OH MY GOSH please help!!

snow_queen

I have just had mybill from british gas for electric increasing my payments from £40 to £127 a month because THEY got readings wrong. The night and day readings have been round the wrong way. So they say I owe nearly £800!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We first contacted them about this possible problem in december and they have only now billed us!

Am I liable???

Thanks

Cardew

Yes you are liable.

For every bill you get, you should check that the meter readings correspond with the correct meter and you have been charged correctly.

Had you checked your first bill, the error would have been rectified before a £800 debit balance had built up.

if you make a fuss you may get a reduction as a goodwill gesture - but it is not an entitlement.

kjsmith7

How long has it been that way? The wrong way around, I mean. Obviously, if it's been the wrong way around for many years than the £800 has been building up slowly so you wouldn't necessarily have noticed with your bills. If it's not been wrong for that long, then surely you would have noticed? When did you switch to BG?

Did you notice your meter readings where the wrong way around before December? Did you contact them in the past to discuss this?

If you think about it, you are liable to at least a large proportion of it, as it is electricity you have used. Are you in an electricity-only (no gas) property? Or do you have electric heating (storage heaters or otherwise?) If so, then £40pm is a shockingly low amount to pay.

If you are paying £127pm, you will pay in £1524 (12 x £127pm) over the next year, and when you factor the debit out of that (near £800) you'll be paying in about £724 towards usage, which means your actual consumption is nearer £60pm, which seems more realistic. Seems like you've been paying roughly £20pm too little (I know there's been increases and decreases in price, but hear me out) - over 3 and a half years, that would build up a £800 balance.