British gas direct debit

Jewels94

My mother has just received an annual review of her gas and electricity account from British gas. They have decided that her new direct debit for electricity should go up from £40 a month to £90 a month. Her gas direct debit is £58 a month. They have estimated that her electricity consumption for the next 8 months will be 1440 kWh and that the cost of this will be £714. When I put these figures into the system the cost for that usage is £240 approximately. I phoned British gas on her behalf and they refused to recalculate it and said that she should not be on direct debit if she wasn't happy with having to pay that amount.

penrhyn

Are BGs calculations based on actual meter readings or estimates.
Is she in arrears atm?

Jewels94

She has submitted a meter reading and she is in arrears by the princely sum of £2

Fishingtime

Use the uswitch site to get a better deal.

Jewels94

According to uswitch her electricity bill with British gas using their forecasted usage should be about £350 per year and not the £714 that British gas want her to pay over 8 months. I should point out that my mother lives on her own, has gas central heating, gas cooker and only one television and she is being asked to pay more than what I am paying as a family with 4 TVs and constant computers on the go all day long. I have already tried to persuade her to switch but she is old fashioned and doesn't like change.

insanegloss

I suspect it's a data issue, used to see it occasionally when I worked there. All it requires is an upto date meter read and to restart the DD and bingo it was back on track.

Give them a shout on the complaints number on the back of the bill and should be resolved sharpish.

Jewels94

insanegloss wrote: »

I suspect it's a data issue, used to see it occasionally when I worked there. All it requires is an upto date meter read and to restart the DD and bingo it was back on track.

Give them a shout on the complaints number on the back of the bill and should be resolved sharpish.

I think you're probably right about it being a data issue but when I spoke to customer services they would not accept that an error had taken place. I tried to phone the complaints number but it was closed. I will be phoning again tomorrow.

dogshome

To deal with BG directly on your mothers behalf, she needs to write them a letter authorising you to do so.

This letter can be enclosed with one from you that is boldly headed Complaint
In the strange world of Utility suppliers, a letter headed Complaint carries a great deal more weight than phone calls or Emails

Jewels94

dogshome wrote: »

To deal with BG directly on your mothers behalf, she needs to write them a letter authorising you to do so.

This letter can be enclosed with one from you that is boldly headed Complaint
In the strange world of Utility suppliers, a letter headed Complaint carries a great deal more weight than phone calls or Emails

I have already been nominated on my mothers account so that I can speak to them on her behalf but I might just follow up on your suggestion of a letter headed COMPLAINT. I am just so disgusted that this dis the way BG treat vulnerable pensioners. My mother at the moment is terrified of using too much electricity because of this and I have to keep reassuring her that her usage isn't high.

Jewels94

British gas have finally agreed to reduce her direct debit to £45 per month. The only way I could get this done was by email to talktous@britishgas.co.uk. The complaints phone number was useless, they said that the person I needed to speak to was on a break and they would get him to phone me back. Guess what, I never received a phone call back