Extremely high electicity bills.

SwanJon

If you are worried about the time taken to get through you could raise an enquiry on their website:
https://www.britishgas.co.uk/Help_Advice/ContactUs/?bglink_id=i10096
This will go to a person rather than an automated system which is what you need to start the ball rolling.
Have you kept a record of the readings you have taken in the past 6 months? If you have it will give them a much better sounding to resolve it.
Definately do it from now on - a simple table in a spreadsheet will give you a bit more control.

dchurch24

I haven't.....of course :-(

I'll phone them on Saturday and see what this is all about. It's really very confusing.
I just don't understand why they don't have Internet connected usage meters connected, and then bill you each month for the amount used in much the same way that a landline phone works.

SwanJon

..beacuse the system was initially set up in the 40s.
Unlike the phone system the meters have no connection back to the industry, and so one would need to be provided, which would cost.
However, by 2020 we will all have smart meters that are connected back (or so the government says).
Almost 50m meters in 8 years.....

elektra

macman wrote: »

The 3 month spike has me baffled. Test the meter, if nothing untoward then you need a sparky!

We don't know if it is a true spike as bills have been estimated.

dchurch24 wrote: »

June 2011 was the last time according to their website.

So what was that reading and and what is the reading now ? This will give an idea of 15 months usage.

have you had a meter change in last 3 years ?

macman

I may have lost the plot here, but I thought that the 'spikes' were based on the OP's recording of meter readings?
Agreed though that it's a good idea to establish actual 12m if we can from the available data. If not, 15m will help.

elektra

dchurch24 wrote: »

All the other bills say 'Estimated' apart from a couple of others over three years. One is on a "high" month and one is on a month were less than 500kWh were used.

I can only go back 3 years, but the three-month spike is consistent throughout.

The meter readings are correct. Admittedly though, I can only vouch for the last 6 months as my ex-girlfriend used to handle this until then.

s.

macman wrote: »

I may have lost the plot here, but I thought that the 'spikes' were based on the OP's recording of meter readings?

Most bills estimated. Post no16 mentions 'spike' info taken from readings on the website.

macman

Yes, the bills are estimated,But the OP says that actual readings have been supplied monthly as required on this tariff-the supplier has failed to use them.
What we don't know is if the OP has kept a record of the readings submitted, and if so how far back that goes.
We await the results of the OP's meter test.

jimjames

dchurch24 wrote: »

June 2011 was the last time according to their website.

Definitely need to know how much has been used between June 2011 and now. What was that reading and what is the reading now? You say the readings were correct - which ones were definitely correct?

Is the meter an old one with dials or digital? The dial ones can be tricky to read so it would be possible to get the reading massively out by misreading digits.

As a comparison our electric for a 5 bed is about 400-600kWh per month depending on season - low in summer and higher in winter with tumble drier on etc.

Neil49

victor2 wrote: »

As well as taking daily readings, switch everything off (including the fridge) and verify that the meter is not recording any usage.
With the usage you are reporting, something would have to be using a lot, so switch things back on individually and see when the meter starts recording something significant.
Don't forget to switch the fridge back on when done!

I don't want to muddy the waters any more as you have had a lot of good advice so far but, as someone who has had problems with a faulty electric meter earlier this year there is something you can try out based on what Victor has said.

I discovered that my meter was at fault when, in sheer frustration, I literally turned off the power to the house using the red switch in the fuse box and left it off for an hour. I took a reading when I switched off and one hour later went back and found that the meter reading had increased by 0.4 kwh (and after a further 30 minutes, to 0.6 kwh). Fortunately my meter had minor units in the digital display so it soon clocked up usage.

My power supplier arranged for an engineer to visit (who said it was giving crazy readings) but also said that it was best to do such a test by switching off the power using the switch next to the meter. From what I recall he said there could be power drainage via earth between the meter and the fuse box.

Ok, so it's only a very crude test but it certainly worked for me. Either way, the meter had developed a fault and was replaced. Fortunately I keep meter readings and was able to get a recalculated bill based on past usage.

I'm with Scottish Power and used the rep who monitors this site to progress the issue as I kept talking to different people on the phone and having to explain the situation from scratch every time. If BG have a rep on this site then I suggest you use them as then all your correspondence is via email and you retain a record of what has been said and agreed.

Hope this helps.

Maharishi

dchurch24 wrote: »

No. They ARE billing me for £900 in a month. I'm not billed quarterly, I'm billed monthly.

June 01 - June 30: 7865.47 kWh = £918.27

Like I said, every three months it jumps up hugely. The month after this was less than 700kWh of usage.

I don't pay anything by DD. Especially not to BG. About 10 years ago, I had a DD set up to pay (I think) about 35 quid. One month my account was debited by 350 instead. I had a similar thing with BT. 40 quid became 400 which caused other DDs to bounce resulting in my being charged. It took me nearly a year to get it back from them, as they kept insisting that they simply reduce my monthly payments until it was all used up! They also refused to pay any of the bank charges. So, no. People get paid when I pay them these days, not automatically.

That is just ridiculous unless you're growing pot in the roofspace. We live in a 4 bed and with TV, light, water, heating, fridge, freezer, PC and laptop x 2. For all this we pay £60 per month. Your supposed June usage EXCEEDS our annual consumption... and no, we don't hibernate in the winter to save power :0)