Metric Meter incorrectly billed

c.ianson

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows how i can work out how much i am being overcharged.

Last year we bought our 1st house that only had electric heating with nothing running on gas. so we got that removed and bought a brand new boiler etc and this meant that a gas meter would need to be installed. British gas installed it but didn't update the system to say it was metric. i phoned my current supplier utility warehouse to ask why my bills are so high as there is only 3 of us in a small maisonette with a new efficient boiler. they now know we have a metric meter and have said they owe us £350 but to me we should be owed more than that as we have been incorrectly billed since november 2010. My bill today for feb usage is £178 they have still incorrectly billed us. I would like to know the formula how to convert the imperial readings to metric so i can figure out for myself what they owe me.

Thanks for your help!

MK55

c.ianson wrote: »

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows how i can work out how much i am being overcharged.

Last year we bought our 1st house that only had electric heating with nothing running on gas. so we got that removed and bought a brand new boiler etc and this meant that a gas meter would need to be installed. British gas installed it but didn't update the system to say it was metric. i phoned my current supplier utility warehouse to ask why my bills are so high as there is only 3 of us in a small maisonette with a new efficient boiler. they now know we have a metric meter and have said they owe us £350 but to me we should be owed more than that as we have been incorrectly billed since november 2010. My bill today for feb usage is £178 they have still incorrectly billed us. I would like to know the formula how to convert the imperial readings to metric so i can figure out for myself what they owe me.

Thanks for your help!

Hi, and welcome.

I need a little more info to help you, could you provide the meter reads and dates of the bills in question, as well as ur unit rates and standing charges you may be paying i'll have a look and post the calculations back to you.

thanks

c.ianson

Customer's Meter reading: 31-01-2012 732
Customer's Meter reading: 29-02-2012 817
Units used 85
Calorific value 39.2
Kilowatt-hours 2679
Pence per kilowatt-hour 4.180
Total cost of gas used (excluding VAT) £ 111.98
Standing charge (£) from 01-02-2012 to 29-02-2012 1.00



for the last 4 months all of my bill have been over £150. the highest was £200 at christmas. It just seems a high amount. we only have 4 radiators in the house! We don't use lots of hot water and things.


Thanks for your help.

macman

The factor you want is approx 2.83. But remember that that applies only to the kWh figures only, your standing charges will still apply the same.
So your actual revised bill will not be 2.83 times lower.
Using the example from your last bill, the kWh figure of 2,679 should be about 947 for a metric meter.
You may find this tool useful:
http://www.energylinx.co.uk/gas_meter_conversion.html
PS: you say that you bought the house 'last year' (2011) but that you have been incorrectly billed since 'November 2010'-that doesn't compute. The billing correction will go back to the date the meter was installed.
The supplier shoud rebill you for the entire period so that you can verify the calculations.
I'm puzzled as to how a new supply and meter can have been set up as imperial-BG do not install imperial meters any more. Confusion usually only arises when a meter is changed (imperial to metric) but not then updated on the billing system.

c.ianson

Sorry, we bought the house in november 2010 and that is when british gas installed the new meter and we was with them but we changed to utility warehouse in the january 2011. I haven't got a clue how they got it wrong i just want to get it sorted out.

Thanks

macman

So in fact you have being incorrectly billed by both suppliers-in which case you need to get rebilled by both.
UW only owe you whatever has been overbilled since you switched to them in January, you can work that out by applying the correct factor to recalulate your actual kWh usage, and the rework your bill accordingly. But I doubt that it's more than £350 overpaid in just 2 months. You will have to recover all the earlier overbilling from BG-nothing to do with UW.
BG will be the difficult one to check because of the no. of prices changes during that period.