How do British Gas Calculate Gas Use/Cost

wild666

Gerry1 said:

QrizB said:

peopleiknow1 said:

There is no formula on the BG bill showing how the have calculated costs ...

Every gas bill I've ever seen has included the calculation to convert the metered volume into kWh.

There a (rather old) BG bill here, with the calculation on Page 2:
https://www.myutilitygenius.co.uk/suppliers/british-gas/bill/

Does yours look like that?

That's exactly what I thought, but looking back at a BG bill from last year it's now become very unhelpful.  They've removed the grey 'How do we calculate your gas cost?' panel, there's no mention of ft3 or m3, so unless you're an anorak you'd never even realise the possibility for overcharging.

Even if BG don't put how to work out your bill on the bill it's easy to do this yourself by using between 10.79 and 12.21 as the kWh the higher kWh would be using a CV of 43 and a lower one of 10.79 using 38 as the CV.
Personally I use 40.1 as I've never had a CV higher than 40.1.

Gerry1

wild666 said:

Gerry1 said:

QrizB said:

peopleiknow1 said:

There is no formula on the BG bill showing how the have calculated costs ...

Every gas bill I've ever seen has included the calculation to convert the metered volume into kWh.

There a (rather old) BG bill here, with the calculation on Page 2:
https://www.myutilitygenius.co.uk/suppliers/british-gas/bill/

Does yours look like that?

That's exactly what I thought, but looking back at a BG bill from last year it's now become very unhelpful.  They've removed the grey 'How do we calculate your gas cost?' panel, there's no mention of ft3 or m3, so unless you're an anorak you'd never even realise the possibility for overcharging.

Even if BG don't put how to work out your bill on the bill it's easy to do this yourself by using between 10.79 and 12.21 as the kWh the higher kWh would be using a CV of 43 and a lower one of 10.79 using 38 as the CV.
Personally I use 40.1 as I've never had a CV higher than 40.1.

Yes, it's easy for you and me because we're both anoraks, but probably not for most people.  If you've always had a metric meter (e.g. @peopleiknow1) you may not even realise that there are many Imperial meters still in use and that their cubic feet volumes are first converted to cubic metres.  It's just not on most people's radar, and why should they be expected not only to know the nerdy details but also to predict that their new energy supplier would get it wrong?

All bills should include a simple statement stating the type of meter that's believed to be installed and advising how to confirm this. Similar statements should be included where websites and automated phone systems are used for meter readings.

The cases that make it to the MSE Forum are no doubt just the tip of the iceberg.  We need an effective consumer-focused regulator, not the dozy, industry-centric Ofgem.