British Gas - estimated energy smart bills??!!

uksal

I see this thread is a little old, but due to Christmas and other more exciting things, I have only just got around to checking my bills. Although I have already have a "live" complaint with British Gas for the farce that took place during the latter half of last year re estimated billing.

My problem is that I also received an estimated bill for December, for both Electricity and Gas. In addition to this I found out at the same time that the rather useful text your meter reading I had been using, was just a test of my texting skills, rather than anything BG actually acted on, which meant that I had other estimated bills, despite getting a reassuring text back thanking me for sending the meter reading by text. So great, I've been getting estimated bills, except on the day the meter reader came when they took only one of his readings, and estimated the other - which also happened to be the day before the price increase, so I paid more than I should have since they rather conveniently estimated in their favour. Oh and to top it all off, the December bill was only produced for Electricity, the Gas - well they waited until January to produce one - so much for paying what you use monthly.

The electricity increase is the one that has me baffled too, who on earth in BG's billing committee decided to reduce the unit price and increase the tier 1. If it was to confuse and to gloss over the increase - or even to make them look good by "giving" a price "reduction", then my goodness they have done just that. (glossed over the increase, NOT made themselves look good!)

My prices have changed from tier 1 21.755p to 21.611p and tier 2 9.407p to 9.215p however the tier 1 has gone from being 49 KWh to 60 KWh per month. So (and please correct me if I am wrong) the price APPEARS to have reduced by .66% on tier 1 and 2% on tier 2 but in reality has increased overall by about 1.3% (based on my estimated annual consumption of 5000 KWh per year.

I guess that I should be grateful that the increase is only 1.3% as the gas prices have increased by nearly 7% as promised.

I only changed to British Gas because I could send my reading in monthly and only pay for what I used (and be able to check the bill - have you tried checking the discounts!! possible but only with a fairly sophisticated spreadsheet and the acceptance of 1p differences every so often)

Any suggestions? Wind Farm, Solar Panels? I've tried all the conventional utility companies and they all seem to be the same.

rabbitmumu

@uksal

I never trust their text messaging service and always submit my readings online - which always work except the December bill. So you may wish to consider submitting the reading online instead.

mattcanary

Surely the whole point of smart metering is so that the supplier can obtain the readings without needing to go out to the property or getting the custome rto ring in with them.

So why do BGas get the customer to give them the reading??!!

Am I missing something here? Is the customer paying for the cost of installing smart meters when BGas can't obtain the readings remotely themselves anyway?

penrhyn

Energysmart is nothing to do with smart metering, surprising maybe but true.

4ad

I`ve just had a bit of a battle with british gas. Been sending them meter readings every month. Now i find out they only use the ones they get every three months. From them owing me £70, i went to owing them over £100 in a matter or seconds. Thought it was all sorted and then the same thing happened with my electricity account. Their customer service is an absolute joke, thankfully i`ve left them now.

Make sure your account allows you to send them regular meter readings.

rabbitmumu

The idea of energysmart is NOT smart reading. You need to submit your reading every month online/ text/ phone and technically you will be sent an accurate bill based on your reading and actual usage monthly. (with the exception of the December bill which trigger this thread)

The advantage of this (which is what I prefer) is that I don't need to build up a credit with BG and I pay exactly what I have used. This energysmart thing doesn't come with all tariff so if anyone prefers this option should choose carefully.

However, it's odd that they still offer a fixed monthly DD option for people who choose energysmart. Several staff told me I HAD to have a fixed DD which was complete rubbish until I spoke to a sensible one who eventually let me have a variable DD. Customer service is not great via the phone but if you sort everything out online (i.e. online tariff) then staff who check emails are a lot better.

1jim

silly question now but I am thinking of signing up for this tariff- online saver 3 with energy smart- as click 6 coming to an end, I am aware that I need to submit meeting readings every month--- what happens if I am on holiday---or forget, do they estimate?
Currently pay by credit/debit card every 3mths but if I change to direct debit (variable) I believe there is a further discount? will the direct debit just be for the amount of my monthly bill...I dont want to get into the situation where they owe me money :-)
And finally---how long does an internal transfer like this take?Looks like my click6 will change to standard tariff on June 2nd---should I change on June 1st or move now if it takes weeks like an external transfer does
thanks