huge electricity bill...

RQ25

My flatmate and I moved into our flat in April - utilities supplied by British Gas. We did a search on a comparison website and decided to move to npower, so cancelled our account with BG. However, my flatmate then had a letter from BG saying that they were cheaper than the deal we were moving to, so she decided we should stay with them. This involved cancelling BG to start with npower, then cancelling npower and restarting with BG. We have had NO END of correspondence from both companies, including several that have asked for meter readings. To make things even more complicated, our electricity meter consists of 5 dials which tick round, which are very hard to read (I've previously only ever had simple 5 digit meters) - I've taken it as like reading a clock, but that may have been wrong...

ANYWAY - yesterday we received a bill for gas and electricity for about £90, which is fine...but then today we received one for £375.

I was hoping someone might be able to suggest a) if it sounds like we've done something wrong through this process and therefore the £375 bill is valid, and b) if there's anything we can do to straighten it out.

Many thanks...

Cardew

Welcome to the forum

The first thing is that you have possibly read your meter incorrectly. The old dial meters are not like a clock in that the pointers move clockwise and anti-clockwise on on each dial.

See:
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/business/manage-account/how-to-read-meter.html?meter=gas

RQ25

Thank you for that Cardew, really helpful. Will definitely double check the readings when I get home.