HUGE gas bill - have they calcluated it right?

rachel702

I've just received my winter gas bill from Southern electric, I live in a bungalow with my husband and the quarterly bill has come to £360! We have never had such a high bill, last year our dual fuel bill was only £289 over the winter I can't understand the rise! We're on a better price plan this year as well! The bill calculations are below, can anyone help and let me know if the calculations are correct? I really want to dispute the bill.

326 units x factor 100 x correction factor 1.02264 = 33338.06
33338.06 x conversion factor 0.0283 = 943.46
943.46 cu mtrs x calorific value 39.1 = 10247.02
units converted to kilowatt hours = 10247.02 kwh

1143 kwh at 4.310p each
and
9104.02kwh at 3.24p each

Any help would be much appreciated.

Rachel

espresso

Have you checked if the bill is based on estimated or actual start and end readings?

dander

Surely if you need to check the calculations, you can just get a calculator and do that yourself?

If you think the figure they are basing the calculations on are accurate, then you need to check those with the company.

If you think the problem is that you simply haven't used 326 units then you could start by comparing actual usage to last year, bearing in mind it's been a colder winter this year. If you've used absurdly more, then you need to try and figure out if it's your appliances or your meter that is eating the fuel.

Mrs_Thrify

£360 devide by 12 weeks = £30 per week. Quite a lot. Have you phoned to see if you can get on a cheeper tarif? How many hours is the heating on for?

SwanJon

Mrs_Thrify wrote: »

£360 devide by 12 weeks = £30 per week. Quite a lot. Have you phoned to see if you can get on a cheeper tarif? How many hours is the heating on for?

£30 a week during one of the coldest winters for years is perfectly realistic I'm afraid.

Edit - 13 week quarter (based on tier1/tier2 split), so actually less than £30/wk

Premier_2

rachel702 wrote: »

I've just received my winter gas bill from Southern electric, I live in a bungalow with my husband and the quarterly bill has come to £360! We have never had such a high bill, last year our dual fuel bill was only £289 over the winter I can't understand the rise! We're on a better price plan this year as well! The bill calculations are below, can anyone help and let me know if the calculations are correct? I really want to dispute the bill.

326 units x factor 100 x correction factor 1.02264 = 33338.06
33338.06 x conversion factor 0.0283 = 943.46
943.46 cu mtrs x calorific value 39.1 = 10247.02
units converted to kilowatt hours = 10247.02 kwh

1143 kwh at 4.310p each
and
9104.02kwh at 3.24p each

Any help would be much appreciated.

Rachel

They appear to have calculated your gas consumption based on an imperial meter. Is this correct, or do you have a metric meter?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_meters_pic.shtml

Fire_Fox

rachel702 wrote: »

I've just received my winter gas bill from Southern electric, I live in a bungalow with my husband and the quarterly bill has come to £360! We have never had such a high bill, last year our dual fuel bill was only £289 over the winter I can't understand the rise! We're on a better price plan this year as well! The bill calculations are below, can anyone help and let me know if the calculations are correct? I really want to dispute the bill.

Rachel

Are the readings estimated or actual? It's quite possible your bills are higher than last year, it's been the coldest winter in ages.

Sterling

rachel702 wrote: »

I've just received my winter gas bill from Southern electric, I live in a bungalow with my husband and the quarterly bill has come to £360! We have never had such a high bill, last year our dual fuel bill was only £289 over the winter I can't understand the rise! We're on a better price plan this year as well! The bill calculations are below, can anyone help and let me know if the calculations are correct? I really want to dispute the bill.

326 units x factor 100 x correction factor 1.02264 = 33338.06
33338.06 x conversion factor 0.0283 = 943.46
943.46 cu mtrs x calorific value 39.1 = 10247.02
units converted to kilowatt hours = 10247.02 kwh

1143 kwh at 4.310p each
and
9104.02kwh at 3.24p each

I think you’ll find that you have to divide your answer of 10247 by 3.6 to convert to kWh’s.