I've live in Auckland and recently moved into a new rental property that uses gas for the kitchen hob and a gas fire. This is the first time I've ever lived anywhere that uses gas so I'm pretty unfamiliar with how it all works. The house is hooked up to mains gas (eg not bottles). After we moved in I signed up with Frank Energy for power and gas (I figured it was easier to use one provider that offered both) and they arranged for someone to come around and hook up the meter to the supply.

I've now received my first gas bill and it's quite a lot more than I was expecting. Power is $70 and gas is $80. I know I pay a daily charge for the gas ($1.35/day) but then the invoice has gas used at $31. I thought this was really high, until I noticed that it's an estimate reading and not an actual reading. I guess maybe they've based their estimate on a typical family home and that's why it's so high, and when we get an actual reading it'll be a lot less and they'll sort out the large estimate (just like I'm used to how the Auckland water bills work).

I had a look at the gas meter and it has a digital readout on it which made me think that it might work the same as the digital power meters and be reporting usage back to the power company on a regular basis. Do gas meters not work like this? Should I expect someone to turn up and read the meter every month? Or is it every second month like the water?