I can,t switch my gas supplier

emenyt

I have been trying to swap energy suppliers since 28/01/2020 but the the company's come back with that the national data base has refused it because according to the national data base i,m using 72,000 kw per year when i only using 5000 kw per year my current supplier (bulb) has email them with an up to date bill but they got a message back saying it was the previous supplier (Scottish power) I have spoke to Scottish power and they said I need to speak to my current supplier. All i keep doing is going round in circles does anyone know of any other way to sort this problem out or a way to move it forward.
Thanks

Smodlet

Hi and welcome to the forum.  A little more information might garner you more help:  Do you have any idea where Bulb's estimation of your usage comes from?  Have you asked them?  Are you sure it is 72,000 and not 7,200 kwh?  I ask because my combined gas and electricity usage for a year is about 16,000 kwh.  I don't know where you are in the country or what your situation is but you would have to live in the Outer Hebrides, run a restaurant and have a heated swimming pool to use that much.

The national database does not dictate whether you can or cannot switch suppliers, as far as I am aware.  Your current supplier can prevent a switch away if you are in debt to them; is this the situation?  Without more of a clue, don't think you'll get much help.

The switching process is handled by the gaining supplier so is that Bulb?  You refer to them as your "current" supplier but have you actually switched to them yet or are you still with Scottish Power because they have blocked the switch?  Or are you trying to switch back to SP from Bulb?  None of this is clear to me from your initial post.

Sorry for the barrage of questions but as said; no info, no clue.

emenyt

The figure of 72,000 came from the national database which also said that because my usage is so high I can,t use a home energy supplier I would have to use a businesses energy supplier. I think that when Scottish power change the meters to smart meters the meter reading were entered into the system wrong . There is no debt and this is a normal 3 house with a yearly usage of 5000 kw of gas as I have all ready said. I managed to change from Scottish power to bulb but when i changed to green it was refuse on the grounds of my high usage for a home energy supplier. I tried to switch again to another firm Avro energy thinking it was just green but got the same reply. For the last four months I've been trying to work with bulb to sort the problem. 

Smodlet

What is your actual usage?  Have you read your meters every month and kept a note of how much you actually use, then worked out what it should cost according to your unit rates and standing charges?  No?

Where do you get 5000 *kw from?  Do you have proof of that?  I think you need to realise the difference between kw (kilowatts, how much an appliance uses) and kwh (kilowatt hours) which is the unit in which energy usage is measured.  For instance, a kettle typically uses 3 kw so one third of a kwh every time it is used.  So boiling a kettle 3 times will use one kwh and cost you whatever your unit rate is, typically around 15p.

dogshome

Write a letter headed Complaint to Bulb and post it by Royal Mail with a free certificate of posting

Although it may have been SP who caused the problem, It's Bulb as your present supplier who have the authority to get things changed on the national Data Base, also it is they who have the evidence that the Data Base is wrong

Smodlet

dogshome said:

Write a letter headed Complaint to Bulb and post it by Royal Mail with a free certificate of posting

Although it may have been SP who caused the problem, It's Bulb as your present supplier who have the authority to get things changed on the national Data Base, also it is they who have the evidence that the Data Base is wrong

... Assuming the switch actually went through; I am beginning to wonder.  If it did, what you said, dogshome.

Talldave

Smodlet said:

What is your actual usage?  Have you read your meters every month and kept a note of how much you actually use, then worked out what it should cost according to your unit rates and standing charges?  No?

Where do you get 5000 *kw from?  Do you have proof of that?  I think you need to realise the difference between kw (kilowatts, how much an appliance uses) and kwh (kilowatt hours) which is the unit in which energy usage is measured.  For instance, a kettle typically uses 3 kw so one third of a kwh every time it is used.  So boiling a kettle 3 times will use one kwh and cost you whatever your unit rate is, typically around 15p.

The thread is about gas though? I just read the kw as kWh.

macman

72,000 kWh is clearly unfeasible, but equally, 5,000 kWh is an incredibly low figure, assuming gas is used for CH and DHW.  A 3 b/r property would normally use around 13,500 kwh. So is there something else going on here?