British Gas Reductions

orangecat

Just had my quarterly gas bill, having worked out the price per unit of gas used, I find that I am paying more than last year, despite a 19.6% reduction.

Are there any mathematicians out there?, as my maths are not too good.

Last gas bill 6th December 2006 to 9th March 2007 was: - Units used 304, total charges = £120.02 pence. Am I correct in saying that this equates to = 0.39480 pence per unit? 304 X 0.39480 = £120.02.

My recent bill 9th March 2007 to 8th June 2007 is: - 9th March 2007 to 12th March 2007 is units used 2 (Two) = £1.10 pence, equates .055 pence per unit.

12th March 2007 to 26th April 2007 = 44 units used = £21 52p. equates to 0.48909 pence.

26th April 2007 to 8th June 2007 = 25 units used
= £11.86p equates to 0.4744 pence per unit. 25 x 0.4744pence = £11.86.

Total gas payable £34.48. (NOT INCLUDING VAT @5%

Am I correct in assuming that if you were to add the three price structures together and divide by three, would give you the average price per unit, which is: - 1.51349 divided by three = .50449 pence per unit, which is an Increase of around 28% and not a decrease of 19.6%

If this is not correct, then why was I paying 39.5 pence per unit last year and .47pence per unit this year, despite the 19.6% decrease?

Both bills are over a 92 day period if this makes any difference?

ALL BRITISH GAS CUSTOMERS CHECK YOUR BILLS.

Thanks to any one who can throw some light on this subject.

Cardew

Firstly you are not charged per unit, you are charged per kWh.

As you have a metric meter each gas unit is approx 11.2kWh - it varies slightly.

Secondly you have not appreciated that the first 1,143 kWh each quarter are charged at a considerably higher rate - what BG refer to as Tier 1 and the rest of the kWhs are charged at a Tier 2 rate which is lower.

BG Standard Gas prices before March this year were:
Tier 1 = 5.507p/kWh - including VAT
Tier 2 = 2.941p/kWh - including VAT

The majority of utility firms use this charging method.

As you used approx 3,400kWh from Dec to Mar, you would have paid for 1,143kWh at Tier 1 rates and the rest at Tier 2.

However from Mar to June you only used about 800kWh you would have paid for all of them at the new(reduced) Tier 1 rate.

So it would appear that your fears are groundless.

orangecat

Thank you cardew for the explaination.

discobaby

firstly the first price drop occured on 12th march so the 9th of march would be irrelevant and the larger price drop occurred on the 26th april so bills from there on will reflect this:)

Cardew

discobaby wrote: »

firstly the first price drop occured on 12th march so the 9th of march would be irrelevant and the larger price drop occurred on the 26th april so bills from there on will reflect this:)

Firstly the bill was to 9th March. So the dates for that bill are relevant as the OP was working out average costs.

Secondly they billed for 9th March to 12 March(2 units) at the old price.

Thirdly the larger price drop did not occur on 26th April.

On 12th March BG gas dropped 17% and on 26th April it dropped a further 3%.

discobaby

My point exactly, larger savings are from 26th April

tripled

Cardew was right...

You didn't say 'the larger savings' before, and even that is somewhat ambiguous. You said

the larger price drop occurred on the 26th april

It didn't as the price drop on the 26th April was only 3% compared to a 17% drop in March.

However if you could justify in detail how the 3% is larger than the 17% go ahead, I'll be interested to see the result