Switching Supplier And Actual Readings Given

bristolleedsfan

Up until 5 years ago I switched supplier very regularly, actual readings given at switch over were never queried or changed.

Now I am in a situation where I moved into a property during 24th January I phoned existing supplier with readings which in case of Gas was 1729, Bulb the new supplier from 30 January reply speaks for itself, the reading Bulb are insistent on using is 1704 which is a lower figure than when I moved into the property, Bulb stand to gain 25.00+ by using such a lower changeover figure and I stand to lose 25.00 plus if forced to pay for 25 Gas units that were used by previous occupier, Old supplier who are British Gas have already answered and said that they will use actual readings that I have given as I have been very consistent that they are correct, very strange situation where Independent party should decide that during potentially coldest month of the year a property should have used less Gas than it has used.


"An independent third party checks every reading submitted when switching supplier and if they believe the reading submitted is incorrect, they send both suppliers an estimate to use.

The estimate we have is too similar to the reading you submitted, so we can't send a correction to your old supplier to change this figure as they would reject this.

As we are opening on the same readings that your previous supplier is closing to this means you are only being charged for each unit of energy once.

We will have to leave your account as it is and we would recommend paying any final bill with your old supplier up to the figure above. Just to make it clear, if Bulb's tariff is cheaper than British Gas's you are actually benefitting from this as you will billed for more of your gas usage on Bulb's cheaper tariff and you will be credited back anything over 1704 that you have already been billed for by British Gas"

wavelets

bristolleedsfan wrote: »

Up until 5 years ago I switched supplier very regularly, actual readings given at switch over were never queried or changed.

Now I am in a situation where I moved into a property during 24th January I phoned existing supplier with readings which in case of Gas was 1729, Bulb the new supplier from 30 January reply speaks for itself, the reading Bulb are insistent on using is 1704 which is a lower figure than when I moved into the property, Bulb stand to gain 25.00+ by using such a lower changeover figure and I stand to lose 25.00 plus if forced to pay for 25 Gas units that were used by previous occupier, Old supplier who are British Gas have already answered and said that they will use actual readings that I have given as I have been very consistent that they are correct, very strange situation where Independent party should decide that during potentially coldest month of the year a property should have used less Gas than it has used.


"An independent third party checks every reading submitted when switching supplier and if they believe the reading submitted is incorrect, they send both suppliers an estimate to use.

The estimate we have is too similar to the reading you submitted, so we can't send a correction to your old supplier to change this figure as they would reject this.

As we are opening on the same readings that your previous supplier is closing to this means you are only being charged for each unit of energy once.

We will have to leave your account as it is and we would recommend paying any final bill with your old supplier up to the figure above. Just to make it clear, if Bulb's tariff is cheaper than British Gas's you are actually benefitting from this as you will billed for more of your gas usage on Bulb's cheaper tariff and you will be credited back anything over 1704 that you have already been billed for by British Gas"

You just need to ensure the same readings are used for opening & closing, to avoid being double billed.

When that is true, the difference in cost will be negligible

brewerdave

The independent verification system seems to me to be broken -possibly due to number of Utility Co. failures recently.
Currently I have problems with the administrators of Usio wanting to use a different final reading to the opening reading of First Utility and also the administrators of One Select wanting to use a different opening reading from the final reading being used by First Utility!
If this went unchallenged ,it would cause me to pay for over 50 kwh of leccy twice at a cost of ~ £9 -a small difference ,I agree, but if repeated in a large number of cases.......

bristolleedsfan

wavelets wrote: »

You just need to ensure the same readings are used for opening & closing, to avoid being double billed.

When that is true, the difference in cost will be negligible

Had I not been only living at the property for less than a week before switch took place and also someone who uses very little Gas what Bulb said would be true.

The problem is Closing/Opening reading has to be 1729 or more otherwise I am paying for Gas used by previous occupiers.

Irony is Electricity meter reading which I also gave to exisiting supplier day I moved in, seemingly also gave same reading to Bulb on change over date in error thus indicating 0 units had been used when 16 units had been used was accepted as being fine by all concerned.

wavelets

bristolleedsfan wrote: »

Had I not been only living at the property for less than a week before switch took place and also someone who uses very little Gas what Bulb said would be true.

The problem is Closing/Opening reading has to be 1729 or more otherwise I am paying for Gas used by previous occupiers.

Irony is Electricity meter reading which I also gave to exisiting supplier day I moved in, seemingly also gave same reading to Bulb on change over date in error thus indicating 0 units had been used when 16 units had been used was accepted as being fine by all concerned.

Nope.

You know how it works when you move to a new property. Good luck.

bristolleedsfan

[QUOTE=wavelets;75493479

You know how it works when you move to a new property.[/QUOTE]


In more than 99% of cases I would have thought opening reading given by new occupier would be accepted and indeed what is now the previous supplier are happy to accept opening reading that I gave on moving into the property.


Bulbs reply quoted in O/P was to me stating that on moving into the property approx 4/5 days earlier the Gas meter reading was 25 units more than the reading its said it is using as opening meter reading following switch.

bristolleedsfan

Latest exchanges with Bulb who are new supplier, can anyone see what I have missed


"I don't think I'm explaining this properly, by billing you up to 1704, in the final bill, British Gas will refund you for the extra 25 units that you have already paid for. I explained this in my last response that this situation works in your favour, and you will not be double charged. Bulb will then begin billing you from 1704, so you are not losing out on anything.

I will note the complaint you have requested, I hope that this email is satisfactory in explaining you will not be double charged."



"Perhaps you can explain this please

Currently I haven't paid anything

Today I have had a final Bill from British Gas dated 16th February

It states opening reading I gave was 1701---I gave reading of 1729 which if I hadn't of switched 99.99% likely to have been accepted --closing final meter reading is stated to be 1704, was actually 1729 as no Gas was used in 4 or 5 days

If I pay this bill and Bulb start billing from 1704 then I will be paying for 25 units of Gas ---25.00+ which I haven't used being as when I moved in Gas reading was 1729 and bulb will gain 25.00 plus"


This was reply I had from B.G dated 18th February, 2 days after bill I received today was issued

Dear Mr …

I’m sorry for the confusion created.

We issued your final energy bills to the meter readings of 1704 for gas and 71172 for electricity. This was the final reading we received from your new supplier.

As you’ve have clearly mentioned that the final reading for gas was 1733, I’ve now rebilled your gas account to the reading of 1733. You’ll receive an email notification to view your bill online. The balance on your account is £43.96 for gas and £1.19 for electricity in debit.

There was also an incorrect bill issued to you which is already cancelled as you are not liable for that bill.

If you still find anything incorrect about the readings then please reply to my email and I’ll assist you further.

Thank you for contacting British Gas.