British Gas overcharged for over 2 years HELP!

pippamannequin

Any advice would be welcome. Ive lived in this house since November 2004 and have always been astonished by the huge gas bills, really huge. I have queeried them on countless occassions and been told as my usage was consistant that they wouldnt check the meter. It's got to the point where Ive been paying off arrears at £50 per week which I cant afford.
Anyway in March my meter was changed as a standard change and since then, in 28 weeks we've used 1042 units as opposed to 4458 from december 04 to december 05 , then 4317 from december 05 to december 06 and finally from december 06 to 8 march 07 1411 units. So basically at least 2 to 3 times more gas previously with the old meter.

Ive never been able to prove how ridiculous the amount they said i was using was, but feel there must be some evidence in this?

If anyone can advise me how best to deal with this it would be most welcome. Thankyou.

espresso

k60sav wrote: »

Any advice would be welcome. Ive lived in this house since November 2004 and have always been astonished by the huge gas bills, really huge. I have queeried them on countless occassions and been told as my usage was consistant that they wouldnt check the meter. It's got to the point where Ive been paying off arrears at £50 per week which I cant afford.
Anyway in March my meter was changed as a standard change and since then, in 28 weeks we've used 1042 units as opposed to 4458 from december 04 to december 05 , then 4317 from december 05 to december 06 and finally from december 06 to 8 march 07 1411 units. So basically at least 2 to 3 times more gas previously with the old meter.

Ive never been able to prove how ridiculous the amount they said i was using was, but feel there must be some evidence in this?

If anyone can advise me how best to deal with this it would be most welcome. Thankyou.

It sounds like your old meter was an imperial meter (cu ft) and your new meter is now a metric (cu M) meter. Imperial to metric conversion factor is 2.83.

Cardew

espresso wrote: »

It sounds like your old meter was an imperial meter (cu ft) and your new meter is now a metric (cu M) meter. Imperial to metric conversion factor is 2.83.

I think it is the other way around. The OP is complaining that old meter used far more units than the new meter(which will be metric)

Had the old meter been Imperial(using approx 4,400 units PA) that would have been approx 140,000kWh.

To the OP.
How many kWh were you charged for in the Dec 05 to Dec 06 period(for 4317 units)

You really can't compare your consumption in 28 weeks for the summer period(with no heating) with the previous annual consumption.

You will use far more gas in the next 24 weeks and I suspect by March your annual consumption will be roughly the same as previously. That is very high though about 50,000kWh pa which is two and a half times the national average.

I use roughly one third of my consumption in the period Mar to Sep and two thirds Sep to Mar.

pippamannequin

hi, thanks for your reply, ive found an old bill for the period last year from 20 march 06- 28 june 06 and the bill was £325.02 this years reading from 13 march - 18 june was £207.47 so roughly the same period in both years

Also between december 05 and march 06 the units that were used were 1821 which i dont have the bill for as the december reading was given to me today when i rang b.gas up but im guessing it was roughly about £600

I have just always felt there was something wrong but could never get anyone to investigate

Cardew

k60sav wrote: »

hi, thanks for your reply, ive found an old bill for the period last year from 20 march 06- 28 june 06 and the bill was £325.02 this years reading from 13 march - 18 june was £207.47 so roughly the same period in both years

Also between december 05 and march 06 the units that were used were 1821 which i dont have the bill for as the december reading was given to me today when i rang b.gas up but im guessing it was roughly about £600

Unless you know if both of those bills were based on actual meter readings(for the start and end reading on each) instead of estimated readings, they are pretty meaningless.

It would be easier if you quoted the kWh on your bills not units.

The bottom line as far as I can see is that your annual consumption next March(after a year on your new meter) is going to be roughly the same as your annual consumption on your old meter.

pippamannequin

Hi, Both the march to june bills for both years were based on exact meter readings

march - june 06 11458 kwh - old meter

march - june 07 8455.07 kwh - new meter

These are the only 2 that I can compare

my only other bill with exact reading is the 18 june 07 - 19 sept 07 in which we used 3144.57 kwh

LNieuwhof

Get in touch with Energywatch, after months of battle with BG I have resorted to the watchdog and they are taking up the issues on my behalf.

Hopefully it will get it sorted!

alkip

^ agreed.

My mother had a problem with BG which she could get no sense from them when trying to sort out so she rang Energywatch. They could not have been nicer and more helpful.

Problem was sorted the same day :T