British Gas! Can I Really Have Used £500 a Month??? **UPDATE** In Credit!

quailpower

So the result of the investigation into meter readings has come out and apparently my bill is not £1092.14 in debit.

But in fact £135.25 in CREDIT!

*round of applause*

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So I've just got my final bill from british gas.

My DD was set at £55 for electric and gas (suspiciously low right??) but with two people working full time in a tiny two bed I gave them the benefit of the doubt.

I phoned up every month and provided meter readings and was told "ok that is very similar to our estimated so we don't need to update it"

Then wham, Final bill for £1092.14!!!!

Ive asked for a full breakdown of charges, payments and meter readings because when you close an account you cant access that information on your online account anymore.

I can see the statements however,


18 Apr 2013 Energy Charges * 425.22 -1092.14
08 Apr 2013 direct debit payment received 55.00 -666.92
23 Mar 2013 Energy Charges * 551.81 -721.92
07 Mar 2013 Direct Debit payment received 55.00 -170.11
18 Feb 2013 Energy Charges * 250.36 -225.11
07 Feb 2013 Direct Debit payment received 55.00 25.25
22 Jan 2013 Miscellaneous adjustment 100.00 -29.75
18 Jan 2013 Energy Charges * 215.98 -129.75
07 Jan 2013 Direct Debit payment received 55.00 86.23
25 Dec 2012 Energy Charges * 23.77 31.23

So apparently ive used nearly £500 a month for the last two months!! I know its been cold but I rarely have the heating on and the house is only inhabited from 5pm at night! Could I really have used £500pm??

And why when I was phoning each month was I told that my estimated readings were fine and that my DD was fine! I used to work for a certain big utility supplier and If I had a customer that was using £500 PM I would advise them to increase their DD! I would have happily bumped it up at the time, but now I dont really have that option.

Ive been made redundant and heavily pregnant so no hope of quick re-employment. Im back living with the parents and no idea how Im going to clear this balance!

ValHaller

No good looking at £££. This sort of problem needs you to look at actual meter readings.

quailpower

quailpower wrote: »

Ive asked for a full breakdown of charges, payments and meter readings because when you close an account you cant access that information on your online account anymore.
!

Ive got the meter readings I took and the dates, but as I said they didnt input them when I phoned up as they were very similar apparently. So I cant see what meter readings have been used to calculate my bill other than:

18 Jan : 7177 & 35204

27 April : 7476 & 36283

18th Jan I have a paper copy that I printed off, and 27th was my final read. I tried calculating manually but I just cant do it! (Im a ex Water Comanpy employee so I just get really confused and try to work it out like the water bills!)

daveyjp

I suspect the account is in debt due to a DD which was too low. Another case of foregoing the small discount you get for paying by DD and getting quarterly bills you can understand.

quailpower

daveyjp wrote: »

I suspect the account is in debt due to a DD which was too low. Another case of foregoing the small discount you get for paying by DD and getting quarterly bills you can understand.

I have always paid by DD and dont like paying quarterly as my partners work changes through the year so it makes managing a quarterly budget hard.

I have paid by DD with EDF previously and they always updated my DD with every reading. I did ask several times if the DD was at a right amount, because I thought It was low but was advised it was fine.

zerog

OK, so what tarriff are you on and which reading is gas and which is elec?

quailpower

zerog wrote: »

OK, so what tarriff are you on and which reading is gas and which is elec?

Clear and Simple with EnergySmart
Electricity unit rates
12.788p per kWh
Annual electricity standing charge: £55.55
Gas unit rates
4.124p per kWh
Annual gas standing charge: £84.96

and the 7476 is electric, 36283 is gas

thanks!

macman

Metric or imperial gas meter?

quailpower

Sorry Ive just noticed thats the wrong way around!!

7476 is GAS (I assume Imperial as it measures Ft3 on meter)
36283 is ELECTRIC

zerog

quailpower wrote: »

Sorry Ive just noticed thats the wrong way around!!

7476 is GAS (I assume Imperial as it measures Ft3 on meter)
36283 is ELECTRIC

So from 18 Jan to 27 Apr is 99 days
Total standing charge per year £140.51: £38.11 for 99 days

Gas: 7476 - 7177 = 299 hundred cubic feet
299 × 32 = 9568 kWh
9568kWh × £0.0412/kWh = £394

Electricity: 36283 - 35204 = 1079 kWh
1079kWh × £0.12788/kWh = £138

Total £38 + £394 + £138 = £570

Your prices appear to be ex-VAT. £570 * 1.05 = £598.50

But you seem to have been charged £1,227.39 for that period

quailpower

zerog wrote: »

So from 18 Jan to 27 Apr is 99 days
Total standing charge per year £140.51: £38.11 for 99 days

Gas: 7476 - 7177 = 299 hundred cubic feet
299 × 32 = 9568 kWh
9568kWh × £0.0412/kWh = £394

Electricity: 36283 - 35204 = 1079 kWh
1079kWh × £0.12788/kWh = £138

Total £38 + £394 + £138 = £570

Your prices appear to be ex-VAT. £570 * 1.05 = £598.50

But you seem to have been charged £1,227.39 for that period

Thanks so much for manually working it out for me!!! I tried desperately yesterday but my brain is so fudged at the moment I just gave myself a headache!


So for that period I should have been billed £598.50? And yet somehow Ive been billed in the £1000's (obvs including the DD running at £55pm in that period).

And I only switched to BG in December, so there cant have been massive arrears!

HMMM Im looking forward to this new bill and my breakdown. Lets see how they try to justify the £1000 bill.