massive gas bill

McKneff

flippin' eck guys, i think you lot are wonderful:T :T :T

epsilondraconis

Great work Detective Inspector Cardew :cool:.

a_class_girl

im with british gas. the last bill i received £870.68.
22 july 08 00795 estimated--> 29 july 08 00865 estimated £3.63 & £18.58
30 july 08 00865 estimated -> 6 nov 08 02764 reading i gave £53.28 & £752.38.
i can give readings from previous statements but the majority of these are estimated and these would have been from my old meter.

Cardew

Well that is a nonsense from BG(not unusual)

Meter reading on 12 Feb 2008 was 793,(according to your letter) Estimated meter reading on 22 July was 795 - so you used a 'whole' 2 units in 5 months 10 days. Including the winter.

They have estimated that you have used the rest (23,000kWh) in less than 4 months including the summer. (most at the new prise increase rate)

If this last bill was from 22 July, where is the bill prior to 22 July? for those 2 units?

Nothing makes sense.

P.S. Just realised that the earlier bills you spoke about were for 2007.

a_class_girl

so whats your verdict cardew?!! if the reading 12 th feb 08 was 793 and now 2824, can that possibly be right given my consumption from the previous year and that im the only adult living in a 2 bed house using gas central heating and hot water?
I'm terrified this is correct and i owe this amount.
is there light at the end of my tunnel?

P.s Thank you so much for your responses. x

epsilondraconis

The only suggestion I have would be to take readings each day for at least the next week to get a better picture of your usage. Perhaps that could shed a little more light on it, especially if the units you supplied are correct. If they are correct, you will want to fight them so that you have as many units as possible at the cheaper rate i.e. before the price hikes.

Cardew

I would go along with post #17 above.

The important missing piece of information is the bill(s) preceding the large current bill.

If you are accepting the information on the letter that the new meter had a reading of 00793 on 12 Feb 08(have you checked for a label on the meter?) and the latest bill starts with an estimated reading of 00795 on 22 July 2008, then there must be a bill for the period preceding 22 July 2008.

The first thing to do is find that missing bill(s) if necessary get BG to provide copies.

You said that you have bills with old meter, it would help your case if you can prove your consumption was lower last year by providing annual consumption figures in kWh.

As said above, even if you have used 23,000kWh since Feb, you should get the majority of those at the pre-increase price.

When you have a more information you need to contact BG, if you don't get satisfaction on the phone(probable) you will need to write a letter, which we can help draft.

There is a BG accounts guy on this Board(littletommytucker?) who may see this thread.

P.S.
Presumably you are on BG Standard tariff. BG's Click 6 Internet account is cheaper. Check which tariff you have as it could be a fixed tariff.

Pssst

The new meter should have a label on it with spaces to enter the old meter serial number and reading. If your lucky,it will have been filled in legibly.

SwanJon

Call on 0800 048 0202 from a landline.
Ask them to check what read the meter went in at.
The meter should have a yellow sticker (as Pssst says) with the old & new meter details on.
Find out what year the meter was made (you can work it out from the serial number if it isn't obvious) - if it is a few years old it is more liekly that it could have gone in above zero - aske them to search to see if other accounts have had the same meter number in the past.
Give them your recent reads (all of them).
Tell them to cancel back the estimated reads and create a new bill from installation to accurate reads only (once you have exhausted the possibility of the meter being installed at a higher read).