        But why would I have an active Gas account/contract if it was locked or vacant? That's just silly

        • Benoffie on 08/02/2022 - 19:55

          In reference to water ^ the law states that if the mains is passing the property, you pay a service fee regardless.

          Many blocks have meters for both gas and water. Are the providers to suppose zero consumption = fault?

          It's the responsibility of the owner to report a faulty meter. There's no such thing as a free lunch. It's theft.

          • stratbargain on 08/02/2022 - 20:00

            @Benoffie: Fair call I wasn't aware of that.

            RE the free lunch… I'd disagree and my 3 months of 0 usage was a very, very tasty free lunch.

  • JIMB0 on 08/02/2022 - 20:12

    Maybe you didn't use enough gas to roll the meter over.

  • Quantumcat on 08/02/2022 - 20:35

    You'll probably get a higher bill next quarter. Similar thing happened to me, got a small gas bill after halfway through winter and I thought sweet, the gas heating is cheap to run so pumped it up all the rest of winter. Got like a $2000 bill next quarter 😒

  • ozb-lurker on 11/02/2022 - 10:52

    My gas bills for the last 20+ years have been 0.

    This happened after the meter was replaced by the gas company. The meter is read every quarter, and they have a record, so it's their responsibility if the meter is faulty.

    On the other hand, my hot water bill is higher than average.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join