Gas Bill woes

coneybiller

Hi, I'm a first time house owner and have never had to pay a gas bill before (due to living in a rented property with electricity only). When we moved in, in July last Year (2014), there were pre-payment meters installed, which we had replaced for pay monthly meters. They replaced them in august and since then we have a paid £47 p/m via DD. They created estimated bills due to estimated useage and I have been in credit up until now. I decided to do a meter reading on Monday and send it in seeing as we hadn't had anyone round to read the meter since it was installed. According to the british gas app on my phone, the meter started life on 06117 (presumably a second hand meter?) and as of the 16th of March it now reads 07637 and states, 13596(kWh) usage.

I was £142.93 in credit and now after that has been deducted, I'm £486.60 in debit! They have the bill for December to march and its come to £630.53! For 3 months? Does this seem right?
They are putting up my DD up to £95 p/m but are suggesting I should pay £122 p/m which is frankly ridiculous!

I have a 3 Bed Semi-detached, circa 1950's, Gas central heating (class D efficiency boiler, 78.6%) gas oven and gas hob. Heatings on in the morning 6.30 - 9am and in the evening from 6 - 10pm. We had Hive installed to have thermostat control and an electronic heating schedule. The heating is only on at these times. Oven used once and the hob maybe twice a day.

British gas have basically said to switch gas appliances off for a few hours and check the meter for movement and to do this over the course of the week. So I shall be doing this just in case.

The day after I took the meter reading we had a bloke come round and took a meter reading (coincidentally). Comparing readings from his to mine the previous day I can see I had used 45kWh over the day. Around £2. So I really cannot understand my bill!

Can anyone shed any light on my issue and if it is wrong what I can do about it?

Cheers

Ben

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

coneybiller wrote: »

Hi, I'm a first time house owner and have never had to pay a gas bill before (due to living in a rented property with electricity only). When we moved in, in July last Year (2014), there were pre-payment meters installed, which we had replaced for pay monthly meters. They replaced them in august and since then we have a paid £47 p/m via DD. They created estimated bills due to estimated useage and I have been in credit up until now. I decided to do a meter reading on Monday and send it in seeing as we hadn't had anyone round to read the meter since it was installed. According to the british gas app on my phone, the meter started life on 06117 (presumably a second hand meter?) and as of the 16th of March it now reads 07637 and states, 13596(kWh) usage.

I was £142.93 in credit and now after that has been deducted, I'm £486.60 in debit! They have the bill for December to march and its come to £630.53! For 3 months? Does this seem right?
They are putting up my DD up to £95 p/m but are suggesting I should pay £122 p/m which is frankly ridiculous!

I have a 3 Bed Semi-detached, circa 1950's, Gas central heating (class D efficiency boiler, 78.6%) gas oven and gas hob. Heatings on in the morning 6.30 - 9am and in the evening from 6 - 10pm. We had Hive installed to have thermostat control and an electronic heating schedule. The heating is only on at these times. Oven used once and the hob maybe twice a day.

British gas have basically said to switch gas appliances off for a few hours and check the meter for movement and to do this over the course of the week. So I shall be doing this just in case.

The day after I took the meter reading we had a bloke come round and took a meter reading (coincidentally). Comparing readings from his to mine the previous day I can see I had used 45kWh over the day. Around £2. So I really cannot understand my bill!

Can anyone shed any light on my issue and if it is wrong what I can do about it?

Cheers

Ben

Average consumption for gas is 13,000 kwh pervanum, and electricity would be 3,300 kwh. From you saying, paying £47, you under paid by aprox £30 a month since July last year, hence the hike in you DD.

You gas usage is about right for heating at this time of year, 45kw per day.

Problem is the energy comparison websites do not use a standard figure to base comparisons on, and energy supplier plump people on lower rates to start with. This is why most, like you are hit in winter, when bills come in.

Consumerist

Your post doesn't make it clear which meter (gas or electricity) you have been reading so it's not possible to comment on those readings.

Best bet is to go through your latest statement to see how they have arrived at their charges.

coneybiller

There's still another 5 months left before we've been on the pay monthly meter for 12 months. It seems high to me, I didn't know I would get penalised so heavily for not presenting my meter readings myself!

I presume there's absolutely nothing I can do apart from pay the bill and learn from my mistake! It just pains me that BG have absolutely no sympathy and are quite happy to take my money regardless of the fact we're now going to be worried about putting the heating on if we're feeling chilly! I always thought they were more regular with the meter readings but obviously not.

Oh and yes it is a gas meter I'm talking about. I can't view the latest bill at the moment as its being amended.

spiro

The most important thing you need to learn from this is to understand the meaning of 'estimated', when you get one of these bills the first thing you should do is read the meter and submit it to your supplier. Because you didn't do that you have now had what is commonly referred to as a catchup bill.

Energy suppliers are only required to read your meter every 2 years, that is why the BG t&cs state you should submit meter readings twice a year.

Consumerist

I agree with spiro above.

It is unfortunate that a number of issues have combined to conspire against you.

1. Change from prepayment meters - Unless you took meter readings on the day you started to occupy the property, you have no idea whether you might be paying off the previous occupier's energy debt which might have been being collected through the meters.

2. Change of tariff - It's not clear which tariff you were on when the new meters were installed and whether you have changed tariff since then.

All this information should be included in your first bill and you will need to go through it to find out how this debt has accumulated and whether you can challenge it. Although it seems you already have challenged it, if it is being updated.

I infer that it has been 7 months since the meters were changed but when, if at all, did you change to a cheaper tariff? Are you still on BG's standard variable tariff or did you change to a cheaper tariff when the meters were changed?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

CharlieHill96 wrote: »

Hi, I work for an energy company called 'first utility'.
I am an expert within the energy industry.

Please contact me directly on: [EMAIL="charlie.hill1996@hotmail.co.uk"]charlie.hill1996@hotmail.co.uk[/EMAIL]

Now, why on earth would you want people to contact you directly?

To sell them your wares, perhaps?

Spam

edit: what you're doing probably goes against your firms social media policy - I'll let them know on your behalf Charlie

JJ_Egan

Multiple spam posts from him as well .

Kunfuslippers

CharlieHill96 wrote: »

Hi, I work for an energy company called 'first utility'.
I am an expert within the energy industry.

Please contact me directly on: charlie.hill1996@hotmail.co.uk

An Energy expert at the age of 19

I'm sure it takes a lot more years of experience and training to be classified as an expert

coneybiller

We did have quite a substantial debt left over by the previous tenants (the house was rented before be bought it) but to be fair to BG they were understanding and wiped the meters clean for us! Pre-payment meters are the Bain of the utility world, or so I believe anyhow! Hence the switch to pay monthly meters.
We had both gas and electric switched at the same time. The electric meter was brand new with 00000 and I can only assume the gas meter was "used" seeing as it started life at my property with a 06117.
We have started on the British Gas standard tariff and haven't changed as of yet, I'm sure there are plenty cheaper tariffs out there though, I just haven't looked for them yet!
I queried the bill seeing as I was so shocked by the size of it, but that got me nowhere and BG stood fast with the argument of "if that's what the meter says then that's what your charged" which I can't realy argue with! I just can't help but wonder if the initial gas reading from when the meter was installed may of been wrong!

Do you suggest I give a gas/electricity reading every month to save any further "catch-up" bills?

Cheers

Ben

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

coneybiller wrote: »

We did have quite a substantial debt left over by the previous tenants (the house was rented before be bought it) but to be fair to BG they were understanding and wiped the meters clean for us! Pre-payment meters are the Bain of the utility world, or so I believe anyhow! Hence the switch to pay monthly meters.
We had both gas and electric switched at the same time. The electric meter was brand new with 00000 and I can only assume the gas meter was "used" seeing as it started life at my property with a 06117.
We have started on the British Gas standard tariff and haven't changed as of yet, I'm sure there are plenty cheaper tariffs out there though, I just haven't looked for them yet!
I queried the bill seeing as I was so shocked by the size of it, but that got me nowhere and BG stood fast with the argument of "if that's what the meter says then that's what your charged" which I can't realy argue with! I just can't help but wonder if the initial gas reading from when the meter was installed may of been wrong!

Do you suggest I give a gas/electricity reading every month to save any further "catch-up" bills?

Cheers

Ben

BG weren't being understanding, they were following their legal obligations - the debt belongs to the previous occupier, and not you or the meter!

Standard tariff is 20-25% more expensive than the best tariffs out there. £47pcm was never going to be enough if you have the heating on for 6 1/2 hours a day in a 3 bed house.

What BG are charging you seems about right - albeit it is on a more expensive tariff than you could have chosen.

In your shoes I would pay what I owe, and explore the cheapest option elsewhere.