British Gas - Are They Overcharging Me? Should I Switch?

justinking_2

Hello

I am in dire need of help. Although British Gas aupply me with both Gas and Electricity, I got my recent Gas only bill from British Gas back in january for £260.00. I am completely floored by this. I am due on the 14th march to make a second monthly payment of £70.00 (it was the only way i could pay it by doing it monthly). If i am lucky i will have had this paid off by the summer. and then of course by that ime i will have another bill to pay off by then :-(

I have looked back at my previous Gas bills: The previous one was £19.11 (oct) the one before that was £65.92 (aug) before that it was £168.07 (april) and my gas bill this time last year was £161.74. (jan 08). So this winter my bill has increased by £100

But i dont get this. I am no good at comparing prices and so i dont know where to go with this. More oddly, in the last 6 months I have started to use the Microwave more to heat things like milk and soup (i always used to use gas for these things), i have never left the heating on overnight - not like last year when i did (hell, i even went away to Madrid for a few days and mistakenly left the heating on. My subsequent bill even then was not expensive (the 65.92 one!)

After i got this huge bill I contacted them and gave them my meter reading and they told me that the £260.00 odd bill was accurate. But I am confused. They told me that my bill prior to the crippling one I am dealing with was estimated (£19.11). (Even though it doesnt say estimated on that bill as i have checked)

I am pretty sure I am being ripped off by BG. I Have also just got my 'estimated' Electricity bill by BG for £100 and slowly it is making me go under. I have now had to even cancel my car insurance, my water bill by telling them i have moved away and my tv licence.

There has to be something wrong here. Why is my gas bill £260.00? What can i do to stop this.

Do i swtch suppliers? I dont really know how to compare prices because i dont understand how it works. I dont know what to do

Also, can someone tell me more about this website?

This one was sent to me on facebook
www.telecomplus.org.uk/lowbillsforever

:mad:

Please help. I need it !!!

Justin

Vestra

It sounds like maybe previous bills were estimated and it has now been read and is a catch up bill, or is this bill still estimated?

If you are on British Gas's standard tariff you probably will be best switching I wouldn't rush to switch to utility warehouse (do you actually know Louise and Andrew Carter?), but use a comparison site.

Magentasue

Do you have an accurate gas meter reading (not estimated) that you can use to calculate how much you have actually used? I'm wondering if your bills have been underestimated for quite a while?

Magentasue

You won't be penalised for switching unless you have signed up for a fixed or capped tariff. Do you know how many kwh of each fuel you use a year?

Magentasue

Yes, I think you are probably stuck with these bills.

But you can avoid the situation getting worse. Ask BG how many kwh you use annually. Kwh are the units you are charged for. Your elec meter records units that are the same as kwh. Your gas meter units are converted into kwh.

penrhyn

To use a comparison site you need to know how many Kilowatt hours of Gas and Electricity you are using ideally over a12month period.
You also need to know which tariffs you are on.
I'd suggest you ring up British Gas and ask them.
They should have this information on you.
Then with this information go on one of the comparison sites, I tend to use Energy Helpline and see how they compare with your current costs. It may be that BG could have a cheaper tariff if you don't want to change suppliers.
Regarding the website you asked about in your first post it refers to Utility Warehouse which is a club offering a range of Utilities.
It has its very own thread on this site here.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=387161&highlight=utility+warehouse

Rusty!

Also, you'll not be able to switch 'till your account is paid up, as I understand it.

justinking_2

hi

I found out some info - tho i dont understand it

Apparantly I am not on any tariffs. :-(

GAS:

Im using 670 KWH per quarter
Tier 1 of my Gas is 7.206
Tier 2 is 3.457

ELEC: Tier 1 up to 125 is 24.887
Tier 2 is 1.407

I dont understand any of this LOL Also, i dont really understand the Utility warehouse site either

:-(

Can someone help further?

Justin

Magentasue

I think they mean you're on standard tariff - usually expensive. Whish is how it looks if you mean Elec Tier 2 14.07p (not 1.407).

From your bills, it's looking as if you're using about £500 of gas a year. About 15,000kwh, I think.

justinking_2

ok so what do i do now?

i guess it must be 14.07

KimYeovil

Not sure if this'll help, but:

The important figures are the Tier 2 prices.

For electricity, the reading on your meter is the number of units in kWh. These cost you 14.07p per unit (I suspect your 1.407 in your post is a typo!) So if you use 500 units in a quarter these will cost you 500 x 14.07p = 7035p = £70.35. In addition, the first 125 of those 500 units cost 24.887p, not 14.07p. 24.887 - 14.07 = 10.817p . So that's an extra 125 x 10.817p = £13.52.

Edit: The £13.52 Tier 1 cost is per quarter or £4.50 per month. So your electricity costs £4.50 per month plus your reading times the Tier 2 price. Eg, you use 99 units this month, they'll cost you 99 x 14.07 or £13.92 + £4.50