British Gas bill over £1000 for a quarter .

murf

Hello all ...

My wife just rang me after reading our quarterly gas bill online at work in tears as its over a £1000 ,
We had our meter read last week and in January and the spike is huge ...
I will have all the meter readings later and bill info tonight as its being printed out today ...

We do not run the the heating during the day time and the hot water is on a timer for an hour morning and evening ....

I just wanted to get some initial advice and info for what to do next ..
Thank you ..

spiro

Did the reading in January get used by the supplier to bill you or was the bill based on an estimate which may mean they rejected the reading as 'out of tolerance'.

You need to double check the reading against the bill.

macman

Agreed, possible catch-up bill. First thing to do is to check the figures as advised-actual or estimates?
When did you last submit your own readings? You should be doing that at least every 3 months, as a meter only has to be read once every 2 years-you've now had a 6m gap it appears.
Are you on the supplier's cheapest tariff? If you are on quarterly billing not monthly DD, then you probably are not.

murf

Gas you've used for meter number **********
Meter reads 21 Apr 2012 - - actual 427 Estimated 12 Jul 2012 - - actual 2776 We read your meter Units converted = 2349 metric units over 83 days (actual) = 25689.99 kWh used over 83 daysGas ChargeFirst 609.00 kWh x 8.339p £50.78 Next 25080.99 kWh x 3.844p £964.11 Charge this period £1014.89

This is some info i have just been sent ..

And this is a projection of our usage for the whole of next year ...
From 15 Jul 2011 to 14 Jul 2012 , you used 31467 kWh of gas. If you continue to use energy at the same rate over the next 12 months, we estimate your cost will be £1396.45

Any other info i can provide i will as i am lost ...:(

murf

This was the actual bill for sept 11 to jan 12 ...
Gas you've used for meter number
Meter reads 22 Sep 2011 - - actual 0 Estimated 11 Jan 2012 - - actual 204 We read your meter Units converted = 204 metric units over 112 days (actual) = 2283.21 kWh used over 112 daysGas ChargeFirst 822.00 kWh x 8.339p £68.55 Next 1461.21 kWh x 3.844p £56.17 Charge this period £124.72
How we work out your gas usage
Total cost of gas used£124.72

murf

A new meter was fitted hence the 0 :S...

krlyr

Have you doublechecked your meter reading is what the bill claims it is? We've had a meter misread/typoed when copying the reading down in the past, 2349 units sounds an awful lot for a quarter. Compared to your previous usage, 204 units over 112 days (covering most of winter too!), you'd expect the bill for 83 days to be around the 150 unit mark! Going by the Jan-April figures too, that was only 223 units. Could it be that it was meant to be 776 and they've added the 2 on the start by mistake (perhaps being a new meter with a lower number throwing the reader out) or 726 the 7 key being hit twice by accident?

macman

Your annual consumption of 31,467kWh (if correct) is about twice the UK average for a property with gas CH and DHW, and does not remotely fit your description of your pattern of usage in post 1.
Give some more details-what heating and hot water system, what size of property, insulation, etc?
You are being billed on metric units-so do you have a metric or imperial meter?

murf

The meter reading as of just now is 02784..

daveyjp

2784 - what units? cu metre or cu ft?

MK55

Hi,
Check the serial number on your meter matches the bill.
Has your meter got 5 black and white digits?? If so are your bills reflecting a 5 dial meter??
Are you sure the meter was fitted at all 0's? New meter does not mean brand new?
Howlong is your heating on?
What is the thermostat temperature?