British Gas huge bills!

Bounty1

It’s a converted garage, part of it including the bathroom is part of the house and the two radiators are what was already there to heat the house. It does have its own kitchen and my parents live in it, the tv is on a few hours a day but not much else apart from fridge and freezer

matelodave

You are obviously struggling with the concept of turning EVERYTHING off or measuring everything to see whats using it all. Especially if you don't really have control on what's going on in the annex which seems to be effectively another dwelling with it's own base load with someone else in control of the consumption in there. You are making assumptions, which may be wrong on what's going on in there

Most people under estimate what "just the TV or whatever" is using) - my flat screen TV, with a surround sound system & Sky box takes 200watts = 1kw for a five hour watching session.

I reckon you need a whole house monitor (like an Efergy or Owl) clipped onto your incoming supply - only then will you see what's being used, when it's being used and how much it's using by switching stuff on & off - alternatively a smart meter would also give you the same info unless you are anti them for some reason.

I'ts been a really hard journey trying to tease out from you what is actually going on (a bit like pulling teeth) but it's not hard to see why your consumption is high if you've got two households using the same supply.

As I said earlier, if you dont measure stuff (and that includes what's happening in the annex) then you dont know whats going on and cant do much about it. Just guessing doesn't help

Bounty1

I do know what’s being used in the annex and I’ve turned everything off and measured. If you read earlier in the post I did say that we had a small annex. My problem was that it’s suddenly gone up from what we have previously used, lived here 12 years and only in the last 8 months have my bills become so huge.

Robin9

You are effectively running two households off the one supply and its no surprise to me that your bills are double that of a single household.

May 16- 05825 (actual reading)
Aug 16- 08333
Nov 16- 10991
Jan 17 14321 (actual reading )
Feb 17- 15709
May 17- 18489
Aug 17- 21072 (I sent a reading but it’s saying estimated)
Oct 17 - 23440

Looking at the readings you gave earlier May 16 to Jan 17 is 8 months and 8500 units; Jan 17 to Oct 17 is 9 months and 9000 units. So your consumption is constant (but high) and is about £1700/1800 a year. So your DD was underpaying and you've only just (in September) got to a better figure but you still had a debt to clear.

Bounty1

Thanks for the replies, I do appreciate the help. I see what your saying about our readings, we were paying £180 per month, then in September we paid about £350 over our monthly payment, British Gas told us that we were back on track and didn’t owe anything, then in October we were told our monthly payments were going up to £438 per month! This is the bit I don’t understand.

Robin9

Have you got your actual opening reads (call these A) from when you started with BG, have you got the reads today (call these ; take A from B and multiply by the unit rate (call this C). Add the number of days you have been with BG (D); multiply D by the daily standing charge to give E. Add C and E multiply by 1.05 (VAT). This is how much you owe. How much have you paid ?

BG will be trying to ensure that you are not in debit at the end of your fixed tariff (assuming you did have a new tariff at the end of your 12 months) and will be doing guesswork on the limited actual readings they have.

Hope this helps - my signature is "never pay on an estimated bill". In that way I hope I will never be caught out. As has been said on these forums there is no substitute for very regular readings and reading and understanding bills.

Bounty1

Thanks Robin9 seems confusing but I’m going to try work this out up to today’s reading but the first reading I have with British Gas is an estimate.

I’m going to switch and get a smart meter. British Gas are saying my projected cost is £2900, I’ve done a comparison with the usage I’ve got on my bill and I’m getting £1,800 if I switch, Wondering if I’m working it right? I’ve used my usage over the last year in kWh to get a price.

Robin9

Bounty1 wrote: »

I’ve used my usage over the last year in kWh to get a price.

The important bit is to use ACTUAL readings 12 months apart - never use the DD you are paying.

Use a comparison website and then do you own calculations. Don't believe the BG prediction of £2900 as this will assume the remaining months on your present tariff and the rest of the 12 months on the standard tariff.

The present school of thought is that you are better off switching gas and electric to separate suppliers.

You may not be able to switch if you are in debt to BG.

Regardless what others may say about Smart and issues with future changes I think the system will help you get on top of your bills.

teddysmum

Op, do you have rumble dryers ?


Some years ago, a work colleague grumbled that their electricity usage had soared, but it turned out that they bought a small tumble dryer (less efficient than larger ones)as they had a new baby and this dryer was used for all washes. Drying washing on a line, unless the weather was wet, solved the problem.

Bounty1

I’ve done my calculations from my readings and make my electric £114 in debit, my bill was telling me I was £157 in debit on 31 October, my monthly payment has since gone out and I’m using roughly 60kwh a week less than before. I may have this wrong �� but I’m hoping to pay what I owe and switch.

Can’t work the gas out as it’s imperial.

Teddysmum
I do have a tumble dryer but I’m aware of how much energy they use so I don’t use it, thanks anyway