Advice on British Gas electricity bills

SHJL

Hello, I was wondering if anybody could help me, please? I have been looking at my parents' electricity bills and seen that between January and June of this year they have been asked to pay £4,106.51 by British Gas. I live on my own in a two-bed house and pay £54 a month for my electricity, and I just can't understand how their electric bills could be so ridiculously high, even with an extra person in the household and a bigger house! They live in a farmhouse and have a business account with British Gas, but the bills I am looking at are separate to those for the farm buildings. I called British Gas and they are going to do a load test to see if there is an error with the meter, but I got the impression they thought the bills were normal. Is there anything else anyone can suggest that I investigate in order to get to the bottom of what is going on? Thanks in advance.

QrizB

Thsat does seem quite a lot. What tariff are they on, and what are their meter readings for the period? Are their bills normally this big?

Robin9

Has their meter been changed ?   

Have you parents been giving monthly readings ?

Check the meter serial number against that on the bill ?

What is the reading on the meter ? Take meters can be difficult to read - does the meter have a small keypad ?

What's the heating ? Are they on E7 ?

How does that compare with whats on the bill ? Does the reading on the bill have a letter E  for estimated against it ?  What had the last bill against the reading ?  - keep going back until you find one with A for Actual. Let us know the reading and also todays reading >

dogshome

Business supply accounts are usually far more expensive than Domestic supplies - Are there two meters - One for the Business supply and another for the house?

welshmoneylover

Is it all electric?

Robin9

dogshome said:

Business supply accounts are usually far more expensive than Domestic supplies - Are there two meters - One for the Business supply and another for the house?

That's how I read it -  the farm is on a business tariff; the farmhouse is separately metered.  Could @SHJL advise please ?

Gerry1

Estimated bills because of a lack of meter readings and an uncompetive tariff may be playing a part.

What is the kWh rate and the daily charge?

SHJL

thanks for your replies, everyone. I'll have a look at the invoices and get the information you've asked for. @Robin9and @dogshome, the farmhouse and farm buildings are both on business rates, but on separate meters. @welshmoneylover, it's all electric.

knightstyle

If you get stuck getting an answer from BG go to their FaceBook page and raise it on there and in my experience someone will get back to the account holder.

SHJL

@Robin9, @QrizB and @Gerry1, the night unit charge (NUC) is 17.215p and the day unit charge (DUC) is 19.937p. In 2020, their bills for the year added up to £1,913.02. 

Below is the date of the invoice, then the previous reading followed by the current reading.
04/01/21 NUC = 79723 (Estimate), 79971 (Est)
               DUC = 73465 (Est), 74849 (Est)
11/01/21 NUC = 79971 (Est), 81485 (Customer)
               DUC = 74849 (Est), 77429 (Customer)
05/03/21 NUC = 81485 (Cust), 81995 (Est)
               DUC = 77429 (Cust), 79010 (Est)
06/04/21 NUC = 81995 (Est), 82290 (Est)
               DUC = 79010 (Est), 79900 (Est)
04/05/21 NUC = 82290 (Est), 82321 (Est), 82321 (Est), 82516 (Est)
               DUC = 79900 (Est), 80005 (Est), 80005 (Est), 80694 (Est)
03/06/21 NUC = 82516 (Est), 82683 (Est)
               DUC = 80694 (Est), 81372 (Est)
30/06/21 NUC = 82683 (Est), 82873 (Read)
               DUC = 81372 (Est), 87449 (Read)

Today's reading is L = 82934 and N = 87614

My mum submitted a reading in Jan, and somebody came to read the meter on 28th June.
The meter hasn't been changed. It's the sort that the numbers roll around on a scroll to give the reading.
The meter serial number matches the one on the bill.
They use oil filled heaters and had one on all day during the winter months until April and one on for about 4 hours every evening until April.
As I understand it, they are on E7 because the meter says 'low' and 'normal' on it.

Please let me know if I haven't provided the right info!

Many thanks.

SHJL

Thanks @knightstyle