British Gas electric charges

simons_s

Hi

So this is a long story which I'll try to make short:

1) We moved into a 1 bed flat with electric from British Gas
2) The flat was part of a new renovation (converted from an old Test centre)
3) The estate agent sorted our electric out and they said they'd forward the bills to us
4) Months later the estate agents decide we should be responsible for the electric and organised to move the account to us
5) We find out the metre isn't listed (not sure what this means), and the account is still a business account. They didn't bother changing it to domestic, looks like they just handed our names over.
6) We contact British Gas who organise for the metre to be registered and for us to move to a domestic account
7) British Gas (or whoever sorts out the metres) take over 6 months to do this
8) We've moved out by now
9) After many phone calls they decide not to transfer us to domestic (as we've moved out) and to settle the account based on domestic rates
10) They try and charge us over £1100 for 1 year electric in a small 1 bed flat!

I have said 'get stuffed' to that and refused to pay. I now own a 4 bed detached and pay no more than £40 a month with EDF, thought something must have been wrong.

I asked them to give me the info on charges, and they've said they're charging me on the standard tariff:

Standing charge at 26ppd
Day unit rate at 11.9p
Night unit rate at 11.9p

I'm not very good at this but please can someone confirm I've done this right:

We moved in on 11/09/2015 and moved out on 31/10/2016.
Stayed for 417 days.
417 * .26 = £108.42 in standing charges

Our move in readings:
Night - 30851
Day - 86652

Our move out readings:
Night - 31894
Day - 90443

We used 1043 night units & 3791 day units.
Call it .12p so my brain doesn't hurt more than it does already:

4834 * .12 = £580.08

£580.08 + £108.42 = £688.50

Now we've already paid them £444.17 as they asked for some whilst the metre was being fixed.

I calculate we owe British Gas £244.33.

This total would mean we paid around the £50 mark each month for electric. Still a bit steep to me for a small 1 bed flat but not outrageous.

Am I missing something?

They've asked for over £700 more on top of the £444.17 we've already paid them. British Gas have all the information I've said above.

Is it them screwing up or is it me? Are there charges somewhere that I've missed?

Hope someone can help.
Thanks

phillw

simons_s wrote: »

Is it them screwing up or is it me? Are there charges somewhere that I've missed?

Hope someone can help.
Thanks

Have you received a paper bill? Are you sure they have taken into account the payments you already made?

Robin9

Do the rates you've quoted include VAT ? Are you sure that the day rate and the night rate are the same ? (I would have expected something like 15p day/ 8p night)

What was the basis of the £444.17 paid - actual readings or estimated. ?

You might like to look again at your £40 for your 4 bed house. Hopefully you took your readings when you moved in and then switched from what would have a standard tariff to a new supplier.


PS It's meter (metre is length)

simons_s

Hi Phill

We've only dealt with the account online, and we can see the payments on the account history. I was told the amount we've already paid was taken into account, but I will ring and get them to verify.

Hi Robin

Yes, the pricces include VAT. The day/night rates are the rates the person from British Gas told me on the phone earlier today when they rang. The money we've already paid was based on estimates as at this point they would not accept readings from our meter (thanks). When we moved into our new place, we took readings and moved to EDF. Our direct debit was set at £47 a month and we're in credit each month.

footyguy

simons_s wrote: »

Hi

So this is a long story which I'll try to make short:

1) We moved into a 1 bed flat with electric from British Gas
2) The flat was part of a new renovation (converted from an old Test centre)
3) The estate agent sorted our electric out and they said they'd forward the bills to us
4) Months later the estate agents decide we should be responsible for the electric and organised to move the account to us
5) We find out the metre isn't listed (not sure what this means), and the account is still a business account. They didn't bother changing it to domestic, looks like they just handed our names over.
6) We contact British Gas who organise for the metre to be registered and for us to move to a domestic account
7) British Gas (or whoever sorts out the metres) take over 6 months to do this
8) We've moved out by now
9) After many phone calls they decide not to transfer us to domestic (as we've moved out) and to settle the account based on domestic rates
10) They try and charge us over £1100 for 1 year electric in a small 1 bed flat!

I have said 'get stuffed' to that and refused to pay. I now own a 4 bed detached and pay no more than £40 a month with EDF, thought something must have been wrong.

I asked them to give me the info on charges, and they've said they're charging me on the standard tariff:

Standing charge at 26ppd
Day unit rate at 11.9p
Night unit rate at 11.9p

I'm not very good at this but please can someone confirm I've done this right:

We moved in on 11/09/2015 and moved out on 31/10/2016.
Stayed for 417 days.
417 * .26 = £108.42 in standing charges

Our move in readings:
Night - 30851
Day - 86652

Our move out readings:
Night - 31894
Day - 90443

We used 1043 night units & 3791 day units.
Call it .12p so my brain doesn't hurt more than it does already:

4834 * .12 = £580.08

£580.08 + £108.42 = £688.50

Now we've already paid them £444.17 as they asked for some whilst the metre was being fixed.

I calculate we owe British Gas £244.33.

This total would mean we paid around the £50 mark each month for electric. Still a bit steep to me for a small 1 bed flat but not outrageous.

Am I missing something?

They've asked for over £700 more on top of the £444.17 we've already paid them. British Gas have all the information I've said above.

Is it them screwing up or is it me? Are there charges somewhere that I've missed?

Hope someone can help.
Thanks

Do not attempt to second guess how they calculated what is owed.

Tell the supplier you want a proper bill before you will pay them. A proper bill will explain how they arrived at the figure they claim is owed

When you have such detail, it should be quite easy to go through it step by step and decide if there is anything in particular you wish to challenge.

System

Do not trust what a British Gas call centre person told you about the day/night rates.Work it out for yourself. Digital meters are notorious for transposing the day and night readings. they have rate 1 , rate 2, and T for total of the two. I have seen rate 1 used as night and next door could have rate 1 used as day reading. See which rate advances in the day reading period , just to make sure.

SwanJon

simons_s wrote: »

3) The estate agent sorted our electric out and they said they'd forward the bills to us
4) Months later the estate agents decide we should be responsible for the electric and organised to move the account to us

Is this reflected on your bills? Or can we ignore the bit about the agent sending you the bills, and it is just down to you and British Gas

simons_s wrote: »

We moved in on 11/09/2015 and moved out on 31/10/2016.
Stayed for 417 days.
417 * .26 = £108.42 in standing charges

Our move in readings:
Night - 30851
Day - 86652

Our move out readings:
Night - 31894
Day - 90443

Check that BG are using the same dates and readings.
Did you have night storage heaters? Might be worth double checking if the bill would be less on an Economy 7 tariff (might not, 20% at night is low, and the prices Robin suggests would cost you £652 vs £575 on the one price, before standing charge).

Make sure you raise/have raised a complaint. BG then have 8 weeks (from when you first complained about the bill) to resolve it before you can take it to the ombudsman.