This article about your gas meters how to read has been supplied by Catherine Lezer, Director SCA (NSW) and Strata Chairperson.
Gas is used in strata common property generally for heating hot water, although some blocks also have common gas BBQ facilities.
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Some units also have gas bills for heating and cooking. If you do have gas in your unit, it is good to know where your gas meter is located so you can check the reading against the bill.
Some places to look for meters are in a service riser, in the ceiling, garbage room or in a plant room. Some examples of what you are looking for:
Gas Meters How To Read
Newer buildings may also contain an MDL. These are remote reading units for all the meters (common area and apartments). The remote reading units send the gas usage on a weekly basis to the gas companies. It looks like this:
Your meter, the MDL, and the gas company should all be reading the same usage on the same day. (Just to make it confusing some meters show one or two decimal places and the remote reading unit doesn’t.)
What if the readings don’t match or your bill comes out with an “Estimate” rather than “Actual” reading type?
Gas leaks are rare, so other explanations are:
- A fault with the meter itself (most likely)
- A fault in the line/MDL remotely reading the meter
- The meter number being read is wrong ie not the meter for your unit.
Jemena (the people who own the gas meters) can check from their office if they are reading the meter at their end, so it is easy to eliminate faults with the line/MDL as the source of the problem. As is checking the correct meter number is assigned to the correct unit or common property which Jemena or your gas company can do. If your bill shows “Estimate” instead of “Actual” read type then it is very likely there is a problem with the meter and the meter may need replacing.
Please note: Jemena is NSW only, in WA you would be dealing with ATCO Gas Australia and there are different suppliers in each state. If you are unsure who owns your meter, just check your gas bill.
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Have a question or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.
About the Author:
Catherine Lezer is a dynamic businesswoman with a record of success; postgraduate qualified she was elected to the SCA NSW Board in 2015 for a period of 2 years. Owning in strata property for many years, she has been volunteering on various executive committees for 15 years. Currently, Catherine chairs two of the buildings where she owns property. Always seeking to be involved in her community she has been actively dealing with legal matters, interior, lift and exterior upgrades, defects and a multitude of day-to-day strata matters.
Interested in more information about gas meters how to read, posts about apartment living or strata legislation particular to your state? Visit Maintenance and Common Property OR Strata Information Pages by State
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I purchased an off the plan apartment on the basis of there being gas hot water and cooking service, which would be cheaper for me than electricity. I confirmed this with the agent. The plan showed the positions of an instant gas hot water unit for each lot. On pre-occupancy inspection, myself and other owners were surprised to find that both hot water and cooking was through bulk gas supply with two main gas meters, one for each service. There was no provision for individually metering each lot.
As an age pensioner, living alone, I am now sharing the cost of gas usage with the other lots which have families or groups of students. As there is no individual gas bill issued, I have also lost my age pensioner government subsidy. The one saving is that we share the service charges which, in my case, had always been the greater portion of any bill.
There never was any discussion with prospective buyers about this quite significant change in the plan. I guess I was too trusting of the process to question too closely the fine detail.
Just a word of warning to others.