Back-billing for the past 5 years!

MWT

@zafyha - Where is your gas meter located?

Just checking that is it outside and freely accessible to any meter reader that may have wanted to read it?

zafyha

I’m sorry for not posting-I’m at the hospital for an appointment. Had to rush here. Nearly missed it. I’ll send pics of the older bills once I reach home. Thanks so much for those who are replying and trying to help! Really appreciate it 🙏

zafyha

Hello I’ve just returned home from the hospital. So I’ll post an older bill but it looks like they are treating it as Imperial as it does say Gas Meter Type: Imperial. 

zafyha

So it appears that they haven’t made any mistake with getting the Imperial or Metric unit wrong. 

They have Recalculated all my gas bill since Nov 2015 based on the meter reading I submitted in June 2020 and sent me a bill of £2600 as according to their calculations, I was overusing the gas. I live in a 3 bedroom terraced-we are a family of 5, we didn’t have a Tumble dryer until Dec 2019. Although we do have hot showers every day, I can’t imagine
our usage as being over double the national average. We put heating on in the winter as im
sure many families do. 

zafyha

MWT said:

@zafyha - Where is your gas meter located?

Just checking that is it outside and freely accessible to any meter reader that may have wanted to read it?

The gas meter is under our stair cupboard. 

zafyha

Can anyone shed light if the Backbilling Principle can apply in my case? I’ve read the report form Ofgem and I never blocked any access, in fact the meter reader did come last year in April (2019) to take the reading but like I said, there wasn’t any gas Reading on their system. Yes I will say, I didn’t submit regular meter readings but DD was being taken out every month from my account. The energy company have been reviewing my usage based on estimation and readjusting the DD accordingly. 

Anyone have any idea if I could argue the back-billing principle? 

Gerry1

Make sure the shower is not electric, i.e. the hot water is heated by gas, otherwise it will be about five times the cost.

It's hardly surprising that you're using twice the average.  The only question seems to be whether the back billing rules apply. 

Talldave

The gas consumption will be impacted by the insulation. Poor insulation could account for the high consumption as most of the energy will be going on heating.

For example,  we used 50kWh of gas last week because the heating didn't come on and that was just for hot water. In winter we can use 1500kWh in a week because the heating is on a lot.

zafyha

Talldave said:

The gas consumption will be impacted by the insulation. Poor insulation could account for the high consumption as most of the energy will be going on heating.

For example,  we used 50kWh of gas last week because the heating didn't come on and that was just for hot water. In winter we can use 1500kWh in a week because the heating is on a lot.

No we have a very insulated house; double glazed windows throughout. We do put heating throughout winter.. I might have to look into a smart meter now-to keep up to date with all bills. But have heard that can be quite expensive on the bills although if these bills are all accurate then already my monthly usage is around £200/month! 

Does anyone have any light on whether the back-billing principle could apply in my case? 

Dragonfly1

zafyha said:

Talldave said:

The gas consumption will be impacted by the insulation. Poor insulation could account for the high consumption as most of the energy will be going on heating.

For example,  we used 50kWh of gas last week because the heating didn't come on and that was just for hot water. In winter we can use 1500kWh in a week because the heating is on a lot.

No we have a very insulated house; double glazed windows throughout. We do put heating throughout winter.. I might have to look into a smart meter now-to keep up to date with all bills. But have heard that can be quite expensive on the bills although if these bills are all accurate then already my monthly usage is around £200/month! 

Does anyone have any light on whether the back-billing principle could apply in my case? 

I'll leave somebody else to answer your question - but you did comment that "[Smart Meters] can be quite expensive for the bills?"
I may have read that wrongly! Otherwise of course it is important to state that smart meters do not affect your bills as such. They should instead simply get you a more accurate bill in the first place.