E-Control recommends:

Gas customers should read meters themselves more often

Unlike electricity, there are no smart meters for gas. Customers should therefore read meters themselves more often.

(Bild: Dan Race - stock.adobe.com)

Unlike electricity, there are no smart meters for gas that allow consumption to be read remotely. As a result, although annual bills are based on readings in most cases, consumption is often only calculated when old and new customers move house, criticizes E-Control board member Wolfgang Urbantschitsch. "This must improve."

On the one hand, network operators need to make more of an effort to obtain meter readings - for example through more frequent readings or by installing remotely readable meters. "There are ways for the gas meter to transmit the consumption value to the electricity meter and then you can read it out." Another option would be for customers to read the meter themselves.

No smart meters planned for gas
There are no plans to introduce smart meters for gas, says Urbantschitsch. However, it would be even more economically relevant for gas than for electricity. "The average gas bill when you heat with gas is much higher than the electricity bill." The energy regulator believes that remotely readable gas meters would therefore make sense in principle.

On the other hand, the number of gas metering points at household level has fallen by 6 percent in the last three years. "In 2020, we still had 1.3 million metering points; at the end of 2023, there were only 1.23 million metering points." This raises the question of how much more should be invested in a technology that is in decline.

For some network operators, it could make sense to use remotely readable gas meters in combination with the electricity network for some areas. "However, there is no requirement for this and we have not made any recommendations."

Read it yourself once a month
Christina Veigl, head of the end customer department at E-Control, recommends taking a meter reading yourself once a month or at the beginning and end of the heating period and at the turn of the year. Her area of responsibility also includes E-Control's advice and arbitration service. Many inquiries concern uncertainties regarding price change options, terminations by electricity suppliers or appeals to the basic supply.

E-Control's advisory body had to cope with an enormous workload during the crisis years: Inquiries and complaints skyrocketed from around 7750 in 2021 to 33,400 (2022) and 42,700 (2023). In 2024, inquiries halved again to around 21,000, but were still four and a half times as high as in 2020. Applications for dispute resolution fell from just under 2,500 to 1,400 - in 2021 there were only 633.

The number of disconnections - mostly because the electricity or gas bill was not paid - rose to around 35,700 in 2023, compared to around 26,600 in the previous year. Based on the number of metering points, this corresponds to a disconnection rate of 0.69%. For 2024, only the figures up to November are available so far, but there has been no decline, according to the regulatory authority.