"Are you sure? That number seems a little high."

newlease

This is the message I always receive when submitting my meter reading with British Gas. Always without fail. The amount is always within the estimates being collected by direct debit and often resulting in account being in credit. Does anyone know the formula they are using or why it appears. It is a slightly concerning warming and always makes me triple check. 

onlyfoolsandparking

newlease said:

This is the message I always receive when submitting my meter reading with British Gas. Always without fail. The amount is always within the estimates being collected by direct debit and often resulting in account being in credit. Does anyone know the formula they are using or why it appears. It is a slightly concerning warming and always makes me triple check. 

What's your actual usage and what are your bills coming in at, that will clarify things for the energy experts on here.

Gerry1

Perhaps this formula?

BooJewels

I've had a long term and perpetual battle with British Gas over their estimates of my energy use - they think I'm going to use much less than I actually do. They repeatedly drop my DD saying that I'm paying too much and as soon as I get a useful credit, they refund it to me.

Their billing is spot on and I keep a very close eye on it myself anyway - but there's a glitch somewhere in their estimating system. We've discussed it several times and can't seem to fix it. I just put any refunds into a separate savings pot and make a manual payment when I get much debit. It's a workaround, but as I keep a close eye on it, there's no harm done. But it might be a real nuisance to the vast majority who don't do that.  

newlease

onlyfoolsandparking said:

newlease said:

This is the message I always receive when submitting my meter reading with British Gas. Always without fail. The amount is always within the estimates being collected by direct debit and often resulting in account being in credit. Does anyone know the formula they are using or why it appears. It is a slightly concerning warming and always makes me triple check. 

What's your actual usage and what are your bills coming in at, that will clarify things for the energy experts on here.

I don't know about kwh but direct debit takes £47 a month. I submitted my metre reading today, it displayed that message and then put my balance £3 in credit. Previous reading in April put my account in debit around £10 because of slightly higher use in winter. Direct debit accuracy has been bang on and unchanged in over a year and previous change was just a few £ a month increase.

newlease

Gerry1 said:

Perhaps this formula?

I see "The upper bound is calculated as the reading if you used 2.5x the Estimated Usage expected." I haven't changed supplier and have had stable usage as a BG customer for several years, never even 1.5x average. Is the estimate not based on my historical usage and instead some arbitrary estimate BG has come up with according to post code or other details? That might explain it, I probably use more than neighbours if that is what they're looking at.

newlease

BooJewels said:

I've had a long term and perpetual battle with British Gas over their estimates of my energy use - they think I'm going to use much less than I actually do. They repeatedly drop my DD saying that I'm paying too much and as soon as I get a useful credit, they refund it to me.

Their billing is spot on and I keep a very close eye on it myself anyway - but there's a glitch somewhere in their estimating system. We've discussed it several times and can't seem to fix it. I just put any refunds into a separate savings pot and make a manual payment when I get much debit. It's a workaround, but as I keep a close eye on it, there's no harm done. But it might be a real nuisance to the vast majority who don't do that.  

My DD hasn't changed at all in the last year and very little in last few years annual reviews before that and I haven't ever been overcharged or undercharged by a significant amount, never due additional payments or refund. Everything is very consistent.

GunJack

newlease said:

My DD hasn't changed at all in the last year and very little in last few years annual reviews before that and I haven't ever been overcharged or undercharged by a significant amount, never due additional payments or refund. Everything is very consistent.

you really ought to begin to use kwh, NOT ££dd....that is the important thing when it comes to your bills...

BooJewels

newlease said:

BooJewels said:

I've had a long term and perpetual battle with British Gas over their estimates of my energy use - they think I'm going to use much less than I actually do. They repeatedly drop my DD saying that I'm paying too much and as soon as I get a useful credit, they refund it to me.

Their billing is spot on and I keep a very close eye on it myself anyway - but there's a glitch somewhere in their estimating system. We've discussed it several times and can't seem to fix it. I just put any refunds into a separate savings pot and make a manual payment when I get much debit. It's a workaround, but as I keep a close eye on it, there's no harm done. But it might be a real nuisance to the vast majority who don't do that.  

My DD hasn't changed at all in the last year and very little in last few years annual reviews before that and I haven't ever been overcharged or undercharged by a significant amount, never due additional payments or refund. Everything is very consistent.

As GunJack mentioned - start thinking in either units or kWh for your fuel, not the pennies, as the latter can end up being deceiving, as fuel prices vary over time and it's the actual fuel that you use that counts and the only consistent way to monitor use and patterns over time - and ensure you're paying the right amount.  You perhaps shouldn't be paying the same amount over time, as prices have fluctuated quite a lot in recent times - and your usage is likely to fluctuate through the year too.  Take meter readings at a set regular time - I do the last day of the month - and keep those numbers in a notebook or spreadsheet.  I play a little game with myself to see how close I can get to the actual bill they present - my electricity bill for June tallied to the penny - there's usually a few coppers difference, for various timing or calorific value reasons.

It serves 2 purposes - firstly; you know what you've used and can reconcile that with your bills when you get them and ensure you've been billed right and you have good numbers if you want to get price comparisons elsewhere.  Secondly; you have a good record (and the more meaningful, the longer you keep it) should there be any incident where you get an erroneous bill or something goes awry - I benefited from that myself recently with a wayward appliance gobbling electricity - I spotted it very quickly and saved an expensive oversight.  Take photos periodically, if not every time, so should there be a dispute, you have irrefutable data.

It's a daily occurrence in this forum that someone gets a huge bill and doesn't know why - and those people invariable never take meter readings or check their bill and only ever judged fuel use by their monthly DD - which can end up woefully wrong.  If I let BG control my DD amount and didn't monitor it myself carefully, by now I'd be thousands in arrears.

newlease

Prices have not more than doubled as formula suggests. My DD had a small adjustment more than a year ago. I am not "getting a huge and don't know why". My usage and bills are consistent, at most 300 kwh per month during winter and lowest 200 kwh during summer when I was also away on holiday. The average rate has been normal between 15 to 20p per kwh. I understand this forum may see people who aren't in control of their spend or usage but this is not about kwh as clearly explained. The question is around this message.

onlyfoolsandparking

newlease said:

onlyfoolsandparking said:

newlease said:

This is the message I always receive when submitting my meter reading with British Gas. Always without fail. The amount is always within the estimates being collected by direct debit and often resulting in account being in credit. Does anyone know the formula they are using or why it appears. It is a slightly concerning warming and always makes me triple check. 

What's your actual usage and what are your bills coming in at, that will clarify things for the energy experts on here.

I don't know about kwh but direct debit takes £47 a month. I submitted my metre reading today, it displayed that message and then put my balance £3 in credit. Previous reading in April put my account in debit around £10 because of slightly higher use in winter. Direct debit accuracy has been bang on and unchanged in over a year and previous change was just a few £ a month increase.

Unless you live in a garden shed (feel free to correct me) £47 a month sounds VERY cheap, mine is exactly double at £94 a month and I am really careful with energy usage.