British Gas nightmare!!!

vicstaa

Hi all,

Am writing for your advice - I have been disputing a £800 british gas bill for 5 months! They are saying we owe them £800 when we have worked out the units we use and the rate they charge we work it out as £300 odd... We have 2 electric metres for some reason - no one knows why and we think British Gas are charging us twice for the same electric.
They have sent us an actual bill where it says they have read our metres on numerous occasions - which they havent ever! We have managed to get them to come out and look at why we have 2 metres and they are starting to agree with us that they are charging us twice.

Is there anything we can do to get compensation for the fact they have sent us an actual bill which is incorrect? I am 4 months pregnant and have been very distressed at the bills and phone calls i have received demaniding this money off of us!!!

Hope that makes sense thanks in advance for your help :)_

Moglex

Are you saying that the two electricity meters are connected one after the other so that both are metering the same current flow?

To check, take readings of both meters, wait a couple of days and check again.

Have they both gone up by precisiely the same amount.

If you live in a house converted into flats there is a good posibility that the 'common' meter - for the hallway lighting - will be physically co-located with the meter for one of the flats which can cause confusiion.

vicstaa

Yep they are both running the same amount of electricity - we checked over the past week.

And no dont live in a flat I live in a three bedroom house - has always been a three bedroom house to my knowledge!

dunloadin

Next time your on the phone to BG ask them if they can send an engineer out to check your metering. It may well be that a previous supplier installed a check meter and failed to remove it. It is also possible that you have a two meter system and are being billed incorrectly, the only way to get to the source of the problem is to get someone out who can do a proper check of your meters.

What type of heating do you have? £800 over 5 months sounds about right if you have electrical central heating and the bill covers the winter months. It may well be that you have some exotic type metering for one of the more exotic type of heating installations such as Comfort Plus/THTC etc.

penrhyn

Is one of the meters white and the other black?

withabix

vicstaa wrote: »

Is there anything we can do to get compensation for the fact they have sent us an actual bill which is incorrect? I am 4 months pregnant and have been very distressed at the bills and phone calls i have received demaniding this money off of us!!!

Hope that makes sense thanks in advance for your help :)_

Yes, your post makes sense - you're one of those people who thinks they should get compensation despite not having actually incurred any financial loss :rolleyes:

KimYeovil

penrhyn wrote: »

Is one of the meters white and the other black?

That sort of comment belongs in 'Discussion Time', not here.

penrhyn

I just knew this would happen, what if I wanted milk in my coffee, or not?

withabix

creditavenger wrote: »

I think that sort of attitude stinks. :mad:

No it doesn't.

Also, the OP's post suggests that they haven't paid ANYTHING of the £800 bill, so it's no wonder that they are getting chased for their debt.

The MINIMUM the OP owes is £400 for a start, if both meters are increasing by the same amount.

OP: How many meter readings are on the bill? If there is only one set, they are only reading one meter.

OP: Does the cable from one meter go into the other (ie they are in series) OR do they both have individual cables going in and out of them (ie they are in parallel)?

The comment above about black and white meters is also possibly valid.

If they are reading TWO indivudual meters, the bills should have TWO MPANs as well.

Can the OP please post their MPAN - that may help uncover the answer.

It will look like this:

withabix

So you'd be quite content if they came along and removed the main fuse to prevent you stealing electricity until the matter was resolved then?

The OP acknowledges that they owe approximately 50% of the bill, so they should pay that immediately.

There is a possibility that they do owe the full amount, so are not justified in paying nothing.

Greatgimp

creditavenger wrote: »

I would wait until they sent me a corrected bill with a full explanation (and an apology) of how they allowed this error to happen.

Apology?

Fat chance!

If a company cocks up nowadays, they would rather give you their blood than apologise!