Overcharged by Atlantic on price, increase check your bill

adriancotton

I recently received my six monthly bills from Atlantic. I noticed that most of my gas had been charged at the higher rate of the two that were charged during that period.

I had a look round the Atlantic website to try and find out how they calculated what proportion of the bill should be charged at each rate.

It was easy with the standing charge so many days being charged at each rate however the units of gas at each rate was somewhat more difficult to calculate. It turned out that 26% of the of the days were charged at the lower standing charge rate while only 10% of the gas units were charged at the cheaper rate.

I assumed that they had some formula based on total gas used assuming that more gas was used in winter but as this isn't published anywhere how are you able to check you bill?

I emailed the head of customer service asking just this. To my surprise I received a phone call for someone at Atlantic to tell be that my bill was wrong and that I should have been charged the same 26% pro rata for gas usage as standing charge. She calculated the difference and said she has credited me with that amount.

They do not know why the bill was in error. If mine was yours could well be too.

Sweey_as_a_nut

Thanks Adrian I will ask the same question.

NittyGritty

adriancotton wrote: »

I recently received my six monthly bills from Atlantic. I noticed that most of my gas had been charged at the higher rate of the two that were charged during that period.

I had a look round the Atlantic website to try and find out how they calculated what proportion of the bill should be charged at each rate.

It was easy with the standing charge so many days being charged at each rate however the units of gas at each rate was somewhat more difficult to calculate. It turned out that 26% of the of the days were charged at the lower standing charge rate while only 10% of the gas units were charged at the cheaper rate.

I assumed that they had some formula based on total gas used assuming that more gas was used in winter but as this isn't published anywhere how are you able to check you bill?

I emailed the head of customer service asking just this. To my surprise I received a phone call for someone at Atlantic to tell be that my bill was wrong and that I should have been charged the same 26% pro rata for gas usage as standing charge. She calculated the difference and said she has credited me with that amount.

They do not know why the bill was in error. If mine was yours could well be too.

hi do you mean it states on ur tarriff the higher rate of your gas will be x amount for the first 225 units? before it goes down to the lower rate? or have i read it wrong?
for example, the first 225 (or whatever it is) will be 20p then after the 225 units it will be lets say 15p?
or are you talking about something completley diffrent?

jalexa

adriancotton wrote: »

It turned out that 26% of the of the days were charged at the lower standing charge rate while only 10% of the gas units were charged at the cheaper rate.

Can you explain what you mean by "lower standing charge rate". With a standing charge tariff there is only one rate and with a "no standing charge" tariff in each quarter the primary unit charge applies to the first "ceiling" amount of units, typically 324 for electricity, 625 for gas.

adriancotton

NittyGritty wrote: »

hi do you mean it states on ur tarriff the higher rate of your gas will be x amount for the first 225 units? before it goes down to the lower rate? or have i read it wrong?
for example, the first 225 (or whatever it is) will be 20p then after the 225 units it will be lets say 15p?
or are you talking about something completley diffrent?

Yes something different.

I pay a standing charge and a flat rate for gas.

From 27 Jul 2011 to 13 Sep 20011 the price was 3.1p per kWh
From 14 Sep 2011 to 26 Jan 2012 the price was 3.75p per kWh

from 27 Jul to 26 Jan I used 24170 kWh

I was charged 2648 kWh at 3.1p and 21522 kWh at 3.75p

So I was charged 3.1p for 10% of the gas but that price was in force for 26% of the period of the bill and so I was overcharged on 16% of the gas I used.

adriancotton

jalexa wrote: »

Can you explain what you mean by "lower standing charge rate". With a standing charge tariff there is only one rate and with a "no standing charge" tariff in each quarter the primary unit charge applies to the first "ceiling" amount of units, typically 324 for electricity, 625 for gas.

Sorry I see the confusion. My bill had 49 days standing charge when gas was charged at the price of 3.1p kWh, Atlantic then raised their prices, for the next 135 days standing charge the gas was charged at 3.75p kWh the actual daily standing charge was the same even though the price of the gas increased. The important point is the proportion of gas that was charged at the higher or lower rate.

jalexa

adriancotton wrote: »

From 27 Jul 2011 to 13 Sep 20011 the price was 3.1p per kWh
From 14 Sep 2011 to 26 Jan 2012 the price was 3.75p per kWh

This is to do with the management of the price increase effective 14 September. You were right to challenge it if it wasn't clear from the bill. Atlantic should have obtained an actual meter reading close to the increase date.

I think (the computer) sneakily (but possibly reasonably) seasonally weighted the apportioning but when challenged the Adviser could only work it out per day. Whether well done or "lucky" I'm not sure. If Atlantic couldn't be *rsed with obtaining an actual reading close to the increase date you are IMO entitled to benefit. And you were certainly entitled to a proper explanation of a not obvious calculation.

adriancotton

jalexa wrote: »

This is to do with the management of the price increase effective 14 September. You were right to challenge it if it wasn't clear from the bill. Atlantic should have obtained an actual meter reading close to the increase date.

I think (the computer) sneakily (but possibly reasonably) seasonaly weighted the apportioning but when challenged the Adviser could only work it out per day. Whether well done or "lucky" I'm not sure. If Atlantic couldn't be *rsed with obtaining an actual reading close to the increase date you are IMO entitled to benefit. And you were certainly entitled to a proper explanation of a not obvious calculation.

I'm not sure it is quite that simple an explanation. I got my electricity bill from Atlantic at the same time, the price of electricity had also increased on 14th September, and the calculation of that was exactly pro rata. I hadn't even checked it until tonight but the person who called me had and pointed out that she had checked it and that it was correct.

jalexa

adriancotton wrote: »

I got my electricity bill from Atlantic at the same time, the price of electricity had also increased on 14th September, and the calculation of that was exactly pro rata.

That doesn't surprise me. Only the heating fuel, normally gas, has significant seasonal variation. My estimate is 60% of annual gas is typically consumed from Oct to Jan.

flyingjock1

Unfortunately looks like the computer allocated units to before and after the 14 sept 11 using a formulae only the billing teams at SSE know. in the abscence of a actual reading at that point all the computer do is guesstimate and as we all know this is not an exact science. for future if your supplier informs you that there is a planned increase/decrease (and they have to by law dont know what the exact time scale is) but make sure you call in with an accurate reading as at that date so that so when your bill is calculated it will be based on correct information. as to atlantic not going out taking a reading just for the increase, customers get 2 actual visits 6 mths apart. now depending on where you stay depends on what months you get your 6 mthly visits. on sept the readers where visiting the homes they were scheduled to attend in that month. logistically id imagine it wasnt possible to carry out the scheduled visits AND visit every other customer who visits fell on other months. if the advisers were kept in the loop and told how the split calculation was arrived at, im sure they would have done their best to explain it to you.

adriancotton

flyingjock1 wrote: »

Unfortunately looks like the computer allocated units to before and after the 14 sept 11 using a formulae only the billing teams at SSE know. in the abscence of a actual reading at that point all the computer do is guesstimate and as we all know this is not an exact science. for future if your supplier informs you that there is a planned increase/decrease (and they have to by law dont know what the exact time scale is) but make sure you call in with an accurate reading as at that date so that so when your bill is calculated it will be based on correct information. as to atlantic not going out taking a reading just for the increase, customers get 2 actual visits 6 mths apart. now depending on where you stay depends on what months you get your 6 mthly visits. on sept the readers where visiting the homes they were scheduled to attend in that month. logistically id imagine it wasnt possible to carry out the scheduled visits AND visit every other customer who visits fell on other months. if the advisers were kept in the loop and told how the split calculation was arrived at, im sure they would have done their best to explain it to you.

The Atlantic website has a very good section called "How your bill is calculated" If they put the information there then everyone would know "how their bill was calculated".