massive bill and i don't know wat to do!!!

mullan81

hi all hope some clever wise person can help me out here,

i've just become a single parent with 2 small babies and have been left with a massive gas and electric bill of over £600, i'm with scottish power and when i called to set up a payment plan to pay some of it off, they said that i couldn't as they were now going to put a pre- payment meter in and therefore unless i paid it all off by November i would be getting a meter thingy put in!!

I don't want one in, what can i do??...help please!

Cardew

Sorry about your single parent predicament. Perhaps something can be done about the debt through Social Services/CAB and/or ex partner?

Dealing solely with the £600 debt, you might be able to negotiate a period of up to 12 months if you can pay by Direct debit – it is worth a try - ask to speak to a manager.

You want to avoid a pre-payment meter if possible as not only are they inconvenient but you will pay a higher rate for your gas and electricity and they will set the meter to recover your debt.

stryker1355

Hello all ,

This is my first post, although ive been reading the forums a lot since a while. Ive never really been in tight situations with banks/ utilities/ etc, and as such am a hardworking, dedicated individual who always pays bills/ credit cards etc on time. I am seeking some help/ advise from other forum members.

Now starts my problem with British Gas:

I spent 1 year Sept 06-07 up in Paisley, Scotland to complete a degree at university. During that time i rented out a 1 bed flat privately for my stay. My flat was electric only and it was those old style tenentment flats. I have just recieved a bill for electric from BG for 1320 pounds!!!!!! for 1 year's consumption. I was shocked and tried not to panic. I did not have a television or stereo, i did not use power saving bulbs, used electric heaters, but was never home for 1 day of the week every week due to work/travel. I ALWAYS turned off everything when i went out of the house. I can clarify i havent been using the heating much, and 95% of the time only heated the bedroom when heat was needed. What has stunned me the most is that the amount of consumption they have recored which is like an average of 12-1400 units every 45 days!!. I have checked (read Studied) the bills, sought info from the web, and fail to understand how one single man, who hardly ever does much at home can consume soo much electricity. I hardly even cooked or baked stuff, because i simply wasnt at home most of the time. My meter was changed for the last 45 days of my tenure and the consumption was only 430 units (as compared to the old meter of average 12-1400). Any help much appreciated. Speaking to the call center has been worthless. Im planning on writing to the complaints department in Southampton.

Supplier: British Gas
Type: Electricity only
Meter: Economy 7
Bill for 1 year: 1320 pounds
Type: Old style tenement flat (1 bed)
Occupant: 1 single student
Average reading with old meter for every 45 days: between 11-1400 units
Average reading with new meter for every 45 days: Approx 430+90 units
BG account status: Account now closed due to me moving to London, but i still owe them the money, have paid 200 only so far absolutely cant imagine paying them 1320 .


Meter was read before i moved in and the bill for me is for the correct dates. The meter number too was checked. I feel the old meter was spinning too fast or the whole world has gone crazy!.

A worried student, please help

wriggle

Hi stryker, ask them if they can come and have a look at your meter incase there is a fault, sounds well out to me.

Cardew

stryker1355 wrote: »

Hello all ,

This is my first post, although ive been reading the forums a lot since a while. Ive never really been in tight situations with banks/ utilities/ etc, and as such am a hardworking, dedicated individual who always pays bills/ credit cards etc on time. I am seeking some help/ advise from other forum members.

Now starts my problem with British Gas:

I spent 1 year Sept 06-07 up in Paisley, Scotland to complete a degree at university. During that time i rented out a 1 bed flat privately for my stay. My flat was electric only and it was those old style tenentment flats. I have just recieved a bill for electric from BG for 1320 pounds!!!!!! for 1 year's consumption. I was shocked and tried not to panic. I did not have a television or stereo, i did not use power saving bulbs, used electric heaters, but was never home for 1 day of the week every week due to work/travel. I ALWAYS turned off everything when i went out of the house. I can clarify i havent been using the heating much, and 95% of the time only heated the bedroom when heat was needed. What has stunned me the most is that the amount of consumption they have recored which is like an average of 12-1400 units every 45 days!!. I have checked (read Studied) the bills, sought info from the web, and fail to understand how one single man, who hardly ever does much at home can consume soo much electricity. I hardly even cooked or baked stuff, because i simply wasnt at home most of the time. My meter was changed for the last 45 days of my tenure and the consumption was only 430 units (as compared to the old meter of average 12-1400). Any help much appreciated. Speaking to the call center has been worthless. Im planning on writing to the complaints department in Southampton.

Supplier: British Gas
Type: Electricity only
Meter: Economy 7
Bill for 1 year: 1320 pounds
Type: Old style tenement flat (1 bed)
Occupant: 1 single student
Average reading with old meter for every 45 days: between 11-1400 units
Average reading with new meter for every 45 days: Approx 430+90 units
BG account status: Account now closed due to me moving to London, but i still owe them the money, have paid 200 only so far absolutely cant imagine paying them 1320 .


Meter was read before i moved in and the bill for me is for the correct dates. The meter number too was checked. I feel the old meter was spinning too fast or the whole world has gone crazy!.

A worried student, please help

Welcome to the forum:

If you left in September 2007, the preceding 45 days were in July and August so (without needing heating) you would expect it to be much lower consumption.

You give your tariff as Economy 7, but you don’t give the crucial breakdown between night(off peak) and daytime consumption.

When you say you “used electric heaters” this indicates they might not have been storage heaters?? (Storage heaters warm up overnight and release heat during the day)

To be quite honest a bill of £1,320 for a year is not surprising given:

• It’s cold in Scotland
• Old tenement buildings tend to have very poor insulation and usually high ceilings.
• Scottish electricity prices are high.
• Economy 7 daytime prices are very high and if you don’t very carefully maximise use during the E7 period in the middle of the night – particularly with heating and hot water – you pay through the nose.

I really don’t know on what grounds you are going to complain. Just about everyone subjectively estimates they used very little electricity. Had you complained during your tenancy you might have had more chance; although that said meters very rarely go wrong, and almost never read ‘fast’.

I doubt any utility company would entertain such a complaint.

Sorry to appear so negative!!!

Rikki

mullan81 wrote: »

hi all hope some clever wise person can help me out here,

i've just become a single parent with 2 small babies and have been left with a massive gas and electric bill of over £600, i'm with scottish power and when i called to set up a payment plan to pay some of it off, they said that i couldn't as they were now going to put a pre- payment meter in and therefore unless i paid it all off by November i would be getting a meter thingy put in!!

I don't want one in, what can i do??...help please!

The bill was obviously during the period you and your partner were together, would he not help towards the bill?

Is the bill in your name or his?

stryker1355

Cardew, Thank you very much for your inputs,

First off, yes they were storage heaters, but only one was used. The electric consumption should have been the same between may- sept 07 because i never used the storage heaters during that period.

scottishlass

Did you have any meter readings taken whilst you were in the flat? Also do you have the meter reading from when you first moved in - does this tie in with the bill?

stryker1355

Just got off the phone with Scottish gas and they said that they will contact the metering company to check the old meter, the reason being that the day and night readings seem to be the same. Yes i did use a storage heater (just one) but that was only during the winter peak.

First bill: Day 3492 vs Night 2271 12th Sep 06 to 25th Jan 07

Second bill: Day 1297 vs Night 1210 25th Jan to 11 Mar 07
Day 1124 vs Night 1050 12th Mar to 25 Apr 07
Day 1446 vs Night 1349 26th Apr to 06 Jul 07

Third Bill gonna retrive it soon

Cardew

I fear you have simply been 'fobbed off' with "the meter company will check your old meter". They are simply scrapped, or en route to China! How on earth would they ever trace meter xxxxxxx?

They will say it was checked and found to be OK - Try to get them to put that it writing and they won't!

In 10 months you have used approx 13,000kWh which is not that excessive, as the last 2 months are summer you are probably looking at around 15,000kWh p.a.
(bear in mind that the average consumption in UK is 23,800kWh(3,300 electric and 20,500 gas)
The problem is that you have used far too much electricity during the daytime hours(56%). This suggests that your timer for E7 was wrong and/or you were 'topping up the heaters at daytime rates. Obviously a lot of Heating & Hot water was at daytime rates.

Anyway good luck - let us know.

stryker1355

Third bill: Day 316 vs Night 339 6th Jul to 23rd Jul 07

New meter:
Day 305 vs Night 65 24th Jul to 28th Aug 07
Day 127 vs Night 27 29th Aug to 11th Sep 07

I feel the new meter readings are very low, and find this very very strange.