Moved House High Bill Advice

Jonnyah2006

I moved into a new property on the 14th of December, and within a couple of days I received a letter from Scottish Gas telling me they'll force entry into my property to fit a card meter. I called them that day from work and explained I had just purchased the house and moved in a couple of days ago, at the time they said that was fine and they would estimate my gas and electricity meters on account of me being at work and unable to provide the readings. I didn't think anything off it as I received a bill a month or so later for £120 for the period of the 14th of December until the 23rd of January, which is when I switched to Scottish Power. However, I've received another bill today for £150 for the same period of 14th December until the 23rd of January, meaning the total bill for that period is £280. To me this seems excessive considering at my previous property we paid on average £80 a month.
Could the estimate readings taken by Scottish gas been way off the mark, and is there anything I can do?

HappyMJ

Did you provide check the meter when you got home and provide actual meter readings and do these meter readings correspond with the bill that they have generated.

Are you sure it's not a replacement bill? They may have estimated at £120 then once they got actual meter readings withdrawn the intial bill and replaced it with one for £150. £150 for 5 weeks is fine.

Jonnyah2006

Stupidly I did not check the meter reading when I got home, what with being in a new house etc I forgot, the property had been empty for 8 months which makes me slightly suspicious they have estimated incorrectly, but I guess there is no real way to tell now.

The recent meter reading are correct on the latest bill, I presume this is because I had to provide these as part of the transfer to Scottish Power.

I called Scottish Gas and they've confirmed it's an additional bill and not a revised bill.

Ecodave

It's not particularly helpful comparing one property to another. There could be lots of reasons why the same occupants would consume far more energy in 1 house to another. Anyway the £80 a month figure for the other house, was that a direct debit amount (a monthly payment that broadly remains the same throughout the year), so would underestimate consumption for the peak winter months that we are talking about?

How many kW/h of both gas and electricity have you been charged for? It's now another 7 weeks since the date of your switch, so go and read your meters and tell us how much gas and electricity has been consumed since then, and we will be better placed to offer an opinion.

Worst case scenario is that they are right, but at least you have found out that you have some energy efficiency work to do pronto.

Fire_Fox

You are a bit stuffed because you responded to a formal letter with a telephone call, and didn't bother to take meter readings. Did you take and supply an accurate reading when you got the 23 January bill and have you taken and supplied one again now?

Calculating in pounds is unhelpful because that includes standing charges and prices vary, make your comparisons between the two bills in KWH. No point in comparing to a previous property of a different size, with different insulation in different weather conditions. It's also pointless to compare an average of summer and winter usage with just winter usage.

If the house was empty then the supplier will be assuming it didn't use much energy, if the heating or hot water were left on then you might be paying for gas during the vacancy.