claiming back from British Gas

Strangelymade

Hi all, first time poster here.

I was wondering if anyone would be able to advise me as to how I could (if indeed I can) claim back overpayments from British Gas for our Electric bill.

Been with them for several years, but they have been billing us at the economy 7 rate since we signed with them. We didn't realise that they were doing this for several years and in fact didn't even realise that we had an old economy 7 meter, this is despite that fact that we have nothing that would require economy 7 at all and never have done.

We have asked them several times to change the meter since we discovered this error, but typically have not had a reply from them, until this week. Now they inform us that they can either bill us at the single rate or change our meter for a single rate one.

I've got a couple of questions about that.
What are the advantages of them just billing us at the single rate as opposed to having the whole meter changed?

And also we have been with them at least ten years and have been over charged due to the error by £200 each year (going by their saving chart thing on the British Gas site that I looked at yesterday) , how do we stand at claiming back the over payments? is it possible? or is it one of those things that we'll just have to moan about and not be able to do anything about?

cheers in advance for your help .

HappyMJ

How much do you think that you were worse off by? Could you post the oldest meter readings you have going back years if necessary and the latest meter readings that you have? £200 a year is a massive difference. It normally isn't that much difference. Although the day units are cheaper by a few pence and I think this is where you are getting the £200 a year from...you also need to ADD extra onto the night units so the difference usually ends up as just a few quid difference at about 25%-30% night usage. At 20% night usage the difference is only about £50 a year on about 3,300kWh per year.

dude89

Strangelymade wrote: »

Hi all, first time poster here.

I was wondering if anyone would be able to advise me as to how I could (if indeed I can) claim back overpayments from British Gas for our Electric bill.

Been with them for several years, but they have been billing us at the economy 7 rate since we signed with them. We didn't realise that they were doing this for several years and in fact didn't even realise that we had an old economy 7 meter, this is despite that fact that we have nothing that would require economy 7 at all and never have done.

We have asked them several times to change the meter since we discovered this error, but typically have not had a reply from them, until this week. Now they inform us that they can either bill us at the single rate or change our meter for a single rate one.

I've got a couple of questions about that.
What are the advantages of them just billing us at the single rate as opposed to having the whole meter changed?

And also we have been with them at least ten years and have been over charged due to the error by £200 each year (going by their saving chart thing on the British Gas site that I looked at yesterday) , how do we stand at claiming back the over payments? is it possible? or is it one of those things that we'll just have to moan about and not be able to do anything about?

cheers in advance for your help .

Unfortunatley i dont think you can claim back any over-payments. At best you be able to claim back from the point you first complained about having the economy 7 tariff and the delay in their reply, but that would be pushing it a bit.


BG claim would be that you have and economy 7 meter and they are not able to read your mind that you did not want this. They just billed you on the default tariff for that meter.


They would also question why you havent picked up on this earlier as you would of received 10+ bills of them showing an economy 7 tariff.

In terms of the advantages of being billed on a single rate with a two rate meter against having it changed, is that you do not have to worry about being there for a meter change appointment. They will just add the usage between the two readings and bill it a single rate like they would if it was a single rate meter.

I would personally be asking for a meter change as it simplifies the billing process - less potential for errors - and also if you were to switch suppliers it stops the problem of this occuring again.

On a side note, do you know what tariff you are on? If you had switched deals you would of known that you were on economy 7, so i presume you are on BG standard prices - their most expensive.

Once you have sorted your meter out have a look on a comparison website what your best deal would be.

macman

It's your responsibility to pick the tariff most suitable for your needs. Your utility supplier doesn't have a clue how you heat or hot water your house, or whether you would be better off on E7 or not.
This problem usually arises when people have had CH put in, storage heaters taken out and don't change the tariff or metering back to single rate.
So no rebate I'm afraid-your post suggests that you have neither read your meter nor checked your bills for years?
It makes no difference whatsoever if they bill you at single rate or change the meter. For the former, they just total the two reads on the E7 meter.
If the meter change is free, I'd have it done.

Strangelymade

After chatting to the very nice people at British Gas and explaining everything thoroughly, via Email, I have got a reply and good news.

I have had an account with them since April 2006 but they unfortunately only have my records since April 2009 (the previous ones are in their old system). But they are backdating my bills to April 2009 and charging me at the single rate instead of economy 7, so I will in effect be receiving money back from them. I won't know the full amount untill the 13th Feb, but I at least know that I got what I wanted and they do listen.

I guess it just goes to show, that you lose nothing by trying.

Once my next quarterly bill comes in then I'll be changing to their cheapest rate, which is I believe, the one with the electronic do-dad that shows how much you are using. So I should save even more money.

macman

That's an extraordinary result. They certanly were under no obligation to offer you that.
But why don't you switch immediately to the cheapest single rate tariff-why wait until your next bill?

Strangelymade

It is a good result isn't it. I don't know why I was going to wait until my next bill, I just had it in my head to do that, but I guess once it's confirmed by them on the 13th they have adjusted and backdated my bills then I can swap over straight away via the web site.