British Gas underestimating to their advantage..

leadhead

British Gas underestimating to their advantage..
I sent my meter readings in the other day and received my bills ....I noticed the gas bill split into two.....The first giving the number of units used before the December 9th rise, the second giving the number of units used from then to the present date....

On the second lot, i noticed i was on average using 4 units a day...this was roughly 240 units over a 60 day period.....

On the first lot(before the price rise) they had estimated I had used only 40 units for the 28 days.....

As the cold spell started at this time, i would have thought that I would have used roughly the same ammount per day....around 112 for that 28 day period

I put this to the lady from BG i spoke to, and she immediately asked if a £20 refund would suffice me, rather than recalculating the bill.......

As the ammount of the difference was possibly only £2 (if that) I gladly accepted....

My advice.....check your usage after the rise date, as on my bill they underestmated(to their advantage)...the number of cheaper units i had used...in doing so.....charged me more of the increased price units....

The electric bill was also split into 2.....but this time the prices were very much the same......and the split was fairly accurate.....lol

Premier_2

I recently received my electric bill that was not evenly split.

Splitting the total usage over the billing period and applying it pro-rata showed there was a higher percentage after the price change. However on calculating the cost effect, it came to about 7p extra.

It wasn't worth complaining. I think the split is based on figures suggested by a third party and that means higher usage in Dec & Jan, compared with November.

HappyMJ

They use a seasonal chart to calculate it. It's calculated from all the previous seasons averages not just this unseasonally cold December. Must say I would have taken the £20 as well that's a pretty good offer.

alleycat`

Or with a bit of fore though you could have given them a reading on the 9th as you knew the rise was coming?

That way you wouldn't have to worry if they'd "guessed" correctly.

However, as the others have said, the guess is based on many years avg usage and not just because this november was colder.

Cardew

This comes up all the time, often with accusations that it is deliberate:

When estimating meter readings for a price rise all of the companies use an algorithm(computer program) that takes into account weather statistics from the Met Office, and this algorithm is independantly audited. (a contributor to MSE used to write these algorithms)

To do what you suggest(i.e deliberately billing low) would not just be 'sharp practice' it would be 'conspiracy to defraud' - a very serious criminal offence that would almostly certainly carry a custodial sentence, and the company fined £millions.

Who would order the person writing the computer program to commit such a crime? If some disgruntled employee blew the whistle even years later, the offence would come to light.

You might recall what happened to Severn Trent when they 'fudged' some statistics. Nowhere as serious as you are suggesting - yet it cost the company many millions of pounds; and that was because an employee reported the company.

Obviously none of these estimations are done by a human! So I am not saying that 'The Computer' doesn't get it wrong on the 'rubbish in - rubbish out' principle, but I seriously doubt if it is deliberate.

backfoot

Well done to you for checking it and it looks like they are very quick to make a settlement offer. A very good one as well.

As the other posters quite rightly say,the estimates are not deliberately misleading, but on this occasion they may not fit the pattern of the freakishly early cold weather. Combined with their price rise they have accidentally created a problem.

Call me cynical, but I just wonder if this generosity to those who complain, is done to stop this issue blowing up more widely.;)

MillicentBystander

backfoot wrote: »

Well done to you for checking it and it looks like they are very quick to make a settlement offer. A very good one as well.

As the other posters quite rightly say,the estimates are not deliberately misleading, but on this occasion they may not fit the pattern of the freakishly early cold weather. Combined with their price rise they have accidentally created a problem.

Call me cynical, but I just wonder if this generosity to those who complain, is done to stop this issue blowing up more widely.;)

I'm reminded of some posters on here getting a 'goodwill gesture payment' from npower of inxs of £1,000 after threatening them with court action over the gas sculpting scandal. Thankfully it still ended up blowing up in npower's face (and how!). These companies are rarely in any way philanthropic, there's normally a cold hearted reason for apparently random acts of kindness....