High Gas Bill for 18 days - Help Please

mrknight13

Hello,

I have just received my final bill from British Gas as I am switching to EDF.

The bill is £142.94 for 18 days. I live in a small two bedroom flat in London. We probably have had the heating on for under half a day throughout that period.

They say we have used 125 imperial units equal to 3944.72 Kwh.

First 132.00 kWh x 7.130 p = 9.41
Next 3812.72 kWh x 3.324 p = 126.73

We thought our last quarter was high (£450 last quarter) so we gave them a meter reading in december, so i believe it to be correct.

Is this really high? What can be done about it? Any ideas?

Thanks so much...

dogshome

Hi mrknight13 - The meter read on BG's final bill should be exactly the same as the one you gave to EDF when they took over the supply

That said, you do seem to be using an aweful lot of gas for a 2 bed flat, and whilst levels of lifestyle and insulation can make big differences in gas consumption, from the figures you have given you appear to be consuming around 29,000Kw a year, which is much, much more than would be expected from a house with big family.

These figures point to the possibility that you have a Metric meter which will be marked m3 on the front, but as your billing shows, you are being charged for an Imperial meter which would be marked ft3 on the front.
Check the marking on the front of your meter, and if is m3 get on to BG immediately as the bills they have been sending you are nearly 3 times higher than they should be - Also if you do have an M3 meter, get onto EDF before they make the same error

spiro

mrknight13 wrote: »

We thought our last quarter was high (£450 last quarter) so we gave them a meter reading in december, so i believe it to be correct..

Did they use the reading to rebill you in December? Was your final bill based on an E(stimated) or A(ctual) reading? If its an estimated get onto EDF to reissue the change of supplier reading.

mrknight13

spiro wrote: »

Did they use the reading to rebill you in December? Was your final bill based on an E(stimated) or A(ctual) reading? If its an estimated get onto EDF to reissue the change of supplier reading.

Yes, they used the reading we gave them to rebill us in december but there was little change in the price.

Our recent final bill was Actual but i'm sure we can't have used that much gas in 18 days. This is abnormally high, right?

mrknight13

dogshome wrote: »

Hi mrknight13 - The meter read on BG's final bill should be exactly the same as the one you gave to EDF when they took over the supply

That said, you do seem to be using an aweful lot of gas for a 2 bed flat, and whilst levels of lifestyle and insulation can make big differences in gas consumption, from the figures you have given you appear to be consuming around 29,000Kw a year, which is much, much more than would be expected from a house with big family.

These figures point to the possibility that you have a Metric meter which will be marked m3 on the front, but as your billing shows, you are being charged for an Imperial meter which would be marked ft3 on the front.
Check the marking on the front of your meter, and if is m3 get on to BG immediately as the bills they have been sending you are nearly 3 times higher than they should be - Also if you do have an M3 meter, get onto EDF before they make the same error

OK, this is confusing me.

Our Bill says:

24 DEC 10 - Actual 7839
10 JAN 11 - Actual 7964
=125 Imperial units used over 18 days (actual)

Gas units converted = 3944.72 kWh used over 18 days

Total cost of gas used = £136.14


I've just checked our meter and it says M3 on the front.

Are we getting charged wrongly?

Many thanks

dogshome

Hi mrknight13 - Are you being charged wrongly? Yes you are !

Your billing is based on you having Imperial meter, (Marked ft3), where each unit it records equals appx. 31.5Kw of chargeable Gas.
However your meter is actually marked M3 which identifies it as a Metric meter, on which each recorded unit equals appx. 11.2 Kw of chargeable gas.

These billing c*ck-ups are fairly common when an old Imperial meter has been changed and a Metric model fitted in it's place, but then the suppliers billing dept. fails to adjust the billing method from Imperial to Metric

All the bills issued since the meters were changed - maybe before you moved in - will have charged an amount that is nearly 3 times higher than it should be.
GET ONTO BG TODAY - They owe you a lot of money ! and tell EDF
For example - That £450 bill you had for a full Quarter, should have been billed at around £160, so that's £290 Cash-back even before you look at all the previous bills

mrknight13

dogshome wrote: »

Hi mrknight13 - Are you being charged wrongly? Yes you are !

Your billing is based on you having Imperial meter, (Marked ft3), where each unit it records equals appx. 31.5Kw of chargeable Gas.
However your meter is actually marked M3 which identifies it as a Metric meter, on which each recorded unit equals appx. 11.2 Kw of chargeable gas.

These billing c*ck-ups are fairly common when an old Imperial meter has been changed and a Metric model fitted in it's place, but then the suppliers billing dept. fails to adjust the billing method from Imperial to Metric

All the bills issued since the meters were changed - maybe before you moved in - will have charged an amount that is nearly 3 times higher than it should be.
GET ONTO BG TODAY - They owe you a lot of money ! and tell EDF
For example - That £450 bill you had for a full Quarter, should have been billed at around £160, so that's £290 Cash-back even before you look at all the previous bills

Well, I phoned BG today to tell them that the meter was Metric and not Imperial as they thought. They were awfully difficult and said there was a dispute raised on the account but because a serial number didn't sound like a metric one he was unsure about he account. The man I was talking to would speak to his senior over the next few days and call me back next week(!?)

I kept asking about my refund and recalculating my currently outstanding final bill, he said it was now difficult because we had now switched Gas companies.

He left it by saying he'd call back next week with the decision his superior had given. He seemed to avoid talking about my refund which will obviously be a few hundred pounds.

Let's hope it's good news when he calls next week, if he ever does...

dogshome

Hi mrkinight13 - Relying on the staff of BG's Customer Desk to sort out money that is due to you is not the best route - The problem is way over thier heads and areas of responsibilty.

To get this resolved in reasonable time you need to WRITE a letter headed Complaint - This does two things - 1) It puts the problem into the hands of higher management who must come up with answers in 6 weeks

2) Obviously with so much owed to you by BG, you won't be paying BG's Final Bill, however because your overcharging problem is only recorded at the moment on a scrap of paper on some minions desk, the computer system does not know about it so it will begin the automated process of Final Demands/Debt Collection Agencies/ Court Proceedings - A letter headed Complaint stops all this, (Or it is supposed to ), until the Complaint has been answered.

"The serial number does not sound like a Metric meter" Absolute cr*p.
Photogragh you meter, if possible also showing a newspaper with that days date, but making sure the meter number and the m3 marking are clearly legible, and enclose it with your letter - Also send a copy to EDF, otherwise they will just continue the error.

So how much do BG owe you?
You can make a claim going back 6 years if you have been in the house that long - If you have not kept all the bills since you moved in, ask BG for copies, they have to supply them, but make the request in writing
To quickly work out what's appx. due on the bills you do have; Divide the total figure on the bill by 31.5, then multiply the answer by 11.2 - This gives a close figure of what the bill should have been charged at
Keep us posted as to how you get on

spiro

If you look at the meter there may well be a label than indicates when it was exchanged and the meter readings. If you photograph the meter also photograph the label and email both to BG.