British Gas astronomical bills!

MzV

I have an imperial meter - so BG are charging me in the correct way. I have taken a reading this morning at 7.15am and will take another when I get home and do this every day for a week.

I have just done a comparison with a friend's bill (they have a similar layout and size flat to mine and work same hours etc)

Their kWh usage works out to approx 13.3 per day and mine is 16.69 kWh per day.

udydudy

MzV wrote: »

.................
08 May 2011 - estimated 3856
03 August 2011 - actual 3862

Gas units converted = 6 imperial units over 88 days (actual)
= 188.59 kWh used over 88 days
.....................

I have just about (nearly) finished my fight with Sottish Power(Still on) & EDF (finished) after waiting for 7 months for EDF(current supplier) to rectify my billing before realising that the reason for the incorrect billing was that my meter was listed as Imperial on the national database, thanks to British Gas who were supplying energy when i moved into the property. BG did not update the national database so as long as they were supplying(only 15 days) things were fine but the moment we moved to SPower the bills were charged 2.83 times which we never realised (3 bedroom property)

Looking at the computation you have given your gas is being billed as an Imperial meter. You need to go have a look at the meter. if there is "M3" then your meter is a metric. There is a multiplication factor of 2.83 to convert an imperial meter to KWH which is used to bill you.

So if you have a mater which shows "M3" instead of "FT3" then your gass bill is exactly overcharged by 2.83 times. It was the same in my case and realised that over the past 6 years I have been overcharged.

If your meter is metric then yuour options are (1) speak to your supplier first and also email them a photo of your meter (2) if they do not respond and rectify matter in 3 weeks time then escalate the matter higher up (3) if after 8 weeks they do not rectify matters then raise the issue (after 8 weeks) with consumer direct(check saynoto0870 site for landline number) .

I got a refund of nearly £2500 in total. Ofcourse I am expecting another £300 as per all the bills I have from S Power. and in addition am going to chase compensation for all the heartache.

Be prepared for a good fight as these energy companies do not like giving refunds and will do all in their power to not give or if they give to give less refunds. I am yet to receive a computation of how they arrived at my refund as I have an excel sheet which clearly shows me I am owed nearly £300 more than what they raised!!!. They conveniently just sent a final bill showing credit and no computations and this is a level 3 complaint which is supposedly at chief executive level.:A

penrhyn

What temperature are you heating your flat to?
Is it a combi or heat only boiler?

HappyMJ

MzV wrote: »

I have an imperial meter - so BG are charging me in the correct way. I have taken a reading this morning at 7.15am and will take another when I get home and do this every day for a week.

I have just done a comparison with a friend's bill (they have a similar layout and size flat to mine and work same hours etc)

Their kWh usage works out to approx 13.3 per day and mine is 16.69 kWh per day.

That is not that much difference. Maybe you like your flat warmer? Maybe you have a window slightly open? Maybe you have an extra hour of heating? Maybe your friend goes out one night a week and turns the heating off when out?

MzV

udydudy wrote: »

So if you have a mater which shows "M3" instead of "FT3" then your gass bill is exactly overcharged by 2.83 times. It was the same in my case and realised that over the past 6 years I have been overcharged.

Definitely an imperial meter - checked this morning that it has ft3 on it - it does - thank you though for your advice. Well done on winning your fight though! Impressive.

MzV

penrhyn wrote: »

What temperature are you heating your flat to?
Is it a combi or heat only boiler?

Thermostat is set to 20 degrees or just under and when I go to bed I move it to 15/16 degrees - plus the timer is off by then.

MzV

HappyMJ wrote: »

That is not that much difference. Maybe you like your flat warmer? Maybe you have a window slightly open? Maybe you have an extra hour of heating? Maybe your friend goes out one night a week and turns the heating off when out?

She has a life indeed! LOL.

jalexa

MzV wrote: »

Thermostat is set to 20 degrees or just under

What room is the thermostat in? Are there rooms with radiators but without a thermostat. How do you know how warm the non-thermostat rooms get?

macman

MzV wrote: »

Thermostat is set to 20 degrees or just under and when I go to bed I move it to 15/16 degrees - plus the timer is off by then.

But if the timer is 'off', then it won't come on at all, regardless of the 'stat setting! The timer overrides the 'stat.
And when it does come on again in the morning on the timer, it will only heat the house to 15/16C before shutting off.
Leave the 'stat where you want it and control the system with the timer.

MzV

jalexa wrote: »

What room is the thermostat in? Are there rooms with radiators but without a thermostat. How do you know how warm the non-thermostat rooms get?

Oh! that thought has never crossed my mind. It's in the hallway. Isn't that normal. I don't even know how thermostats work tbh! I just know that I set it to around 20 degrees when I get home and turn it down before I go to bed.