British Gas Fiasco

LemonPeony

Sorry but this is really long winded and does not contain everything. 

I changed my payg meters to standard billing ones (dec19), fed up with overpaying tariffs and nagging sister. 

I set up my account with the energy club, Chose my deal, it didn’t go through (I tried a few more times), Fed up, I then tried another supplier, It still wouldn’t go through (again tried a few times). I even rang Suppliers customer services, BG and messaged the energy club for help. 
(By Feb 2020) Thought I try BG as their offer was a good one. Guess what, it worked (my original supplier), but in February, I got hit with a bill nearing the £400 mark.

By this time,  I was in deep conversation with their complaints section, In order to address the problems I was having. I was still also trying to get back my monies (£40+) left on my previous payg meter, the payg team Initially sent me a cheque for £9.20 (which I refused to cash). Also querying the tariff charge as it is different to the one quoted on EC site, (I have screenshots).

So far the payg team, have reimbursed my money and given me a goodwill payment.  but have also told me that there was an error, It was marked down with them, that the engineer did not attend the appointment in dec 19 (to change my meter over to a billed one), the engineer did turn up and changed my meter to a standard meter, this was a BG error on their part, and for this I have been penalised and charged extra. They also stated when asked, that my paygo meter was never returned to them. I have shown them screenshots of dates, meters, the engineers tablet etc (during the time that they have refused to refund me). My refund was only honoured because they had a top up notification (I had topped up a few days prior to my meter being changed). this has taken me nearly 7 months. 

Now back to my billed gas story, 

The following are all my tariffs 
payg:
36.34 per day
3.561 per unit
standard billing (3/12/19-26/2/20):
29.594 PD
3.801 PU
Standard billing (lowered) (Feb/20):
19.382 PD
2.809 PU
standard billing (BG complaints advised, they said this is the lowest they can do and ongoing (feb20-24/April):
18.459 PD
2.675 PU
ENERGY CLUB QUOTE (at time of applying (26/27Feb20)
14.828 PD
2.607 PU
As you can see BG charged me at a higher cost (not a lot of difference between paygo and standard), I was at one point told they would backdate my switch tariff from the dec, but BG have now refused to do that now.  I was made to pay a higher rate from the December through to February and do not see why I should be out of pocket. 

How do I calculate energy cost correctly, the way BG do, as it baffles me.  Also any advise /support would be Helpful. 

Plus check your tariffs, as the energy club are getting the deals and quotes yet BG are not honouring the energy club members deals, because if they can change it on mine, they most definitely can do it on your bills
thanks😁

Neil_Jones

LemonPeony said:

Sorry but this is really long winded and does not contain everything. 

I changed my payg meters to standard billing ones (dec19), fed up with overpaying tariffs and nagging sister. 

I set up my account with the energy club, Chose my deal, it didn’t go through (I tried a few more times), Fed up, I then tried another supplier, It still wouldn’t go through (again tried a few times). I even rang Suppliers customer services, BG and messaged the energy club for help. 
(By Feb 2020) Thought I try BG as their offer was a good one. Guess what, it worked (my original supplier), but in February, I got hit with a bill nearing the £400 mark.

By this time,  I was in deep conversation with their complaints section, In order to address the problems I was having. I was still also trying to get back my monies (£40+) left on my previous payg meter, the payg team Initially sent me a cheque for £9.20 (which I refused to cash). Also querying the tariff charge as it is different to the one quoted on EC site, (I have screenshots).

So far the payg team, have reimbursed my money and given me a goodwill payment.  but have also told me that there was an error, It was marked down with them, that the engineer did not attend the appointment in dec 19 (to change my meter over to a billed one), the engineer did turn up and changed my meter to a standard meter, this was a BG error on their part, and for this I have been penalised and charged extra. They also stated when asked, that my paygo meter was never returned to them. I have shown them screenshots of dates, meters, the engineers tablet etc (during the time that they have refused to refund me). My refund was only honoured because they had a top up notification (I had topped up a few days prior to my meter being changed). this has taken me nearly 7 months. 

Now back to my billed gas story, 

The following are all my tariffs 
payg:
36.34 per day
3.561 per unit
standard billing (3/12/19-26/2/20):
29.594 PD
3.801 PU
Standard billing (lowered) (Feb/20):
19.382 PD
2.809 PU
standard billing (BG complaints advised, they said this is the lowest they can do and ongoing (feb20-24/April):
18.459 PD
2.675 PU
ENERGY CLUB QUOTE (at time of applying (26/27Feb20)
14.828 PD
2.607 PU
As you can see BG charged me at a higher cost (not a lot of difference between paygo and standard), I was at one point told they would backdate my switch tariff from the dec, but BG have now refused to do that now.  I was made to pay a higher rate from the December through to February and do not see why I should be out of pocket. 

How do I calculate energy cost correctly, the way BG do, as it baffles me.  Also any advise /support would be Helpful. 

Plus check your tariffs, as the energy club are getting the deals and quotes yet BG are not honouring the energy club members deals, because if they can change it on mine, they most definitely can do it on your bills
thanks😁

The £400 is almost certainly because you haven't read the meter since it was installed.  One of  the beauties of pre-payment meters is that they regulate what you can use, so you stick £40 on it and it gives you, well, £40 of energy basically and cuts you off when it runs out.  That doesn't happen on a credit meter, you need to give regular readings (assuming this is a normal meter and not a smart meter) otherwise the supplier will estimate it and will almost always be way off the mark.

With regards to the unit rate, its almost certainly because you're on British Gas's standard tariff which is the most expensive and not the tariff you think you're on.  You need to look at your bills.

Calculating your usage is easy:

for electricity take the last meter reading, get a current one, take the current from the old one and multiply it by the unit rate.  So previous meter reading was 0, it now says 10, so you've used 10 units at 10p a unit and that's cost you £1 + your standing charge, at <whatever> a day.

Gas is slightly more complicated - as a very rough rule one unit on the meter is about 11kWh or just over, so again get the previous reading, get a new one, find the difference, multiply it by 11 and then multiply that by the unit rate.  So say previous meter was 0, now its at 10, you've used 110 units at 2p a unit, that's £2.20 + your standing charges.

Note that energy companies are not allowed to offer "custom" tariffs like you see with broadband and internet, so you and your neighbour Fred cannot be on the same tariff with different unit rates.

Gerry1

If you go direct to BG you will only be quoted expensive tariffs; their better ones are available only via third parties.  If for whatever reason your CEC switch didn't go through then you won't pay the CEC rate.  The most extreme instance of this is British Gas X, which is intended to take on the cheap companies without cannibalising its main customer base.  Indeed, the BG call centres don't even know it exists (see the MSE thread about British Gas X - Is it a scam?).

It's no different to Tesco launching its Jack's outlets in some areas to compete with Aldi and Lidl: don't expect to take a product back to Tesco and get a refund because it was cheaper at Jack's.  Similarly, newspapers often have short ferry breaks to France if you quote the promotional code, but don't expect to book with P&O via a travel agent and get the special newspaper fare.

TL;DR: Keep your eye on the ball, read the meters monthly, do the sums, ignore all projections and claimed savings.  Just compare total annual costs based on actual meter readings, and don't assume dual fuel is cheaper.  Sadly, you're unlikely to be able to backdate your tariff, which is a pretty poor one anyway.  Just put it down to experience, learn the lessons and move on.

LemonPeony

Thanks for the replies. I’m gonna screenshot the sums, read it a few times as my brain turns to mush just reading it. (Read it, times units used by 11)

I will not back down as yet. So I let you know what happens. 

I take daily readings and have done for many years, because I always had high credit on payg meters, which when they became defunct, I would have to get credit back, so kept a note, got caught out on that one. 

As for the quote, my electric one is the same as the quote. So I expect them to honour the energy club quote. Again I will post the results. 

Have a good evening 😁

Neil_Jones

LemonPeony said:

Thanks for the replies. I’m gonna screenshot the sums, read it a few times as my brain turns to mush just reading it. (Read it, times units used by 11)

I will not back down as yet. So I let you know what happens. 

I take daily readings and have done for many years, because I always had high credit on payg meters, which when they became defunct, I would have to get credit back, so kept a note, got caught out on that one. 

As for the quote, my electric one is the same as the quote. So I expect them to honour the energy club quote. Again I will post the results. 

Have a good evening 😁

If it makes life easier, for gas:

https://www.gasbillcalculator.com/

For electricity which is easier to work out yourself but:

https://www.electricitybillcalculator.com/

Gerry1

Neil_Jones said:

If it makes life easier, for gas:

https://www.gasbillcalculator.com/

That gas bill calculator is hopelessly broken.  Apart from the tariffs being seven years out of date, it just tells me to check my price per kWh and standing charge, both of which were entered correctly.

Here's a gas bill calculator that actually works.

LemonPeony

Thanks you two, my son ended up doing my sums. Lol
basic out of pocket by +£100, give or take. But I have numbers to throw at them when then they call me next. 

They say switching is easy. Not if your with BG. 

LemonPeony

Oh I saved site to phone, also where to find thread for British Gas X - is it a scam? 

Gerry1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6115904

IIRC the thread title was updated when it became clear it wasn't a scam.

LemonPeony

Thanks Gerry1,
found it. Not the one I chose, so relieved.