I have natural gas that feeds a hot water heater and a steam boiler in a 1920's era 3 bedroom house. The gas meter is in the basement. I received a bill recently that shows the amount used is a good 100 cubic feet higher than what the meter shows in the basement and there's no way I used as much as it says. The last time a technician came by he said the outside meter reading is the correct one and the inside one is wrong. Is that true? Is there even an outside meter to read? Wouldn't the inside meter always be correct in its consumption? Thanks.

*Normally* there is only one meter and its on the outside. They would read that one instead of the inside one. You could come have them check to see if they even installed the inside one or not(someone else may have). Either way, they will go by their meter on the outside and no one else's. The only way the inside *might* be correct is if the gas line splits and goes in different directions after the outside meter. That doesn't mean the outside is wrong, it just means that the inside is reading whatever is going in that direction.

thanks adam. when i first bought the house the gas company told me we'd like to install a remote sensor on your meter in your basement so we can read it from the outside and don't have to come into your basement periodically. doesn't that sound like there's only one meter and that would be in the basement? in addition there's noting on the outside of my property that would pass for a gas meter. i've seen the electricity meter but that's it. your thoughts?

You have a typical meter install. Ask the gas company to change the meter in the basement. It should read the same as the outside remote sensor. But good luck on getting any rebate on the diffrence.
One question however. Did you read the meter the exact same time when they read it outside? If not you meter will end up reading more as some gas may have been consumed between the time the outside was read and the time you got the bill and compared it to the reading inside?

thanks for the reply. i read the meter on nov 13th and it was 1611. they came by and read it outside on nov 5th and it was 1753. last reading was 1571 so they're saying i used 182 cubic feet in oct for a 3 bedroom house with the heat on only maybe 25% of the time. yah right. my understanding is the only reading they can get outside is by connecting to the sensor that's attached to my meter inside. there shouldn't be 2 separate sources of data, at least i don't think there should be that was the main question i had.