British Gas and Readings

szam_

Good afternoon.

I was hoping someone could explain the so-far complicated world of energy accounts to a newcomer as I've only ever had pre-paid meters before.

I moved in to an apartment back in August, subsequently, I waited for the first bill that never arrived. So in late September, I found out who my supplier was. They provided me with estimate readings until I managed to get reading, which is actually quite difficult in my building.

I obtained the reading for the Gas, but found out my Electric meter is broken.

So, after giving them my Gas reading and organising an engineer visit to replace the electric meter, I was told that my gas was actually paid up to 00621, whereas my reading was at roughly 00506, I can't remember the exact figure now. And as my electric meter doesn't work, not to worry about a bill until it is replaced, and subsequently told to ignore any bill that comes through the post. This was from, I can only assume, a British call center as the lady I spoke to had an English accent and name.

Today I received a direct debit confirmation, fair enough... with the estimated bills on it. Hold on a second, this is 3 weeks after I submitted my reading etc, and arranged an engineer visit.

After 40 minutes on hold (the first time the lady who answered put the phone down on me, so 20 minutes each time), and 20 minutes of trying to find out what I was meant to be paying and why I had been told completely the opposite of what the Indian call center staff were telling me, she told me she'd email who I spoke to a few weeks ago to contact me about my account. If that ever happens.

From what I gathered, despite being told the account was paid up to 621, the reading I gave them, had now become the "estimate" reading (515 according to today's letter) and I was being charged quite a large amount on Gas, that I only use for water as my apartment is so warm, I never have to switch the heating on.

Can someone explain to me, just from the above, what I should expect to be paying (not a total, that's impossible obviously, just as someone who moved in), should I be paying the estimate, or were they right to tell me that my bill is £0 until the meter hits the point it was paid up to previously, and if so, why will I still be charged for something that is apparently paid for? I don't know if, what they will do, is refund the person prior to me because they never submitted a reading to BG, but they gave no indication of that and seemed happy to tell me my gas was paid for up until a certain point. I am fine paying what they are asking me to pay on Electric because I imagine I'll get a huge bill, and budget far more for Gas and Electric than my bill anyway.

I have no objection to paying for what I use, I do have an objection to being messed around so many times and having to spend so much time ringing them to find out exactly what I owe, and now the reason why I'm being told different things by different people, and why I've had to submit my gas reading 3 times over 3 weeks because it never seems to be updated correctly and someone always rings me asking for it despite me submitting it and me telling them I already submitted it. I must have spent 5 hours total in the last month, on the phone to them (or should I say a majority of that time on hold).

Any help telling me how this whole thing is meant to work would be appreciated as my short time experiencing this is becoming increasingly frustrating.