big gas bill!!

paulr8794

hey,

Can anyone help. my gas bill for the last 3 months is £190! I live in a 1 bed flat and not had heating on whatsoever all summer. have a combi water boiler and gas hob/cooker.Also Im long haul cabin crew and Im away at least 3 days a week. Rang BG and they took the meter reading and its actually going to be more!
I know prices have gone up recently but this just doesnt add up. can anyone help me? Could I have a fault with the meter or boiler? what do I do?

thanks paul x

Horasio

I have been feeling this for ages - we are being bled dry by them.

I can't answer your question.

Have you checked the timers of the hot water etc? Maybe it is coming on when you don't need it or on for a long time

I would turn it off if I away from home.

We have high electric bills too, that isn't so easy to turn off

kat21

Hi, you could ask british gas to tell you what your last four meter readings were to get some idea of what is going on. If you find the volume of gas used has significantly increased then perhaps you may have a leak or faulty gas meter? How old is your combination boiler? do you have baths or showers? I think if you telephone british gas and get your last four meter readings then progress from there.
kat21

jaxxy00

Has your last few bills been estimated? If so maybe they have been underestimated and if the meter has now had an actual reading taken from it then that could be one reason for the large bill.

I always make sure that when my bill comes in, if it is an estimated bill that i check it to the reading and if much difference i phone and tell them. That way youre never really under or over paying.

pfpf

good luck with this mate...

im with npower and in june last year after 5years of trying to get them to actually read my meter and send me a real bill, i finally got it.

bearing in mind i had paid every bill they sent me within 1 day, all of which were estimated(not even my own readings had been used)they had the dam nerve to send me a "unpaid bill notice" for £899.94.

"unpaid bill notice"?? you can imagine the responce they got to that!!

i am now on favourable repayment terms and have no qualms about actually paying it as i know the bill should actually have been bigger.

thing is, a year on and they still havnt read my meter and still send estimated bills(under estimated again)i am this very month is the process of sorting them out once and for all.

funny thing is i use npower for the leccy aswell and always get proper, meter read bills :rolleyes:

so i would guess yours maybe a big bill due to previous under estimates. get it sorted quick, because they certainly wont.

i dont think the utilities companies make enough money* to be fair, so we must accept this level of service.




*sarcasm alert

pfpf.

kat21

Actually the reason why they dont send anyone round to read the meter is the £20 saving they make when you do if for them.
kat21

justtoclarify_2

Check that the meter reference on your bill and meter are the same, it is worth also checking the last few bills.

Has your meter been changed in the last 12 to 18 months? If so check your old bills for the meter reference number, it should have been changed, if not this could be the source the high bill.

When my meter was changed it took over 3 months for the correct databases to be updated. That was with me telephone and e-mailling repeatedly to get the system updated correctly. The online and automated telephone meter reading services are not geared up for meter changes.

Unfortunately as the earlier posts indicated it could be just be the result of your previous bills being underestimated.

paulr8794

thanks for the help guys . yes the bill was an estimate . Ive given them the correct reading so its actually going to be more!! aghh! I will look into my previous bills and check it out! however I think I am going to switch to dual fuel pay monthly. Is it a good time to swich? any recommendations on companies to change to? I will have a look on Uswitch ,any other comparrison websites?

Many thanks paul x

masonic

paulr8794 wrote:

Is it a good time to swich? any recommendations on companies to change to? I will have a look on Uswitch ,any other comparrison websites?

There are only a few tariffs that have not been increased recently, but of course these are the ones that will tend to come out as cheapest. Do the comparison on several sites (cashback links to energyhelpline, ukpower etc. are at the top of this page). There's plenty of recent discussion on this board about the cheaper providers of the moment.

paulr8794

well the latest!

Had bill through today with up to date meter reading.
bill = £312.24!!
meter serial numbers do correspond as I checked that straight away although I thought there could be some sort of error as gas bill is addressed to be in the basement flat my flat actually being the second floor flat. Looking over correspondance from BG some letters are addressed to second floor flat some to basement. After speaking to them they cant understand the address problem but assure me the meter number on the bill corresponds to my bill. All that they have suggested is a 7 day meter reading test. Taking a reading every day to see if there is something wrong with the meter!

So £312 for the last 3 months in my 1 bed flat. no heating on. Long haul crew away at least 3 days a week. Surely its not right?

any thoughts?

many thanks paul

justtoclarify_2

Time to take a look at where the gas pipe goes after your meter. If at all possible turn off boiler and make sure your hob is off. and check if the gas is still being used. If it is, there could be leak or your gas supply is being used by the other flat(s) as well. This check is best done when you know some else is in the other flat(s). If you are away for a while you could switch the gas off at the meter and see if anyone else complains or switches it back on.

You could also check to see if the other gas meter(s) are actually increasing at the same rate as yours if you have access to them.


Having had a gas leak beyond the gas meter, with the drama of Transco making it safe. The £800 bill for the gas used by the leak took sometime to get over. Since this happened pre-Energywatch, arguing over the amount fell on deaf ears.

My gas bill for the summer is usually less than £20 for 3 months, with a similar setup to yours.

One last thing check that you don't have a leaky hot water tap. If the flow is sufficient your combi boiler could be constantly heating water while you are away.