British Gas payments

mafu6

In February British Gas reduced my payments. Now I owe the £500+ and they’ve increased my payments to more than double. I never used online and my son was going to switch my energy bills but then this bombshell happened. 

I’ve complained to British Gas directly as they never sent me any letters telling me they were reducing it. I now feel like I can’t have the heating on in the house, and with winter coming it’s going to be even worse. Can anyone advise me further. They have contacted me regards my complaint but they only offered me a smart meter and £30. 

Only me and my husband live in our house, he works nights I work in the day. I don’t understand how I can run up so massive bills. It’s really stressing me out. Help would be greatly appreciated.

Robin9

More info please Is this gas or elec.? ,Actual meter readings from an old bill of about 12 months ago and today.
 

mafu6

Oh sorry this is both Gas and Electric. 

I used 1166 kWh Gas last year and 4346 kWh electricity. Is this a lot for 2 people in a 3 bed semi detached house? 

QrizB

mafu6 said:

Oh sorry this is both Gas and Electric. 

I used 1166 kWh Gas last year and 4346 kWh electricity. Is this a lot for 2 people in a 3 bed semi detached house? 

Do you really mean 1166kWh for gas, or is it 1166 cubic metres? Your gas meter measures cubic metres, not kWh.

If it's 1166 cubic metres of gas plus 4346kWh of electricity, that's slightly higher than average electricity but not hugely so.

mafu6

QrizB said:

mafu6 said:

Oh sorry this is both Gas and Electric. 

I used 1166 kWh Gas last year and 4346 kWh electricity. Is this a lot for 2 people in a 3 bed semi detached house? 

Do you really mean 1166kWh for gas, or is it 1166 cubic metres? Your gas meter measures cubic metres, not kWh.

If it's 1166 cubic metres of gas plus 4346kWh of electricity, that's slightly higher than average electricity but not hugely so.

Whatever it’s measured in normally. I don’t know. The fact of the matter is only 2 of us are in the house, 1 in the day and 1 in the night. I don’t understand as well, why they reduced my prices without my knowledge. They admitted that on the phone to me earlier. And now I’m left with arrears payments and I can’t switch.

Gerry1

Unfortunately it seems that your DD wasn't putting enough into the kitty hence you're now in debit.  Perhaps you weren't sending monthly readings and checking your statements either?

MSE DD advice

You need to make sure that your meter readings are in cubic metres or (hundreds) of cubic feet and that they've used the right formula for the calculation.  If you've sent them kWh gas readings or they think the meter is Metric but it's Imperial (or vice versa) then the bill can be seriously inaccurate.

Assuming your electricity readings are actual meter readings and not estimates, your consumption is 50% above average.  If you are using any electric room heating or an immersion heater that would probably explain it, so make sure gas is used for both.

Robin9

mafu6 said:

QrizB said:

mafu6 said:

Oh sorry this is both Gas and Electric. 

I used 1166 kWh Gas last year and 4346 kWh electricity. Is this a lot for 2 people in a 3 bed semi detached house? 

Do you really mean 1166kWh for gas, or is it 1166 cubic metres? Your gas meter measures cubic metres, not kWh.

If it's 1166 cubic metres of gas plus 4346kWh of electricity, that's slightly higher than average electricity but not hugely so.

Whatever it’s measured in normally. I don’t know. The fact of the matter is only 2 of us are in the house, 1 in the day and 1 in the night. I don’t understand as well, why they reduced my prices without my knowledge. They admitted that on the phone to me earlier. And now I’m left with arrears payments and I can’t switch.

As has been said not particularly high  - mine (2 OAP)  is 16,500 kWh gas, 4,600 kWh elec.

Some suppliers do play silly games with DD's .  What games has BG been playing with you ?

Daisychain06

Similar type of problem though I dont owe too much. Even though I do have smart meters BG only bill twice a year. So they jut guess what you have used related to what they think you are going to use and set the direct debit accordingly. Then 6 months later say you haven't paid enough so put it up (or vice versa)! They really are useless! It all seems to be done online with them so I suggest trying to switch asap to a more user friendly option.

[Deleted User]

Daisychain06 said:

Similar type of problem though I dont owe too much. Even though I do have smart meters BG only bill twice a year. So they jut guess what you have used related to what they think you are going to use and set the direct debit accordingly. Then 6 months later say you haven't paid enough so put it up (or vice versa)! They really are useless! It all seems to be done online with them so I suggest trying to switch asap to a more user friendly option.

This is standard practice. Payments are normally reviewed at the 6 month point: halfway through the contract. Sadly, too many consumers fail to give the supplier a reasonably accurate calculation of their usage in kWhs/year when they switch. Moreover, they also fail to monitor their actual usage: this is particularly important when a Winter season has been unusually prolonged and cold as was the case this year. In sum, what I am saying is that if bill shocks are to be avoided then consumers need to monitor their online accounts. The advantage of having a smart meter is that any credit/debit balance should be accurate as it should be based on a smart meter reading. That said, it is valid for one day only.