Estimated Opening Reading

LikeItLoveIt

Hi,

I'm after some advice if possible. So British gas have taken over as my energy supplier since people's energy went bust. They have now sent me a 900 pound bill which seems steep.  When checking the bill it states the opening reading is estimated which is probably because I hadn't given a reading to people's energy for a few months and so there handover reading would have been an estimate.

My question is how can British Gas give a bill based on an estimated opening reading when they have no idea how much energy I have actually used?  Do I have a valid case here?

Cheers

Ms_Chocaholic

Were you not contacted and asked to take a meter reading as your supply was being taken over by BG?

When an energy company I was with a few years ago went bust, my supply was taken over by Scottish Power and I'm sure the previous supplier and SP both got in touch re the meter reads at the point when the supply changed.

MaryNB

No, you don't have a case.

They have to send you a bill at some point and if you haven't sent a meter reading they can only go on an estimate. They don't go around every month reading people's meters. 

Very normal for people to be billed based on estimates. Happens to everyone who doesn't give regular readings.

Send a correct meter reading and the next bill will be accurate. Any overpayment from this month's bill will be credit added to your account balance. 

LikeItLoveIt

Hi thanks for your reply -
Possibly - I've had a crazy few months though and didn't do it if they did ask. Poor from my end but it still leaves me in the same predicament. People's energy have now ceased trading (I believe) and what's to say I don't owe a chunk of the energy fees to them at the lower rate? 

LikeItLoveIt

MaryNB said:

No, you don't have a case.

They have to send you a bill at some point and if you haven't sent a meter reading they can only go on an estimate. They don't go around every month reading people's meters. 

Very normal for people to be billed based on estimates. Happens to everyone who doesn't give regular readings.

Send a correct meter reading and the next bill will be accurate. Any overpayment from this month's bill will be credit added to your account balance. 

I agree in a normal contract situation but this is a completey new contract in which they don't know the start position?

MaryNB

LikeItLoveIt said:

Hi thanks for your reply -
Possibly - I've had a crazy few months though and didn't do it if they did ask. Poor from my end but it still leaves me in the same predicament. People's energy have now ceased trading (I believe) and what's to say I don't owe a chunk of the energy fees to them at the lower rate? 

Nothing if you didn't send accurate meter readings.

British gas didn't honour the tariffs People's Energy customers were on and weren't obliged to. You were put on a deemed tariff. I'm not sure if that's the same as the standard variable tariff (SVT) but if it is you won't get lower rates in the current market. Fixed tariffs are very high and the SVT is expected to increase by 50% in April. 

People's Energy stopped trading in September of last year. 

It's good practice to submit meter readings every month. Easier if you have a smart meter which does it automatically on a very regular basis.

TheMilkmansDad

The same reading should be used for the final bill for your previous supplier. Is the estimate massively over or under? Either way, unless you have evidence of what it actually was - there's not a lot you can do!

Submit new current reads now and ensure you give regular reads going forwards - at the very least monthly.

LikeItLoveIt

MaryNB said:

LikeItLoveIt said:

Hi thanks for your reply -
Possibly - I've had a crazy few months though and didn't do it if they did ask. Poor from my end but it still leaves me in the same predicament. People's energy have now ceased trading (I believe) and what's to say I don't owe a chunk of the energy fees to them at the lower rate? 

Nothing if you didn't send accurate meter readings.

British gas didn't honour the tariffs People's Energy customers were on and weren't obliged to. You were put on a deemed tariff. I'm not sure if that's the same as the standard variable tariff (SVT) but if it is you won't get lower rates in the current market. Fixed tariffs are very high and the SVT is expected to increase by 50% in April. 

People's Energy stopped trading in September of last year. 

It's good practice to submit meter readings every month. Easier if you have a smart meter which does it automatically on a very regular basis.

Unfortunately I attempted to have a smart meter fitted but after 2 attempts the company hadn't manged it.
To be honest meter readings have been the last thing on my mind recently.
I've no issue with the tariff just the way it has been calculated. Anyway thanks for your help

MaryNB

LikeItLoveIt said:

MaryNB said:

No, you don't have a case.

They have to send you a bill at some point and if you haven't sent a meter reading they can only go on an estimate. They don't go around every month reading people's meters. 

Very normal for people to be billed based on estimates. Happens to everyone who doesn't give regular readings.

Send a correct meter reading and the next bill will be accurate. Any overpayment from this month's bill will be credit added to your account balance. 

I agree in a normal contract situation but this is a completey new contract in which they don't know the start position?

The would have got the estimated meter reading and your projected energy use from People's Energy. As Ms_Chocaholic asked above did BG contact you when they took over your supply and ask you for meter readings? 

matelodave

 THis forum is littered with whinges and moans from those  who couldn't be bothered to read their meters , or check their bills  and who are now suffering the consequences of their idleness.

What sort of valid case do you think you've got - "I was bone idle and too busy and I expected them to to be clairvoyant m'lud."

How  did you expect BG or PE to know how much you'd used or what your meter readings were if you didn't send them a meter reading. They had to guess, and TBH it's not their fault if they were miles out. 

[Deleted User]

LikeItLoveIt said:

Hi,

I'm after some advice if possible. So British gas have taken over as my energy supplier since people's energy went bust. They have now sent me a 900 pound bill which seems steep.  When checking the bill it states the opening reading is estimated which is probably because I hadn't given a reading to people's energy for a few months and so there handover reading would have been an estimate.

My question is how can British Gas give a bill based on an estimated opening reading when they have no idea how much energy I have actually used?  Do I have a valid case here?

Cheers

You can raise an Agreed Readings Dispute with BG if your actual meter readings were different from the industry-estimated ones used to open your account. (Without photos taken on the day of the SoLR transfer this may be difficult to prove).

• According to energy industry rules, your reading must have a difference of more than 250 electricity units (kWh) for an electricity reading, or a difference of 39 imperial gas units (you'll see ft3on the meter) or 125 metric gas units (you'll see m3 on the meter) for a gas reading. Anything less than this means that the estimate is sensible and could reasonably have been a reading taken around the time of your switch, and the difference to you in cost will be very small.

This looks like a ‘catch up’ bill. The only real additional cost to you is the differences in unit prices and standing charges.  As others have suggested, you are partly to blame for not responding to requests for meter readings - particularly, when PfP went bust. As an outside possibility, you could try contacting the PfP Administrator pointing out that you think that BG may be asking you to pay a chunk of money owed to the failed supplier. The risk of doing this is that it will prolong the whole process and any savings on the £900 may not be that great: you will just pay more to PfP and less to BG.