Massive gas bill Scottish Power

samjgarlick

Hi all.

We've recently had what seems to be an extortionate gas bill from scottish power. I know fuel prices are on the up and we can expect to pay more, but this months bill is for £241 for the gas alone. We live in a 3 bed semi, family of 4 all on work/school full time, so a pretty average household. The house is in a good state energy efficiency wise for heat retention and the only gas appliance is the boiler for heating and hot water. So in all, even though we may be slightly wastefull at times with hot water it seems a bit over the top. We've spoken to someone online with meter readings and they say it is right. This is their calculation:

Start reading 7496
End reading 7682
Unit used 186 = 5951.18kwh
Calorific value 39.8 volume
Correction 1.02264
Consumption charge 5951.18 x 3.985p = £237.15
Standing charge 29 days x 15.66p = £4.54
Total charges £241.69

They assure me this is average, but every person I know nearly fell over when I told them how much they are charging, so I beg to differ. Could anybody with a bit of nouse on energy billing calculations, shed any light on wether this is right before I spend my entire day tomorrow trying to get through to somebody.

The tarrif is - Scottish Power Exclusive fuxed December 2022

Thanks in advance.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum!

Does your gas meter measure cubic metres, or (hundreds of) cubic feet?

SP seem to think it's an Imperial meter measuring in cubic feet. If it's really a cubic metre meter, that would reduce your gas consumption by a factor of ~3.

And were both start and finish meter readings real, or was one or both estimated?

samjgarlick said:

They assure me this is average, ...

Those figures may be many things, but average isn't one of them. On SP's calculations you've used ~50% of the average annual gas consumption in a  single month

Robin9

Are these actual readings or estimated  - the letter E against the reading

Gerry1

SP's calculations will be VAT exclusive, so there's probably 5% VAT to go on at the end.

samjgarlick

Thank you for your responses. These readings are actual readings inputed by ourselves. As far as I can tell it's a metric meter as it's a digital display. I'm hoping this is the issue and they've been calculating our bill wrong for the last 12 months and they actually owe us!! 😃

Sea_Shell

What was your usage for the same period last year?

A very rough and ready calculation from m³ to kWh is x11.2.

186 m³ x 11.2 = 2083.

Much less than the 5951 billed.

Double check that meter for units.

QrizB

samjgarlick said:

Thank you for your responses. These readings are actual readings inputed by ourselves. As far as I can tell it's a metric meter as it's a digital display. I'm hoping this is the issue and they've been calculating our bill wrong for the last 12 months and they actually owe us!! 😃

It will say m3 or ft3 on the front of the meter, if you want to take a look and check

Once you confirm it's measuring in cubic metres, not cubic feet, you can start explaining this to Scottish Power. It might take several attempts, depending on how switched on their front-line customer service staff are.

Here's a factsheet from 2016 when the UK energy industry was hoping to put these errors right:
https://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication.html?task=file.download&id=5862

Who were you with before 12 months ago, is that when you switched to Scottish Power? Do you have bills from then that you can check too?

MWT

samjgarlick said:

Thank you for your responses. These readings are actual readings inputed by ourselves. As far as I can tell it's a metric meter as it's a digital display. I'm hoping this is the issue and they've been calculating our bill wrong for the last 12 months and they actually owe us!! 😃

If it is digital (electronic display), then odds are it is metric, but the units used should be shown on the meter somewhere, perhaps post a photo of the meter if you are not sure..?

Similarly if there are 5 digits before the decimal point then it will be metric, Imperial meters used 4 digits. 

johns1217

Just a quick calculation  on your figures, I make it approx  £58 including vat.

samjgarlick

Thanks all for the responses. I've checked the meter and it is 100 m3 and was installed in 2016. Scottish powers o line assistant has confirmed they've been calcukating it as ft3 so we see to have got to the bottom of it. 

Thanks again for all your help and have a great new year 😀 

samjgarlick

samjgarlick said:

Thanks all for the responses. I've checked the meter and it is 100 m3 and was installed in 2016. Scottish powers o line assistant has confirmed they've been calcukating it as ft3 so we see to have got to the bottom of it. 

Thanks again for all your help and have a great new year 😀 

* 100% m3