British Gas Smart meter billing mess up

welshmoneylover

It doesn’t take 2 minutes to read gas and elec meters and jot down the numbers. Also takes just the same amount of time to check the bills are accurate rather than estimates. It astonishes me that people blame the energy company when things go wrong instead of taking responsibility.
take the blinkers off and start to be a bit more proactive with the situation!

Reed_Richards

Gerry1 said:

airedalejoe_2 said:

Moved into new build 29th May 2021, only energy supplier allowed, British Gas.

Unless you are paying a landlord for energy you can choose any supplier(s) you like, having first registered with BG.  Separate suppliers will probably be cheaper.

We had a similar post a while back from someone who was convinced that one supplier (I think it was BG again) had a monopoly on their supply.  I wonder how they get this false idea.  

MWT

Reed_Richards said:

We had a similar post a while back from someone who was convinced that one supplier (I think it was BG again) had a monopoly on their supply.  I wonder how they get this false idea.  

I suspect it is just a misunderstanding of the correct advice that you have to register with the existing supplier when you move in..

They just didn't get/listen to the end of the sentence '... then you can switch to whichever supplier you want'...

brewerdave

Reed_Richards said:

Gerry1 said:

airedalejoe_2 said:

Moved into new build 29th May 2021, only energy supplier allowed, British Gas.

Unless you are paying a landlord for energy you can choose any supplier(s) you like, having first registered with BG.  Separate suppliers will probably be cheaper.

We had a similar post a while back from someone who was convinced that one supplier (I think it was BG again) had a monopoly on their supply.  I wonder how they get this false idea.  

Building Companies like Taylor Wimpey have a habit of having poorly informed sales staff. My daughter and her husband were told recently on moving to their new home , that BG were the utility suppliers and had the monopoly for 12 months as well as being told that their fibre broadband could only be supplied by BT - both falsehoods

niktheguru

airedalejoe_2 said:

Moved into new build 29th May 2021, only energy supplier allowed, British Gas. Meter readings supplied.
No contact from BG till beginning of August. Chose Tariff during phone call. Projected yearly usage given by BG. Direct debit around £110pm.
Received email August 13th saying as my energy usage is lower than estimated my dd would be lowered to £93pm. Received an energy statement same day. Electricity bill was fine, Gas was not. The statement covering first 2 months showed no Gas usage, meter reading on moving in was 99, on 28th July was shown as estimated at 99. I had not received anything asking me to provide meter readings. I now know that electricity meter is smart and they get the readings remotely. Gas meter is smart but BG can't use the smart feature just yet.
I didn't know I had to provide readings. No request for readings. In it's reading estimate BG estimated I hadn't used any gas in 2 months.
The lower DD was simply because BG had not charged me for any Gas usage.
I've spent 2 or 3 hours on the phone to a couple of different people but BG refuse to send me a monthly reminder asking for meter readings saying there's no need as I pay a fixed amount every month and it will be reviewed every 6 months.
Great, but every time they dont read my Gas meter and they seem incapable of estimating usage, they are going to lower my DD which will result in me owing a large sum down the line.
Is this normal? For as long as I can remember, I've been contacted every month by my energy supplier and asked to provide meter readings. Failing me providing readings they estimate it, usually not being far from actual.
BG won't contact me for readings, nor do they seem capable of an estimate.
If I don't remember a monthly meter reading and BG won't estimate, my DD will drop and I'll fall behind.
Hopefully this makes sense, any opinions?

As others have said, it is not your energy companies responsibility to provide you with "reminders", some do it, some don't. Its very easy to set a monthly reminder on your phone. 
To be honest, you don't even have to send the reading exactly every month, it can be every 2 weeks, 6 weeks or whenever you want. You will always end up paying for what you've used. The more often you send readings the more acdurate your usage patterns are. (the wrong thing to do is leave readings 6 months or longer, as then you'll be in for a big shock!)

You should ask why BG cant get smart readings from the gas meter and see if they can come and sort it out. If your electric is smart and its a new build then your gas should be too and they can send someone to fix it, or perhaps do it remotely.

airedalejoe_2

Thanks for the replies, thats me told))