elec bill

emweaver

got my elec bill through today, the prices went down in march 07 and then dowm again apr 07 which is great.

But what I dont think is fair is how they estimated my reading at price change. This means I could have been charged for more units at the higher price change that I actually used.

My bills are really really high too. Do you think I should ring up british gas and make a point?

Cardew

This has been covered a number of times, both when prices were rising and now they are falling.

Why do you think it is not fair?

BG, who I assume you are talking about, have a sophisticated algorithm which takes into account the temperature to calculate(estimate) the consumption at the various dates of price change.

It will pretty obviously not be pro-rata as it is colder and darker earlier in the year and consumption will be higher before the price change date, than after it.

Had you phoned in the meter reading on the price change dates in Mar and April they would/should have used them; if they were plausible. Some customers did this and er ‘adjusted’ the figures they gave; which is of course deception!

I suspect even now if you rang BG and gave a plausible reason why your consumption was low before Mar 12th (like I was in prison;) ) they might adjust your bill.

P.S. It seems strange that you got your bill today(02 July) they are usually quarterly which would take you back to 02 April. So none of the consumption would be pre 12 March; and only a little prior to the second price drop. What period did this bill cover?

emweaver

British gas said theyve based my bills on my spend dec-mar, so when i had all the xmas lights plugged in etc. I think they over estimate your usage prior to the price change to get more money out of you. They said theres nothing they can do about this, yet ive calculated my usage from this bill on a weekly basis and based on my calculations my bill should be £20 cheaper

emweaver

The bill covered march - june.

When I rang them they said it was based on my previous bills usage. Had I known the prices were going down then i would have rang them

tripled

They aren't based on the previous bill's usage but a combination of your average consumption and national usage data. Someone at BG doesn't know what they are talking about, which sadly isn't uncommon.

So your saying that they are based on your previous bills (as to your previous bill's) usage is correct

Cardew

If you just got a quarterly bill on 2 July it would not cover the period before 12 March when the big price cut came into force.

The price cut in April was small.

You cannot work out a weekly amount and use that as a calculation. e.g. split a quarterly bill into 13 weeks. If they did that when prices were rising there would be an outcry.

At least BG are giving you a price reduction from the correct dates. Some companies, having announced a price cut for 01 April, do not reduce their charge until after the next billing period. e.g. the bill you got would all be at the old(higher) price.