Need URGENT help please! Being charged way too much. BT won't help :(

Munkee2

SORRY! I meant British Gas, not BT! Brain = mushy peas

Hi all,

I live in a tiny 1 bed flat and am on a gas meter with British Gas. As I type, I'm freezing because I can't afford to have the heating on. It's very windy and throwing it down outside. The heating is on MAX (absolute max) 3 hours a day on the coldest days. I barely do any cooking with gas and have one ten minute shower a day (shower uses boiler and not electric shower). I have not used the gas fire at all this winter.

I have double glazing and cavity wall and loft insulation. I keep doors closed to keep rooms warm when needed.

I am finding I am paying around £20-22 per WEEK for gas. Compared with previous winters in this flat, that's astronomical (usually £10-12 a week in winter). If I had the heating on as much as I needed to, I'd be looking at £40 a week quite easily.

I ought to point out I have serious health problems, namely fibromyalgia and M.E and am awaiting admission to a specialist hospital for intensive rehab. My circulation is dreadful and I wear a dressing gown over my clothes all day every day, plus blankets and slippers. At night I wear warm pyjamas and dressing gown over the top. The heating is always switched fully off when I go to bed.

I don't get any financial help with energy bills despite 'disability' but have run out of options. I'm currently going through a bad 'flare up' whereby I have bursitis in my joints and all my muscles are stiff and painful. I am freezing, in pain and feel like I am being robbed.

I've just spoken to British Gas and the person was unhelpful. I asked him around nine times how much I am paying for my gas, per kilowatt and he wouldn't tell me. I asked more and more directly for figures and he gave me the following:

Their records show that I am on a 'standard' tarrif, using 41-42 kw per week and am being charged £1.06 per kilowatt.

It doesn't take a genius to see immedaitely that those figures do not add up. If I was using, say, 41kw per week at £1.06 per kilowatt, then my weekly charge would be £43.46.

I am sick of being treated like an idiot (although I probably am one when it comes to things like this).

May I please have your opinions or any advice you can offer? I am cold, sick of topping up the meter which goes nowhere, ill and very fed up! Thank you!

energysavingexp

look at your last bill it will tell you what price per kwh you are paying and you will find its not £1.06
as for using only 41kwh per week i dout that very much are you on a pp meter

HappyMJ

An average of £21 a week for gas is not too bad Prices have gone up twice since last year.

What does your prepayment statement say?

Munkee2

I get an annual statement. The last one was Sept '11 says from Sept '10 to Sept '11 I used 13,855.54 kWh of gas and that my forecast for Sept '11 to Sept' 12 was £685.10. Does this help at all?

Oops, sorry. On the back it says:

Unit price 1: 8.748p upto 2680kWh
Unit price 2: 4.029 thereafter

robpw2

do bt do gas as well as telephones?

Munkee2

robpw2 wrote: »

do bt do gas as well as telephones?

Not that I know of. Put that down to the idiot who meant British Gas and not BT. This has addled my brain...

victor2

Munkee2 wrote: »

I get an annual statement. The last one was Sept '11 says from Sept '10 to Sept '11 I used 13,855.54 kWh of gas and that my forecast for Sept '11 to Sept' 12 was £685.10. Does this help at all?

Oops, sorry. On the back it says:

Unit price 1: 8.748p upto 2680kWh
Unit price 2: 4.029 thereafter

The financial forecast is not a great help, although it appears to be the previous year's usage (which is useful) at the current rates. Bear in mind that included a pretty harsh winter, so this year should be less in kWh.

The above rates are equivalent to a daily standing charge of about 35p and then all gas used charged at the second rate. That assumes you always use at least 2680 kWh of gas in a year, which most people do.
From that, and if your meter is relatively easy to access, you can take readings at about the same time each day for a few weeks and establish what a typical day will cost you. Obviously, it is dramatically affected by the weather, but it gives you an idea. You only need to know if your meter is metric or imperial, then a bit of simple maths can give you the cost of gas you've used.

With your annual usage, you can use one of the comparison or switching sites to establish what alternative and cheaper rates may be available to you. A standard tariff is highly unlikely to be the best deal for you.

new2012

What sort of heating do you have?

I am paying about £25 a week for gas and yet my heating is on from 8 in the morning until about 12 at night. And that is for a 3 bed semi.
Gas usage is about 70 kWh a day on average for heating.

Last winter I was using about 100 kWh of gas a day.

Munkee2

victor2 wrote: »

The financial forecast is not a great help, although it appears to be the previous year's usage (which is useful) at the current rates. Bear in mind that included a pretty harsh winter, so this year should be less in kWh.

The above rates are equivalent to a daily standing charge of about 35p and then all gas used charged at the second rate. That assumes you always use at least 2680 kWh of gas in a year, which most people do.
From that, and if your meter is relatively easy to access, you can take readings at about the same time each day for a few weeks and establish what a typical day will cost you. Obviously, it is dramatically affected by the weather, but it gives you an idea. You only need to know if your meter is metric or imperial, then a bit of simple maths can give you the cost of gas you've used.

With your annual usage, you can use one of the comparison or switching sites to establish what alternative and cheaper rates may be available to you. A standard tariff is highly unlikely to be the best deal for you.

Many thanks. I'll ring BG back and see if I can go on a cheaper tarriff then do some digging and see what other companies would charge.

Munkee2

new2012 wrote: »

What sort of heating do you have?

I am paying about £25 a week for gas and yet my heating is on from 8 in the morning until about 12 at night. And that is for a 3 bed semi.
Gas usage is about 70 kWh a day on average for heating.

Last winter I was using about 100 kWh of gas a day.

Gas central heating, radiators, combi boiler (new in 2002). Your post just confirms what I already suspected. I am being ripped off big time.

new2012

Can you not read your gas meter to see how much gas you are using in a day?

You will have to convert it from cubic feet or cubic metres to get kWhs.

Also 2680 divided by 365 multiplied by 8.748 gives an equivalent daily standing charge of 64 pence a day so you pay 64 pence a day then 4.029 pence for each kWh over roughly 7 kWh. (7.34 to be almost exact). Less of course any DD discount.

At least that is how I work it out.