UK law seems to require billing and rates in units of kilowatt hours, so I think this reporter was correct to focus on units required by law. However, the article really isn't very clear, mostly because she uses "naked numbers" with no units. Numerous energy companies have information sheets which are clearer than her article. Two examples:
https://www.ebico.org.uk/customer-care/understanding-bills http://www.saveometer.com/(A(-1V4g6wUzAEkAAAAMTgyYzJjMWQtNzM0YS00MzMyLThhYWMtYzA5MzhmMGYyYjA4-v5rgxNDUqe8Imkz-7eMxmk2MFA1))/YourBillExplained.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 The various factors are better explained as follows: Volume: The volume of gas may be measured in either hundreds of cubic feet or cubic meters. Hundreds of cubic feet must be corrected to cubic meters. The factor is 100*(0.3048 m/ft)³. Many companies seems to use 2.83, but it should be 2.83168 if expressed to the same 6 digits as the next factor. (This factor is not used if the meter reads directly in cubic meters, which the reporter fails to point out.) VCF: It corrects the gas volume to standard, 15 °C, 101.325 kPa. I can't find a conclusive answer but it seems to be mostly a correction of the slight overpressure on the home side of the meters to standard atmosphere. Caloric factor: Energy conent of the gas in megajoules per standard cubic meter. At this point, they actually have the megajoules Pat wants, but aren't legal billing units. kWh conversion: Divide by 3.6 MJ/kWh to convert to kilowatt-hours, the legally required billing unit. --- On Tue, 3/22/11, John M. Steele <[email protected]> wrote: From: John M. Steele <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [USMA:50132] Energy bills To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>, [email protected] Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 7:11 AM Doesn't the law in the UK REQUIRE billing in kilowatt-hours? If so, explaining energy bills in joules will merely add another layer of confusion and conversion. Billing in joules would be fine, if legal, but it would seem that your issue is with Parliament and not with the reporter. Does Australia require (or allow) gas and electric bills to billed in joules? If it is an allowable option, does any gas or electric company do it? --- On Mon, 3/21/11, Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> wrote: From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:50132] Energy bills To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, March 21, 2011, 11:50 PM Dear All, I have just responded to an article at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/8395460/Energy-bills-what-the-jargon-means.html as follows: ## You write "Kilowatt hours – the standard measurement on an energy bill". This is not so. Since 1889 the standard measuring unit for energy has been the joule with the symbol J. The joule was named by the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) to recognise the research work on energy done by James Maxwell Joule, a brewer from Salford in Lancashire. The joule is the only measuring unit needed for all the different kinds of energy in the world (kilojoules for food energy, megajoules for household electricity, gigajoules and terajoules for nuclear reactors, and so on). Since 1889, the alternatives are to use joules to measure energy or to use one of the old pre-1889 loosely defined words associated with energy. I know about 199 of these old words but my favourite is the 'barrel of oil equivalent' that refers to an oil barrel that never actually existed! Cheers, Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia ## Pat Naughtin LCAMS Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
