On High Gas Bills and Meter Reading

I’m a traveling house sitter. In exchange for looking after people's homes and pets, I get to live there rent free. If it's a long house sit, I pay for the utility bills. I don't have a problem with that, except for when they withhold information about certain things...

So, the gas meter reader came about a week ago, but wasn’t able to read it because I was out. I sent them a photo of the meter, and was shocked when they informed me that it was much higher than their estimated usage. 

A couple owns this house, and I’m living here alone. It’s also summer time here, and I’m very minimal in my usage of warm water. I thought that  there was no way that I could be using more than them, and I have been worried that there could be a gas leak for a few days.

After exchanging  several emails with the company, I finally found out that they haven’t  been able to read the meter since May of last year. They send a reader every two months and leave a card stating “important" -  letting you know that they’ve dropped by.

They have been estimating the usage for the past eight months. When I found this out, I couldn’t believe it. I was relieved to find out the truth, but disappointed and annoyed at the home owners for not informing me of this. You see, I had emailed them about the high reading and mentioned that I was worried that there could be a gas leak. The only response I got was “not sure,”  and that if I was worried about a leak, the company should be able to come and check it for free...

I wonder why they didn’t they tell me more? Such as that the meter reader hasn’t taken a reading in many months, and that they have been estimating it? Did they not think about  that at all? And if they did, then did they hope that I would not find out the truth? I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and not jump to conclusions, but I'm finding it hard to believe that they didn't consider that the high usage was possibly due because they hadn't had a proper reading in many months, and that they've been using more than the estimates.

Well, I received the monthly gas bill today, and here is the graph showing the usage:

I’ve written the home owners an email about everything I’ve found out (being as polite as possible). I said that I’m willing to pay for some of it, but given that most of the usage almost certainly comes from them - I think that it’s reasonable for them to pay for most of it. I think that is only fair... 

I just needed to vent and let off some steam, lol. Thank you for reading!