Please please help me with this its becoming a nightmare ridIculous gas bills

jippynip

I moved into a 3bed bungalow with my partner in october we received a bill in jan for the quarter which was £770 for gas

the only thing that uses gas in our property is an energy efficient combi boiler which isnt used too often a few hours of an evening , we have no gas cooker fires etc, the shower runs from electric,

we were completely confused by the bill as its what we'd usually use near enough in a year ,

after many phonecalls we managed to get our meter sent away to be tested by offgem the report came back that the meter was too defective to be tested and leaked gas and that no meter reading could be obtained ,

do we have to pay this bill??

we thought this would be an end to the worry but we are still receiving the bill and reminders

we have had a new meter installed and they are now saying they want to bill us based on our new meters usuage which they are calculating to be 23 units per day?? the heating is on timed for 4 hours of an evening??

this is even higher than the previous recorded units which were an average of 8 per day , currently in a 13 day period our gas has been billed for £108 i am so confused as to what the problem is here,


i tried typing our bill into usage and it says it doesnt recognise the amount and are we running a commercial business !!

i am currently in dispute over this bill
and desperately need some advice

thanks so much for your time

Cardew

Your previous recorded usage of 8 units a day was almost certainly because it was an old Imperial meter.(measures in cubic feet and 1 unit is approx 31kWh)

You new meter will be metric and 1 unit is approx 11kWh.

ie. your new units are 2.83 times smaller than your old units.

So 8 old units are approx equal to 23 new units e.g. both totals are approx 260kWh. it looks like 'the computer' has 'assumed' you will be using the same as before.

So you really need to talk in kWhs not units.

Is your bill for £108 based on Estimated meter readings(denoted by an E) or actual meter readings?
From what you say, e.g. 'they want to bill us --- which they are calculating as 23 units' it sounds like an estimated bill.

jippynip

hi there no its an actual reading not an estimate? ..

dogshome

Hi Jippynip - A 3 bed bungalow with an efficient boiler and reasonable insulation will use between 75 - 100 Kwh a day in winter, which converts to 7 - 10 Units a day on a metric meter. The estimated 23 units a day through a metric meter that the supplier wants to impose, converts to app.253 Kwh a day - which is enough to supply 3 households.
I think Cardew is right, the supplier has not taken into account the reason why the meter was changed, and is simply following on from the consumption records of the old meter.
Forget the phone and Email, Write, set out the history and head the letter 'Complaint'. Whilst doing so demand that they set your account at zero from the day the meter was changed, and then bill you for the old meter period based on your use for the same period in Oct. 09 - Jan 10.
Best of Luck - (Post the Outcome?)