£750 gas/elec bill on mostly empty house [British Gas]

stanai_2

Hi,

In Jan-2011, I moved to Manchester with a friend. In Jan-2013, she moved out. This week, I'm moving out and got landed with a £750ish gas/elec bill from British Gas. The typical bill has been £100-150/quarter over the past 2 years.

The last meter reading was in Nov-2012, and the house has been mostly unoccupied since Feb-2013 (with the [gas] central heating turned off). Both the electricity and the gas readings are considerably higher than British Gas's "estimated" reading, and the person that I spoke to on the phone was innovative enough to suggest that they'd "estimated wrongly" back in November.

If the cost was off by £50-100, I could understand and would be willing to pay it, but I frankly cannot afford to pay the £750 (I'm moving house in order to downsize).

When I'm next at the house, I'll see how far the meters turn in a 24 hour period with nothing in the house turned on (to see if either meter is faulty), however in the meantime is there anything that I can do about British Gas's massively mis-estimated bill? I'd ideally like to have it reduced and spread over a few months.

Thanks,
Mark

wakeupalarm

On the bill it normally tells you that its an estimated bill and you can then ring up or enter the correct readings online to avoid getting wildly inaccurate estimated bills. Have you checked the meter to see if the final reading on the bill matches what the meter reads?

comeandgo

You say that the last meter reading was in November 2012 then you say it was estimated - it cant be both, It was either read or estimated. If it was estimated it is up to you to send the correct readings. When was the last time the meter was actually read?
I dont think you will get the amount reduced, its not their fault but you can ask for time to pay it.

stanai_2

@wakeupalarm:
Thanks for the reply - I gave British Gas my meter reading earlier today, they gave me the £750 figure after that. The "estimated bill" that I received a week or so ago was for around £150 (for one month).

@comeandgo:
The reading was taken in Nov-2012, so an accurate bill was provided based on that, back in November. Since then, I've been receiving and paying estimated bills. I sent correct readings in today as I'm moving out, and they sent me the £750 figure.

If they want to use "estimated bills" instead of regular readings, they can hardly expect me to conjure £750 all at once. Before they "estimated", the house had been occupied by me and a friend. After they took the reading in Nov-2012 and "estimated" the usage, my friend moved away and I spent a week at a time away (with heating turned off while I was away), so I'd have expected them to be owing me money after this final reading.

Fire_Fox

Woah! They do not 'want' to use estimated readings, suppliers don't live in your house and have better things to do that try to read all the meters in the country every couple of months. That would massively bump up bills, since they can't even guarantee access. By law suppliers have to read the meters every two years.

In between suppliers 'want'/ expect customers to check their bills each time they receive them, check any estimated meter readings, tariff etc are correct and contact them if not. You can send readings in by smartphone app, online or by telephone, there's really no excuse for not bothering. Many people here read their meters every month, some every week so they can keep on top of their usage.

You can write to BG and ask to pay by instalments but you don't have the right to do so, fundamentally the supplier is not in the wrong.

Wywth

stanai wrote: »

Hi,

In Jan-2011, I moved to Manchester with a friend. In Jan-2013, she moved out. This week, I'm moving out and got landed with a £750ish gas/elec bill from British Gas. The typical bill has been £100-150/month over the past 2 years.

The last meter reading was in Nov-2012, and the house has been mostly unoccupied since Feb-2013 (with the [gas] central heating turned off). Both the electricity and the gas readings are considerably higher than British Gas's "estimated" reading, and the person that I spoke to on the phone was innovative enough to suggest that they'd "estimated wrongly" back in November.

If the cost was off by £50-100, I could understand and would be willing to pay it, but I frankly cannot afford to pay the £750 (I'm moving house in order to downsize).

When I'm next at the house, I'll see how far the meters turn in a 24 hour period with nothing in the house turned on (to see if either meter is faulty), however in the meantime is there anything that I can do about British Gas's massively mis-estimated bill? I'd ideally like to have it reduced and spread over a few months.

Thanks,
Mark

stanai wrote: »

@wakeupalarm:
Thanks for the reply - I gave British Gas my meter reading earlier today, they gave me the £750 figure after that. The "estimated bill" that I received a week or so ago was for around £150 (for one month).

@comeandgo:
The reading was taken in Nov-2012, so an accurate bill was provided based on that, back in November. Since then, I've been receiving and paying estimated bills. I sent correct readings in today as I'm moving out, and they sent me the £750 figure.

If they want to use "estimated bills" instead of regular readings, they can hardly expect me to conjure £750 all at once. Before they "estimated", the house had been occupied by me and a friend. After they took the reading in Nov-2012 and "estimated" the usage, my friend moved away and I spent a week at a time away (with heating turned off while I was away), so I'd have expected them to be owing me money after this final reading.

How were you paying/being billed? Monthly payments by DD or payment on receipt of bill?

If payment on receipt of bill, I don't see how you could suggest a property heated by gas central heating produces a typical bill of £100-£150 per month over 2 years. Typically winter bills are high and summer bills are low.

If paying monthly by DD, then are you saying you owe £750 since November (not forgetting you suggest little/no gas has been used since February), on top of the £625 or so I would have thought you had paid over that period? :eek:

£1375 worth of gas in just 3 months? :eek:
That's almost twice what an average household would use in a year.

I'm sorry, but your posts make no sense to me.

stanai_2

Wywth wrote: »

How were you paying/being billed? Monthly payments by DD or payment on receipt of bill?

If payment on receipt of bill, I don't see how you could suggest a property heated by gas central heating produces a typical bill of £100-£150 per month over 2 years. Typically winter bills are high and summer bills are low.

If paying monthly by DD, then are you saying you owe £750 since November (not forgetting you suggest little/no gas has been used since February), on top of the £625 or so I would have thought you had paid over that period? :eek:

£1375 worth of gas in just 3 months? :eek:
That's almost twice what an average household would use in a year.

I'm sorry, but your posts make no sense to me.

Sorry, just re-checked the older bills that I'd based by figures on - last year was £100-200 per quarter, not per month. In Nov-2012, the bill was £30 after the meter reading and subsequent bills were monthly after a tariff change.

I'd been paying online. The £750 is the final month plus the correction arising from the meter reading. I have no idea what a "normal" gas&elec bill is, since this is my first time outside of student accommodation. I don't tend to spend much time in the house, so rarely had the central heating on (except for a freezing spell in December), and electricity use was mostly just for cooking and a computer. I was expecting them to owe me money after the reading, since the estimates after November were based on two people living in the house and the usage since was just me, only there every alternate week.

Monthly bills for this year are:

[SIZE="2"]01/13	02/13	03/13	04/13	04/13
54.63	64.45	167.47	137.51	613.55[/SIZE]

with the massive final bill as a result of the meter reading.

hannah899

Unfortunately this may be right. I have just had a shock to the system finding out my gas bill was £550 I rang them up and he explained it to me and told me this is correct. He also told me that last year all the was through march it was at least 17 degrees and as you will know its been barely over 0. I would ring them just in case though.

DragonQ

Could be a mistake. Check the meter readings yourself - compare the meter reading now to that of November 2012, then apply the tariff charges for whichever tariff you're on and see what figure you come up with.

Is it anywhere near £1000? Unless you've had your heating (or a high-wattage electrical device) on constantly for the last 5 months, I doubt it.

macman

You seem to forget about standing charges. It would have been better to switch to an NSC tariff if you are absent often.

DragonQ

macman wrote: »

You seem to forget about standing charges. It would have been better to switch to an NSC tariff if you are absent often.

A standing charge of 20p per day would be £30 over 5 months. Nowhere near significant.