Gas bill seems a little high

nick.evans

Hello all and thanks for reading..

I have recently received an updated gas bill from British Gas which takes my useage for the year to £1742.

I live on my own in a modern 2 bed flat, no dependants, 'A' rated efficiency, double glazed etc. Gas hob and boiler. In the past 12 months Central heating has remained off, except for the week it snowed, then when i was home it was on for an hour or 2 but apart from that week just hot water and the hob. I work full time, including nights so the flat is often empty.

British Gas are saying this bill is from actual meter readings so cannot be wrong.

i pay £60pm electricity

It seems a little high to me but i appreciate energy prices have rocketed recently.

Do the above figures seem close to correct?

thanks for your time

dogshome

It would be better for advice if you posted your Annual gas consumption in Kwh used, not £'s paid.

However, doing some very rough calculations on your £1,742 year by subtracting the VAT and £100 for the Service Charge, you appear to be paying £1,559 a year for gas, which equates to a consumption of around 31,000 Kwh a year, which is a HUGE amount for a modern 2 bed flat.

First thing to check - Are you being billed for correct type of meter?
Your meter will be marked in the window either m3 for a metric model, or ft3 if it's an Imperial model

Next look at a bill and divide the No. of meter units used into the No. of Kwh charged - If the answer is appx 31.5 you are being charged for a ft3 Imperial meter - If the answer is appx 11.2 you are being charged for an m3 Metric meter
If the chargeing formula doesn't match the meters mark - Get on to your supplier immediately and send them a photo of the meter

nick.evans

Thanks for your reply. I have gone through this with British gas before as i received a bill for £3200 for approx 6 months gas.. i went through thos calculations last time and i am being charged for a metric meter.

It is quite frustrating because i think my usage is minimal, yet when i check the comparison sites BG seem to want more for gas than the other companies are projecting for combined energy use.

my combined bill for 2013 will be over, for a single occupant, 2 bed flat.

Yet BG refuse to accept that may be a problem, bills from actual readings so has to be right

2013yearofthehouse

Can you post your annual kwh usage for gas and elec?

Obviously you could be on a much more expensive tarriff than I am, but you're paying more than double what I do for both gas and elec for 2 people in a 4 bedroom detached house, that sounds like it's occupied way more than your flat and has the heating on more.

Is it possible you could be paying for both your usage and a neighbours?

Have you checked all the meter readings are correct?

What are your tarriff details?

nick.evans

i will do when i get home, can't believe i am paying double your bill.... electricity isn't an issue, i am a fairly heavy user.

Gas however for the amount i use should be below average.. i will post up the details of the bill when i get home from work..

thanks for your time

dogshome

Hmmm - So no Metric/Imperial meter mix-up

If you are in block of flats, do you have the gas meter inside your flat, or is it in a Communial Services along with all the other meters ? - If this is the case you could be being billed for entirely the wrong meter
Withh gas appliances off, read your meter prior to going out for a long period and again when you get back - any movement was not yours

nick.evans

yes this was my first thought....

On my meter readings the years bill was estimated at around £400

when i had the gas safety cert done at the end of last year i got the corgi engineer to check and confirm which my meter was as i thought it was the source of confusion.. everything was ok until jan when they sent one of their engineers out to read the meter and they re-adjusted the bill.

since then i have given them three meter readings and they are saying the rather large gas bill is definitely correct..

i noticed my pre approved offers had dissappeared from my online banking, checked the credit ref agencies and BG have marked me down as in arrears as i am showing as owing them £1200....

i am really not a happy man now, i have spent years building up my credit after some problems in 2005 and now i am back to square one

penrhyn

For what its worth, for a 3 bed mid terrace last year I used around 8000Kwh gas and 2000 Kwh Electricity. Gas around £40 /month, Electricity around £30 / month.

Assuming you are not catching up with arrears then are you sure its your meters.

nick.evans

It's not catching up with arrears, well that's what they say I'm doing because apparently my bills have been incorrect since 1/5/13... But it's not 5 years worth of energy

Electricity is going to be high as I'm gadget happy with a big tropical fish tank, hifi, plasma etc..

Gas however should not be, and the 1700ish is just for gas

2013yearofthehouse

For the 4 bed detached I mentioned earlier, it's £48/month gas for approx. 13500kwh and £28/month for approx. 2000kwh.

Will be interesting to see the meter readings, thanks.

nick.evans

I'll be home in 30mins I'll post the facts and figures then