British Gas Admit Misleading Pricing

Nomis_2

British Gas Admit In Writing To Misleading Economy 7 Customers About Prices - But Still Can't Say What They Are !!

I have spent the last 8 months trying to find out from British Gas what the Economy 7 period is (in other words which 7 hours) they still refuse to tell me (they say they don't know). For 7 months they told me (by phone and in writing) that it was actually 8 hours (2330 to 0730) I only found out they were lying when I stuck a test screwdriver into a night storage heater and found there was no power to it from 0630 onwards (there had been earlier on). I am disabled so this method is particularly difficult for me and because of where they are I can't access the meters late or early on in the day. After 7 months they admitted (in writing) that they had been misleading me, but still refuse to pay compensation, or say what the times are. Given that they charge over 5 times as much for my day time rate as the night time this is important, and I believe affects ten or hundreds of thousands of their customers.

None of British Gas's literature, nor their website, gives the Economy 7 periods, customers are just supposed to guess. I thought that prices are supposed to be published, rather than just enforced?

jessc_2001

Hi Nomis,

Would you be the same person that posted on the ThisIsMoney website?

If BG can't tell you over the phone what your time period is, how about you suggest that they pay for an engineer or plumber to visit you property and find out for them?

You should get between 5-7hours of cheap rate electricity per night.

The start of this "cheap" period can be from 11.30pm to 1am....

Hope this helps?

tripled

Times vary widely across the country. They used to be set by the local electricty board and so each region would have it's own timing. Some boards would have two or three different timings that meters could be set to, and on top of that some adjust the timers for BST and soem don't. The other problem that complicates it further is that the timer could go out of sync for those with older mechanical meters, sometimes by several hours, particularly in the case of a power cut. So basically they can only give you a guidline as to when they think it should come on, but they will be unable to give you definative times.

Nomis_2

Thanks for the suggestions.

British Gas did send an engineer but as he said it was a complete waste of time as you can't tell from looking at the meter - unless they are there at the unreasonable Economy 7 times (ie night time) and there are enough appliances running.

Regarding the different periods for different electricity boards it wouldn't be hard for British Gas to advise what each boards times are, even if they have to put in the caveat to cover your suggestion that meters can get out of sync. After all their pricing is based on the relevant electricity board, so why not add the time?

MarkyMarkD

Because the caveat that the meters can get out of sync is so material that it wouldn't be any point.

The only way is to look at your own meter and see when it switches over from one to the other.

Given that you have storage heaters, which will be set up to run at the right times anyway, I'm not sure why you are so bothered which exact hours are Economy 7 ones?

If you want to set up other devices like dishwashers, washing machines, etc. to run on Economy 7, if you set them to start at 0200 or so then you'll be safely on Economy 7 power almost anywhere in the country and even if your meter has gone way out of sync.

tripled

Also as I said some regions have several different timings, so that wouldn't be a huge amount of use either. I can try and obtain a list of regional timings if you like, but it probably won't help you much.

Nomis_2

Hi MarkyMarkD

The timings are relevant for at least 3 reasons -

1) British Gas were, and as far as I know still are, telling customers that their Economy 7 period is actually 8 hours, and as I've said before this 8th hour is 5 times more expensive than they've claimed.
2) Water heaters are best put on just prior to use.
3) Because of noise appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers are best put on as late in the morning as possible (closest to normal rising times). Clothes are also best not stuck in the machines for long either.

These points to people on even average incomes, or employees of British Gas, may seem petty, but, to those of us who exist on less than that, they aren't.

Nomis_2

Hi tripled

Thanks for the offer, I'm in Bournemouth, any info for this area would be of particular use to me.
Thanks again for your advice.

tripled

Economy 7 is 7 hours... that's why it's called economy 7. Perhaps in your region they meant the timings would vary between those times, ie you are getting 11.30 to 6.30 and someone else could be getting 12.30 to 7.30, but they just didn't explain it properly.

No problem, I should be able to post it this evening.

Cardew

Nomis,
I think rather than start a thread with a misleading title like yours, you should publish exactly(not your interpretation) what they have admitted in writing.

Economy 7, as the name suggests, is 7(Seven) hours of cheap electricity. I have never seen anything that could be construed as 'telling people' that it is 8 hours; perhaps you can produce some evidence to that effect.

What I suggest you are confused about is that the 7 hours is in an 8 hour window.(usually 11:30pm to7:30am)

I can't understand what you mean about an engineer being unable to determine(by looking at your meter) when you are using Economy 7. When your Economy 7 meter is increasing, you are on Economy 7.

Customers don't need to guess - they look at their meter.

Nomis_2

Hi Cardew

You asked for the direct quotes (but leapt to assuming that my title "British Gas Admit Misleading Pricing" was itself misleading) Do you work for British Gas? Here are some of the quotes -

30th September 2006 - Emma in billing, and Steve in house.co.uk confirmed, despite my questioning it (as yes it would be an 8 hour period) that throughout the year Economy 7 remains at 11.30pm to 0730am

then...

04 January 2006 - in writing - "I confirm the economy seven period for your meter covers the times 11:30pm to 7:30am." Customer Relations

then...

16 January 2007 - in writing - "11.30pm and 7.30am. This is the 8 hour period alloted" Customer Relations.

but then...

30 January - in writing - "I can only apologise for the misleading information you have been given regarding your time bandings." Customer Relations

and...

05 February - in writing - "I can only apologise for the information that you were given regarding the time bands in your area.... I will give feedback to the customer service agents that were unaware of the correct timescales and retraining will be given"

Mmmm. seems like they gave the wrong information repeatedly, then finally several months on realised that it was misleading, then realised they needed to retrain their staff. Could this mean that my title wasn't misleading and "British Gas Admit Misleading Pricing"?

Regarding the engineer - sending one during the day does nothing for identifying the times. Why don't, like everyone else selling anything, they just say what the cost will be? Admitedly this would mean they actually had to accept that they have a customer responsibility and talk with the few local electricity boards, but maybe if they did they wouldn't leak customers so badly.

What do you reckon??? So tell us, do you work for British Gas?