Differential gas pricing apparatus and method

A gas consumption measuring apparatus for measuring the consumption of gas supplied by a utility comprising:

• an ambient outside temperature condition measuring means providing a first measurement signal,
• a volume measuring means for providing an electrical pulse signal in response to each successive measurement of a selected volume of gas,
• a plurality of remote counters, each counter, in response to said measured signals being adapted for incrementing its count, and
• counter selection and control means connected to said ambient temperature measuring means and volume measuring means for selectively directing each said incremental measured signal from said volume measuring means to a selected one of said counters, said one counter being selectively chosen in response to the temperature measuring means for measuring gas consumption in a preselected ambient temperature range.

A method of measuring and recording gas consumption comprising:

• measuring the ambient outside temperature to produce a first output signal depending on the measured ambient outside temperature,
• measuring the gas volume to produce a second discrete gas volume signal;
• and
• recording said first temperature signal and said second gas volume signal, said recording selectively responding to said gas volume measuring according to at least a first lower ambient temperature and a second higher ambient temperature thereby allowing a differential rate structure dependent on said ambient outside temperature to discourage the consumption of a greater volume of gas usage at low ambient temperature.