Annual £1259 Gas bill!!

zoemills28

Hi i'm new to this site and looking for advice

I recently had my annual gas bill which was £1259 but because i was on pre payment meter i never really thought much about it as i thought it must be what i was using but after speaking with friend and how much there annual bill was i've realised mine is almost double their's so i tried to change my energy supplier. I was with British gas and planned on swapping to Eon but British gas won't let it go through as i apparently owe them another £163 for gas! Can i owe them money when i'm on a pre payment metre? I think they've had enough money out of already.

Any help or advice would be appreciated

KimYeovil

There are two main ways debt (other than original arrears) can accrue on a prepayment meter - not topping up which means standing charges can build up or if the tariff on the meter is not updated at a price change. Note that this price change debt can only be charged for catch ups only less than a year old.

Note that you should be free to switch prepayment supplier provided the total debt is less than £200 (this has been changed from £100). So I think British Gas are wrong. If you are sure another supplier can provide a cheaper tariff (do double check this as often British Gas have a competitive* prepayment tariff) you are free to switch supplier.

Contact British Gas again and demand to know why they are mistakenly blocking the transfer.

*Ah, you are talking gas only. In that case they are not likely to be the cheapest.

zoemills28

No i wanted to change for gas and electric, they let the electric transfer just wouldn't let the gas. I've always had high gas bills regardless of who my energy supplier was but this as been by far the biggest. I always top up the meter, sometimes as much as £60 a week i'm putting on!

molerat

£1259 would probably equate to around 32000 kWh so, although large, is not an inconceivable useage. You need to tell us what your kWh useage for the year was, if your meter reads in cu m or cu ft and check that the statement says the same.

zoemills28

Nowhere on my bill can i see whether its read in cu m or cu ft? but it does say i used 33,728 kwh of gas. I still think its high as in the summer i only use it for hot water and never have it set as high as 20 degrees in winter but if its correct that i've used that amount then fair enough, i'm just angry that i owe the £163 when its pre payment.

molerat

Your bill will show how many meter units of gas you have used. Divide your kWh by those units, if the answer is around 11 you have a metric bill, if around 32 then imperial. Check your meter reads in the corresponding units.

Keep an eye on yor meter, read it at least once a week and keep a note of the units used. That way you will see when you are using more gas.

spiro

Have you checked the meter settings to see if there is a debt set on the meter?

As KimYeovil says you can swap if you have less than £200 of debt except there is a 'BUT' and the but is that your new supplier agrees to take on the debt and pay off your old supplier. Therefore you would need to ask your new supplier if they are prepared to do that.

zoemills28

I got a little somewhere today and British gas says that i owe them the £163 from 2007!! they've only just realised i owe them this money and have added it on to my meter. I left British gas in 2007 and went to Southern energy, nothing was mentioned about me owing money then. went back to british gas about 18 months ago and again nothing was mentioned, now they have decided after 4 years to add this money to my account and won't let me leave until its paid off!! thanks for any help/advice people have offered

p.s i'm still trying sort something out as to why i'm paying so much over the year.

macman

You haven't replied on post 6 re. your metering units.