Can you help extortionate gas bill - £598!!

schumie

I walked into my house last week and could smell gas quite badly, I called the emergency number and an engineer came out and said that my gas hob was leaking and probably had been leaking very slowly intermittently for a long time (I only moved in here 15 months ago and he thought it might have leaking since then.) Funnily enough i was always tired with headaches and now that has stopped!

But today i got my gas bill and I always do my quarterly gas reading but they say I owe £598.18 and they are going to take it via DD at the end of january!!!!

Well i don't have it for them to take! I am going to call them but not sure what to say as they also want to put my my DD and things are tough as they are. Does anyone have any advice?

spiro

A few points, have your previous bills been based on estimates and is the current one based on an actual bill? If so you have received a 'catch up' bill because you did not check previous estimated bills and provide readings (suppliers only have to read every 2 years).

You can try and ask them the spread the amount over your DD but I suspect they wont spread it much over 3-6 months.

In terms of the hob, when did you last have a gas safety check? Ideally these should be done annually.

schumie

I have always taken an actual reading so i suspecting that this leak got bad which is why i could smell it and that has driven my bill up. This is also based on an actual reading and i've checked it. I had it serviced when i moved in and do need it now but thought i could save money by not getting it done!!! Thanks for yur help, they open at 8 so i am going to call them then.

Premier_2

You only need a miniscule amount of gas for it to able to be smelt, usually quite badly.
The cost of your gas charged would probably not be adversely affected by a tiny, infrequent gas leak.
To have suffered any significant gas cost due to leakage, you would have known about it due to the large bang that would have been created. :eek:

Gas itself does not create headaches (unless possibly in huge quantities and the smell would affect you before the headache). Headaches can be caused by mild CO poisoning ... but the gas needs to burn in restricted oxygen to produce this.

Sharon87

My old housemate who worked at an energy company dealt with something similar. The person had a leak for over a year, had a 3 grand gas bill! I think she could spread her payment across the DD.

HappyMJ

Sharon87 wrote: »

My old housemate who worked at an energy company dealt with something similar. The person had a leak for over a year, had a 3 grand gas bill! I think she could spread her payment across the DD.

Why was there no bang? That is 6 litres per minute. Quite a large leak. It's the same rate as a gas fire set to it's lowest setting 24/7 365 days of the year. Anyone would have smelt that.

Cardew

Have to agree with the above.

In the bad old days when cookers had a permanent pilot light that could blow out, the smell even from a tiny amount of gas was instantly apparent.

In any case, even if your hob was leaking, the lost gas is down to you to pay. The gas company are not responsible for a faulty appliance.

If your place is rented, it is mandatory for the landlord to have an annual gas safety check.

DUTR

schumie wrote: »

I walked into my house last week and could smell gas quite badly, I called the emergency number and an engineer came out and said that my gas hob was leaking and probably had been leaking very slowly intermittently for a long time (I only moved in here 15 months ago and he thought it might have leaking since then.) Funnily enough i was always tired with headaches and now that has stopped!

But today i got my gas bill and I always do my quarterly gas reading but they say I owe £598.18 and they are going to take it via DD at the end of january!!!!

Well i don't have it for them to take! I am going to call them but not sure what to say as they also want to put my my DD and things are tough as they are. Does anyone have any advice?

So the headaches are still there then
My old cooker had pilot lights and the grill and one ring was not functioning so a gas fragrance greeted you as you walked in the house, never had a bill so high though, now that I have changed cooker, the bill has reduced not by much, but you can tell the pilots were consuming gas that was noticable on a bill, only the gas boiler has a pilot now, but I ain't paying a £1000 to save £2 per month (if that)

schumie

Thanks everyone. I rag them yesterday and they have said that i can spread the cost of the bill over 12 months DD so that will help.