Confusion over bills

punky__56

Hi

I'm really confused over the bills i'm recieving from British Gas for my Gas and Electricity. We moved into the flat on the 1st of November and took meter readings. We've been fighting with British Gas since then to get the Elec/ Gas put into our names and this week we finally recieved a Gas Bill. However, they're saying we owe them £478.51:eek: All the figures seem right but i dont understand why its so high.

Gas we;ve used: Between 1st Nov - 9th Jan 5772kWhs £279.36
Between 9th Jan - 31st Jan 2535kWhs £122.69

Surely this cannot be right? Readings on the meter and bill add up.. moved in on 8266 units and today its on 8590 (last time they read it 31st Jan it read 8529)

Electricity reading is alot more confusing as the actual readings are wrong and i cant get my head around it.
First bill is for between 7th Oct and 17th Nov

7th Oct Reading: 44529
17th Nov Reading 45974 (both estimates) £246.29

I cant find the figure for the Elec when we moved in But i know on the 25.11 it read 45108
29.12 it read 45560
15.2 it read 56314.

After this first bill i recieved addressed to me :T a bill for period between 28.11 (46391)
30.11 (46470) (both estimates) bill totals £17.25

Can anyone get their heads around these figures as i'm starting to lose the plot. Just to confirm i havent paid ANY of these bills and they dont have my direct debit details so they wont be able to take the money.

I want to know whats going on with the gas bill and whether the Electric bills are the right costs?

HELP!!!!!

punky__56

Just a bit of extra information..

We live in a two bed victorian flat, two adults :j

hexham1_2

Well for the gas: £420.05 for gas for the 3 cold months of NOV/DEC/JAN is pricey. I paid around £250 for same period. However I am on cheapest tariff available but have a detached house. I am fairly economical.

Unless you are cultivating canabis, your electric consumption of 11206 units (way over £1000) in under 3 months is bizarre.
My guess would be either incorrect or estimated readings or if in a flat, someone else is tapped into you supply.

anniecave

is your heating and hot water on gas?

is it possible you have misread the 56314 and it should actually be 46314?

is it a dial meter (haven't seen one of them recently) or is it a mechanical meter ?

anniecave

http://www.npower.com/web/At_home/customer_service/Sendmeterreading/index.htm

has some nice diagrams to explain how to read your meter!

punky__56

The meter is numbers and not dials... my electric is dials though they're coming to replace it in a couple of weeks.

Our hot water and heating is gas but everything else is electris. Heating is on a timer and only on for 3 or so hours a day?

anniecave

ok your gas could be ok then ... this will be the most expensive time of the year with your heating on lots .. sounds high to me but I think it's probably not too far off

I think you have misread the elec meter and your reading should be 46314 so it's a bit overestimated but not much - that would be approx 13 units of elec a day on average which sounds fine to me

You certainly can't have gone from 45000 odd to 55000 odd in that short space of time - unless as other people say you are cultivating illegal substances!

You know with a dial meter you have to take the number below the pointer not above? That npower diagram in the link above is actually quite good for dial meters.

punky__56

Sorry the 5 was a typo i'm not growing canabis in my loft like the very nice man at British gas asked me today!!! Had a long chat and he seemed more concerned about my gas but did say my electric seemed high too. I have to take gas readings every day at the same day for 10 days and then give him a ring a week on monday. If he thinks something weirds going on someone will come out and check my meter but if its at a constant high level he believes i have a gas leak.

These are my readings:

Electric:

25.11 45108
29.12 45560
15.02 46314
27.02 46475

so....1367 units in 3 months £198.29


Gas:
01.11 8266
09.01 8449
15.02 8590
27.02 8619

so... 353 units in just under 4 months approx £538.18

I cant work out the cost for the gas? I have a correction factor of 1.02264 a CV (MJ/m3) of 39.233 and a price of 4.84/kWh. I dont know what i'm multiplying and what i'm dividing But he confirmed i have a cubic feet meter and i'm being billed for cubic feet.

I'm just so worried that i'm going to have to pay BG £700 as it would literally take me months to pay off I used to live in a 4 bedroom victorian terrace habited by 4 adults and paid £60 a month (£40 gas/ £20 electric) total for the house (was a student house, no one worked heating was on 24 hours a day and had 4 laptops/ 4 tvs/ 4 fridges/ tumble dryer etc etc on) so this is what i budgeted for this flat thinking i was wayyy over estimating.

KimYeovil

The gas is only about £100 per month (for 353 imperial units). Since it's for four months technically speaking you've had four months to save up the money/pay it off. Remember your gas heating bills will drop to zero shortly - you'll only have to pay for hot water / cooking.

punky__56

KimYeovil wrote: »

The gas is only about £100 per month (for 353 imperial units). Since it's for four months technically speaking you've had four months to save up the money/pay it off. Remember your gas heating bills will drop to zero shortly - you'll only have to pay for hot water / cooking.

£538/4 = £134.50 And you dont think £134 a month for gas is outrageous for a two bed victorian flat?

KimYeovil

No, I don't. Have you noticed the temperatures, recently? £3.30 per day sounds cheap for a victorian flat, particularly if you were unaware of the costs and weren't being especially careful. That is way below the national average.

(Okay, £4.50 per day. Still below average.)