Please help gas bill 5249 kWh!

Daisy80

Hello

I am hoping someone here can help me. My partner and I are living in London in a 1 bed flat. Our gas supplier is Equigas. We have just received our latest gas bill and again it seems very high.

The bill is from the 29th of November till 23 of February. It says we used 5249.17 kWh or it also says 167 units and 17078.08 but I don't understand them. The bill comes to £251.32 and it just seems a lot to us. We were being careful with the heating.

I remember that our landlord once said that in our flat is the only gas meter in the house. There are 2 bedsits in the house and our flat at the top. Could it be that we are paying for the others too?

It would be great if someone could advise us if it seems a bit too much for our flat and if it could be that we are paying for others as well.

Thank you!

Daisy

ilikewatch

The first thing I would do would be to switch off every appliance in your flat which uses gas, take a meter reading, then leave it as long as possible before switching your gas appliances on again - if the meter continues counting during this period you know that someone else is using your supply!
Alternatively you could ask the occupants of the bedsits if they use gas, and if so, are they billed for it.

victor2

5249kWh equates to the 167 units on an imperial meter.
Not sure what the 17078.08 refers to, possibly your annual usage in kWh?
Your usage does sound a bit high for that period. For example, my 4 bed detached house with gas central heating and hot water used 6581kWh in the same period.
If you have the only gas meter and there is another flat in the house, then verify that they don't have any gas appliances. If they do, you could be getting their bill.
The bill doesn't look unreasonable for that usage, you just have to confirm that you did actually use it!

Daisy80

Thank you for your reply! We have a good relationship with our landlord and I don't think he would do it secretly. COuld it be that the other tenants pay gas with the only meter in the house being in our flat?

And also does the usage seem high to you?

I was searching around a bot online and compared to what I find it seems loads.

vuvuzela

The first thing I would do is confirm that neither reading was estimated and they are correct. Is this the case ?

Daisy80

Ok I have to say only just checked the meter and they have way over estimated us. The have charged us for 167 units but according to the meter we have only used 72!! I can't believe they over estimate by that much!

I have called the meter line and updated the reading and they will send out a new bill. It was an automatic response so I couldn't speak to a person but I would imagine that our bill should come down to about £120 or so. That actually seems to make sense!

I am sorry for not checking the meter right away as it seems so obvious. Guess I went into a bit of a panic. :-(

Daisy80

Thanks again for the replies!

I know for certain that they have a cooker downstairs. I will try and get in touch with one of the neighbours and ask her how she pays for the gas.

Any ideas how it could work? I'd hate to think that we're paying the gas for the whole house!

macman

If you submit meter readings at least every 3 months, you won't receive estimated bills.
The bill clearly shows (next to the readings) whether it is an estmated, agent, or customer reading.
If there is only one meter in the property, and gas appliances outside your flat, then yes it is possible that you are paying for others. Simply tested as explained above.
Having said that, 5,279kWh for a winter quarter with gas CH and DHW doesn't seem unduly high.

Daisy80

I have spoken to my neighbour and she said it is all electric in her flat (cooker, heating) so that is fine.

Again I appreciate all the input!

Thanks!

j.smith1981

I haven't been doing the meter readings thing but going to start doing that from now on sounds like mine have been estimated quite high compared to what I actually use.

Not by a massive lot but seems a bit like they are over charging slightly for what I am actually using.

It's a great site this I always believed out of what I appreciated from friends or contacts of mine it was always estimated even if you submitted meter readings but then I am with British Gas, it would depend upon my actual package wouldn't it?

I really should get into the habbit of reading others posts that concern sometimes what I am starting to have problems with, I mean I can't imagine the over charging would be anything bigger than say £20 but every little bit helps.