British Gas Electricity

steviegfan

I hope that you can help me.....

I have lived at my property for 20 years..... it seems that I may have been having an estimated bill for about the last 10 years or so.

When I have read my electricity meter there is a massive difference between the actual and estimated which ( to my rough calculations) means that I will owe about £3000! This I can't afford.

I have looked at the age of the meter and the last time it was inspected to see if there could be a fault with the meter and it was last inspected in 1986.

My questions are -
- Does the energy company have a responsiblility to ensure that the meter is replaced in a periodic manner?

- Is there a maximum "estimated" period that is allowed?

- And assuming that my calculations are right are they likely to allow me to "catch up" these payments on a monthly basis.

Thank you for any advise that you can offer

penrhyn

You also have a responsibility to provide correct readings.

victor2

I can't see how British Gas would let you go for over 10 years with just estimated readings. Your meter should probably have been replaced during the last 20 years as well. But if it is far out from actual readings, best to contact them and see what they can offer in terms of settling the debt.

steviegfan

During the last 20 years has anything changed in terms of unit measurement - cubic feet, cubic meters?

I guess I'm looking for anything that would explain the difference in the bill.
Although I have lived here for 20 years, it was my parents house and the consumption has changed from a 5 person family to just me

penrhyn

Electricity is measured in Kilowatt Hours, 1 unit = 1Kwh.

Gas is measured cubic metres, or cubic feet, depending on the age or the meter, the result is converted into Kwh for billing.

victor2

If they have been estimating since the house changed from a family of five to just one, then you would think their estimates should have been too high. Nothing has changed in measurement, electric meters directly measure the kWh used. Still doesn't make sense though. You need to find out when the last actual reading was taken, which may mean a call to BG anyway if you don't keep old bills.

macman

If you have been receiving estimated bills for 10 years, why did you not query this and supply actual readings? Over a decade it's perfectly possible that such a difference could accumulate. Just Because the meter is 24 years old doesn't mean that it's inaccurate.
Bear in mind that the deficit would be estimated at the rates applying in each of those 10 years, not at present day rates, so it may be rather less than your estimate, which is probably based on current rates?
Has your supplier not attempted to take actual readings in the last 10 years?
You need to first establish what is actually owed and agree a repayment schedule with them.

mattcanary

Maybe your supplier has made a mistake with their records somewhere down the line, eg: amending the meter details at your address on their computer records when a meter was actually changed somewhere else. This does ocasionally happen and would obviously mean your bills have been totally wrong.

Does the meter serial number on the bills match up with that on the actual electric meter?

Has the supplier attempted to read your meter in the last 10 years, eg: posted a card (asking you to read the meter) through your letterbox if you have not been at home when they visited?

Unless you live in a very rural area (where it may not be worth it for the meter-reader to try calling again in the next couple of days if you are not in), then this should have happened.

If it hasn't, then your supplier may be only able to back-bill you one year for the extra electricity used above the estomates they have produced.

mattcanary

Another though - is your meter a dial meter? (may well be - after all it has been in your home for a long time). If it is, you may have misread the meter (and because of the nature of how dial meters work, they get misread higher (often considerably so) rather than lower than the actual reading the vast majority of the time)

macman

Back-billing rule cannot apply here surely, as the OP has received regular bills? However they should (in theory) be granted an equal time to make up the deficit (i.e. another ten years), so will in effect eventually have received 20 years interest free credit on part of the bill.

mattcanary

I believe the supplier needs to prove that they have attempted to read the meter at least once every 2 years.