Brit gas and others higher tariff

j.smith_5

I am a dual fuel user with B.G. on a fixed price one year contract. I have set up spread sheets on my computer to keep an ongoing record and cost of my fuel usage. What I find impossible to work out is , how do they work out the number of Kw hrs used at the initial higher tariff. My previous supplier Southern Elect also did this sort of thing. It does strike me as dodgy practice if the end user cannot predict or calculate what this higher tariff will be or amount to. I have had no or unsatisfactory answers from both suppliers on this point.

SwanJon

It's done daily.
Divide the number of kWh/year at the higher tariff by 365 then multiply by the number of days between reads.
E.g., for British Gas electrcity 500kWh/year at Tier 1 is about 1.7kWh/day
Gas works out around 7.4kWh/day.

I assume all other suppliers work in a similar manner

Pincher

Sculpting.

The contract says the first 2680kWh used per year will be charged at Tier 1. This is subject to different interpretations.

You want it to mean the Tier 1 units are distributed evenly across the year, so you can switch off your gas April to Septemer, and avoid paying 1,340kWh at Tier 1, saving around £30.

Anticipating this, the companies that do sculpting allocate the majority of their Tier 1 units to the winter months.

Theoretically, therefore, you should get a gigantic balloon, fill it with gas in August, pay 300kWh at Tier 1, and the rest at cheap Tier 2. You must submit an actual reading, and preferrably have it verified by a meter reader. You use the gas from the ballon October to March, not paying anything at all, thus avoiding the majority of the Tier 1 units. From April, after a fresh bill based on actual readings, you start using the gas mains again.

Based on this scenario, you could theoretically submit a gigantically over-estimated reading in September for the 20,000 kWh you will be using in October to March. You then submit zero usage readings in January and March. By July, your actual usage will have matched the meter reading, so you submit the actual reading in July, and allow the meter reader to verify it. Provided you shoot any meter reader attempting to read your meter and bury the body, there is no evidence that any thing funny went on October to July.

Both scenarios allow you to avoid about 2,000kWh at Tier 1, assuming sculpting.

Obviously, the balloon approach is totally legal, whereas over-estimating your usage is so heinous a crime that no one would ever contemplate doing it. A utility company would never over-estimate your usage, would they? A utility company would never deliberately manipulate the charging structure for their gain, would they?:eek:

SwanJon

Pincher wrote: »

Sculpting.

The contract says the first 2680kWh used per year will be charged at Tier 1. This is subject to different interpretations.

You want it to mean the Tier 1 units are distributed evenly across the year, so you can switch off your gas April to Septemer, and avoid paying 1,340kWh at Tier 1, saving around £30.

Anticipating this, the companies that do sculpting allocate the majority of their Tier 1 units to the winter months.

Forgot about sculpting, but as far as I am aware, only npower do this, only for gas, and not on all of their tariffs.

As earlier, British Gas work it out daily, evenly through the year.

Pincher

So if I had a list of Npower customers,
I have a ready market for weather balloons.:D

Blenheim_2

SwanJon wrote: »

.....

As earlier, British Gas work it out daily, evenly through the year.

Do they only take this approach on fixed term tariffs? My Websaver tariff operates on the basis of the first 670 kWh per quarter being charged at Tier 1 rates.

KimYeovil

Blenheim wrote: »

Do they only take this approach on fixed term tariffs? My Websaver tariff operates on the basis of the first 670 kWh per quarter being charged at Tier 1 rates.

Yes. Each time a new bill is generated they take the number of days since the last one was generated. They then use 2680/365 tier 1 units each day. As each bill will not be exactly 91.25 days in length the actual number of tier 1 units will vary from 670 according to the date of each bill.