British Gas charging unbelievable monthly price

Lisley

I am being charged £248 a month for gas and electricity! I live in a 2 bed flat by myself with my Son staying 2 days a week. No gas except for the boiler and radiators which we use ever so sparingly, I even put layers of clothing on to stay warm! Cancelled my direct debit and I am wondering what company I should go with? Some have mentioned Igloo or Octopus energy. Any help please?

Hasbeen

Do you read your meters every month and tell them the readings.

Do your bills have an E or an A  after the readings. What  tariff plan and what rates are you on for both Gas and Electric?

Can you post a  bill with personal details redacted.

Cancelling your Direct Debit is a big mistake. It is not your bill, it is an amount that goes into a pot to help pay your bill. Is there any debt included?

Neil_Jones

Your direct debit amount is not your bill.  Also cancelling it is probably not the wisest thing to do.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/

If you're paying that much it normally implies you haven't been reading your meters for a while and now a reading has turned up from somewhere, you're playing catch-up.

Need to get some old bills out and see what it says next to the meter readings - if they're all estimates then that's going to be where the problem has occurred.  That and you may not be on a competitive tariff but some standard tariff where it costs the national debt just to boil the kettle.

niktheguru

Not worth switching until you actually find out what your usage is. It's not like broadband or your mobile where you pay a fixed price. You pay for what you use, either you have to submit regular readings of your meter or you let them put in a smart meter so it does it for you. Otherwise it is based on estimates which are often very inaccurate. Switching to another supplier without addressing these issues won't end well 

Robin9

@Lisley read your meters NOW - and give them to BG and post them here.
Look back on your bills until you find one with Actual (A) readings on it and then do some rough sums to find out what your actual annual consumption  is  -  then you have some good info to start looking at other suppliers.

Gerry1

Find out from actual meter readings (not estimates or projections) what your annual kWh consumption is, then use Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' to find better tariffs, noting that separate suppliers may well be cheaper.

Ignore all projections and savings claims, just the compare total annual costs, not monthly DD amounts.