help with horrendous gas bill!!

jaybighitter

hello new to the site and was recommended by my dad for help.

i have just recently switched gas suppliers from EDF Energy to Npower.

i moved into my rented accomodation on 3/11/10, when i moved in i did not check the reading on the gas meter as the leing agents said it had been checked and all relevant utilities companies would be notified that i had moved in and to await bills for the property.

i had water bills and council tax all come in my name and paid them accordingly. i never had a gas bill and assumed that it must be quarterly instead of monthly like the rest so i sort of forgot about it until i wanted to get cheaper electric and gas.

so i had my final bill from EDF Energy which as i had not paid anything and have been living here for 4.5 months knew it would be alot of money.

i did not expect it to be 500 pounds though??? i was expecting a bill of say 50-60 pounds a month over 5 months which would be 350 tops!

the bill i receieved was addressed to the occupier and not in my name, i had recieved no other bills from EDF all the time i have lived here, they said that they had sent me a bill on the 9th feb for 243.73? i never recieved this bill and if i had i surely would have rung them to find out why it was so much.

i live with my girlfriend in a two bedroom house, we have the heating on in the winter for three hours in morning and three hours at night, since it has been milder the last month we had had it on less, 2 in morning and 2 at night. our cooker is electric so only heating and hot water is using gas.

on looking at my bill it states that from the 8th feb to the 2nd march it says i used 319 units ?? which is 13.8 units a day!! this is not posssible!! then from the 2nd march to the 17th march(end bill date) it states i used 217 units which is 14.46 units a day, so for 15 days it costs £98.20 this cannot be right!!!!

i have the initial reading that the letting agents gave to them when i moved in, could this reading be given to them be wrong? how can i prove it??

i told my new suppilers that i thought the meter might be faulty, i gave them the reading of it today compared to the reading i gave them when it switched to them and it worked out at 4.74 units a day which is below average. and they cannot see how EDF think i was using on average 14.41 units a day!

help how do i contest this with EDF?? i have spoke to them and they agree its high and unusal for the property but they said that i still have to pay the full amount???

i dont mind paying 350 but not 500!! its a joke!

so what should i do??

thanks (sorry its so long winded)

mattcanary

I would have thought the reading that EDF used to open your account on was too low.

Either the agents gave them the wrong reading, or EDF ignored the correspondance from the agents and just used the final reading used to close down the previous tenant's account at your address (which may well have been estimated too low), as your opening reading.

As the letter was received in the name of the occupier (and not your own name), I am making an intelligent guess that EDF have not dealt with the correspondance from your letting agents telling them you have moved in, and may well be trying to bill you the difference they have lost out on, by closing the previous tenant's account on a reading that was too low

Gothicfairy

Are you sure your letting agent has dealt with it properly ? I ask because 9 times out of 10 (with water companies anyway) it would be that the letting agent sent a spread sheet and got the details wrong

Cardew

I would be pretty certain that the 'missing' bill for £243.73 would have been based on an Estimated reading. It is simply not feasible to have a bill for that sum for 14 weeks(03 Nov to 08 Feb) over the coldest winter in years, and then a bill for a similar amount for 5 weeks(09 Feb to 17 Mar) over a period where it has been mild.

So on the assumption that the 09 Feb bill was based on an estimated meter reading, your calculations of 13 and 14 units a day are invalid; you have to look at the whole 19 weeks period.

You have used £500 in 19 weeks so £26 a week. Whilst that is high, it certainly isn't 'unbelievable'. It depends on many factors of which we are not aware - flat insulation, how warm you like your rooms, baths or showers etc.

In any case it isn't EDF's problem, they charge for what has been used. If the letting agent has given the wrong reading, there is no way you will ever be able to prove it as you didn't check the reading when you first occupied.

Sorry, but I don't feel you have any options.

macman

Yet another case of a tenant getting clobbered because they trusted the letting agent to do their job for them.

jaybighitter

thank you for your input guys,

Cardew - i can see what you are saying mate but i think 26 quid a week is unbelievable when like i said there is only me and my girlfriend here and we have had the heating on 3 hours in morning and 3 hours in night, dropping to 2 hours in morning and 2 at night since it has been mild for a while now, i have worked out the total amount of units used according to actual reading that have been given one by letting agent and one by me, the total is 1022 units, this works out at an average of 7.7 units per day, or if you multiple 1022 by 3.8p which is there rate it comes to 388.36 pounds. which seems half reasonable so how is it 500 quid? i realise you have to add vat on it but still it cant be 500?

i honestly think the initial reading given by the letting agent were wrong! so how do i prove this to EDF?

Cardew

jaybighitter wrote: »

thank you for your input guys,

Cardew - i can see what you are saying mate but i think 26 quid a week is unbelievable when like i said there is only me and my girlfriend here and we have had the heating on 3 hours in morning and 3 hours in night, dropping to 2 hours in morning and 2 at night since it has been mild for a while now, i have worked out the total amount of units used according to actual reading that have been given one by letting agent and one by me, the total is 1022 units, this works out at an average of 7.7 units per day, or if you multiple 1022 by 3.8p which is there rate it comes to 388.36 pounds. which seems half reasonable so how is it 500 quid? i realise you have to add vat on it but still it cant be 500?

i honestly think the initial reading given by the letting agent were wrong! so how do i prove this to EDF?

Your arthmetic is dodgy!!;)

If you multiply 1,022 by 3.8p it comes to £38.83 not £388.36.

What you haven't appreciated is a gas unit on your meter is approx 11.2kWh and you are charged for each kWh.

So your 1,022 gas units are approx 11,446kWh. If your bill was exactly £500 that is an average price of 4.36p/kWh(bear in mind that you pay for some units(called tier1 or Primary units) at a high price and the rest(Tier2 or secondary units) normally around 3p/kWh.

EDF don't need to be involved. Even if they believe you, all they could do is reduce your bill and bill the letting agent for the same amount - I doubt he would accept that charge!!!

jaybighitter

arithmetic is correct mate you have to multiply 1022 by 0.38 to give it you in pounds.

it says on bill each unit is 3.688p.......why do they make these things so hard to understand????

so basically im stuck and im gonna have to fork it out!!!

brill!

Cardew

jaybighitter wrote: »

arithmetic is correct mate you have to multiply 1022 by 0.38 to give it you in pounds.

it says on bill each unit is 3.688p.......why do they make these things so hard to understand????

so basically im stuck and im gonna have to fork it out!!!

brill!

My word!!! You really must concentrate;)

This is what you wrote!

or if you multiple 1022 by 3.8p which is there rate it comes to 388.36 pounds.

It ain't! it is £38.83!!!!

0.38 is 38P(not 3.8p)

In any case your 1022 gas units are not charged at 3.8p or 38p or 3.688p or anything.

As said above, those 1022 gas units are converted to 11,446 kWh and you are charged 3.688p for each of those kWhs plus a few pence extra on the first approx 1,600kWh.

11,446 x 3.688 = £422 plus the extra on the first tier units brings it to £500!!

macman

jaybighitter wrote: »

arithmetic is correct mate you have to multiply 1022 by 0.38 to give it you in pounds.

it says on bill each unit is 3.688p.......why do they make these things so hard to understand????

so basically im stuck and im gonna have to fork it out!!!

brill!

No, because your gas meter reads in 100 cu ft or cu m (volume basis). But your bill is in kWh. As Cardew stated, you have to convert meter units to kWh, then multiply by the unit (kWh) rate of 3.688p.
1,022 meter units is not 1,022kWh. With a metric meter (reading in cu m) you have to multiply by approx 11.3 to get to kWh. So that's about £426, plus standing charges and 5% VAT.

mattcanary

Jaybighitter - the bill is in the name of the occupier.

That means EDF do not know your name and that you live at the property.

If your letting agents took a reading when you moved in and gave his to you, you can phone EDF with your details and giving them this reading as the start reading. After all, this was the reading when you moved in (as long as the agents read it correctly).

You will then be rebilled for the actual gas used since you moved in. You do not then have to cough up for any extra - after all, it is not down to you anyway.

This is not your bill as such - it is the bill for the person/prole living in your flat since EDF closed the previous account that was set up (probably for the prvious tenant) at your home.