British Gas - is this normal???

Hermia

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I don't have gas at my property so was unaware how much it costs.

My mum rang me in a panic yesterday as British Gas have told her her gas bill is going up from £50 a month to £90. She is a pensioner and is going frantic. The £50 sounds horrendous to me as she has an electric cooker and only has her central heating on in three rooms and only in the winter, but I know everyone complains about BG so I guess this charge is normal. What I really wanted to know is is it okay for them to just add £40 a month to her bill (her account is in credit so she is obviously not using up her £50 worth each month - she pays by direct debit BTW). Is her only option to change supplier?

Thanks.

scope

is she is convinced £50 is enough to cover the gas usage phone BG and ask them to reduce the bill.. But keep in mind gas prices has near doubled over the last couple of years, so £50 might not be enough any more.

Magentasue

If she pays by DD, the idea is to pay 1/12 of her annual bill every month so, at this time of year, she should be in credit. The credit balance will go down every month until (in theory, anyway) the spring when the credit is used up. Then the cycle starts again.

Now, gas prices have gone up, so monthly payments need to be higher if consumption remains the same. If her usage has also increased, that will mean paying even more.

What you need to do, is find out how many kwh she uses in a year (from statements or BG) and the currents costs from her tariff so that you know what 1/12 is.

Switching is an option but you still need to know annual use in kwh. Otherwise, she could switch, be set a lower (inadequate) DD and end up in debt.

Cardew

At this time of the year all customers should be well in credit as the next few months is when the majority of gas is used.

Presumably your mother is on BG's standard tariff? You may be better to ge BG click 6 which is an Internet account and much cheaper.(or any internet account) If she is not 'internet savvy' you can run it for her. As she pays by DD there is not much to do.

Check also her latest bill is not based on an estimated meter reading.

CiderBoy

Interestingly British gas don't divide the annual usage by 12 - they divide it by 10.

I found this out when I phoned to query why my electricity DD had been increased from £62 a month to £141 a month.

As I'm on a fixed rate they told me it was nothing to do with price increases - apparantly they anticipate that my usage will increase by over 100% !!!

When I pointed out that the current payments were putting me in credit they basically told me that their computers couldn't be wrong & they wouldn't lower the payment until the next review in 6 months time (ie: when I would be in credit by quite a large amount).

I've lodged a formal complaint & cancelled my direct debit.

Magentasue

Didn't know that.

However, from a customer's point of view, dividing by 12 gives the DD that will settle their annual bill. I like the DD system and it works for me. People who post on here saying it doesn't work seem to have common problems:

1) Their DD is set too low and then has to be increased by a large amount.
2) Their DD is based on estimated bills and has to be increased when it's found their actual usage is in excess of their estimated.
3) They underestimate their winter usage and want the DD reduced to clear a credit balance at the end of the summer.
4) They (and/or) their supplier don't know their annual usage and the DD is based on an unrealistic statistic.

Knowing your annual usage (usually but not always easy to find out) enables us all to calculate a reasonable DD.

Blackpool_Saver

BG attempted to force me into going from £55 to £150 and I phoned up and said I couldn't afford it and that they had put me on the essentials tarrif many months ago and that it would alter their calculations when they finally applied it, sure enough after revision I was 'allowed' to go to £70 instead.

My advice would be to phone and discuss it.

SwanJon

CiderBoy wrote: »

Interestingly British gas don't divide the annual usage by 12 - they divide it by 10.

This usually happens if the assessment happens late in the month following a bill (Month 1).
It may then be too late to adjust the payment for Month 2, so any adjustments are spread over the remaining months of that year (3-12). It keeps the months you get your statements the same as they are tied to the meter reading cycle.
The annual consumption is still divided by 12, only any balance carried forward gets divided by 10 (can also be 11 if a bit earlier).

bristolleedsfan

[quote=CiderBoy;15779971
I've lodged a formal complaint & cancelled my direct debit.[/quote]



:T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T

[Deleted User]

she should be getting her £250 fuel payment soon hermia. That should take the pressure off her for a few months

Hermia

Thanks for the advice everyone. My mum rang BG and they agreed that the bill is too high based on the meter readings and they have reduced it to £65. A result!