British Gas Contradicting Figures

snake147

Well, I’m having a mare with British Gas ! I have a smart meter so they (and I) can see my daily/weekly/monthly usage etc. I know I use around 500kWh each month, and their shows me this.  Example below….

However, their bill shows I’m using far more.  If I add up all the monthly usage since they began supplying me back in Dec 2021, I have used 3017kWh, but they have billed me for 5155kWh.

In a nutshell, they are using their own figures to produce two completely different results.  I’m at a loss.  Here’s the bill….

I’ve spoke to them and got nowhere !! Heads about to fall off !! Any ideas guys ? (I can post each monthly usage if that helps)

snake147

Oh and for a bit of extra fun, they also tried to charge me £420 for 3 days worth of electric back in December, which obviously I had them remove !!! Jeez !

Alnat1

Did you give an opening meter reading and does it match with what they used?
What is the meter reading now?

Alnat1

Are the blue monthly usage graphs from your British Gas account or some other source?

pochase

Only the meter reads from the smart meter itself are valid. 

Also did you see that most readings on the bill are estimated? Only the first reading was a smart meter reading, on the 15th of June it says "we read you meter", did you submit a reading or was there a meter reader?

So they have only a start and an end reading that is true in the bill, everything between it is estimated when you used the energy. Have you checked that the start read and the the reading on the 15/06/2022 are correct? What is you meter read today? 

If the two reads are correct, they have billed you the correct amount.

snake147

Albat1 - Screens are from BG’s app.  

Pochase - I don’t have the meter reading from when they took over my supply.  What I have just learned though, is that my current meter read is about 5000 units more than what BG think it is.  No idea how that can be, but may explain the problem. They say an engineer will come, however they have no dates available atm ! 

I still don’t understand how the kWh usage on the bill doesn’t marry up anywhere near to my real usage shown on their graphs.  I’ll take daily meter reads from now on so I know what my daily usage is.  Our usage has been the same for years.  500 a month is still high for 2 adults who are out at work all day ! Nearly 1000 is obscene !!

QrizB

snake147 said:

Pochase - I don’t have the meter reading from when they took over my supply.  What I have just learned though, is that my current meter read is about 5000 units more than what BG think it is.  No idea how that can be, but may explain the problem. They say an engineer will come, however they have no dates available atm !

Are you reading your smart meter, or are you reading the in-home display (IHD) that sits on your shelf?

The smart meter itself will have four separate registers, normally numbered R01 to R04, plus a "total import" reading. If your meter has ever been used on a dual-rate tariff (eg. E7) or once took part in BG's "free electricity weekends" promotion, there will be readings on more than one of the registers. These readings should add up to equal the "total import" number.

It's possible that BG's metering system is only reading one of the registers, but your own readings are the total of them all.

maisie_cat

What is your closing reading from your previous supplier and what is it now?
When we had our bill starting 3rd December the actual meter reading was from mid  November and matched our closing NR reading
If that opening reading matches your closing from the old supplier and the reading is correct now the overall consumption is correct.

snake147

QrizB - We don’t have an IHD.  I’m purely using the actual electric meter and the BG app/website. 

Maisie - I’d have to try to dig that out.  This 5000 unit meter discrepancy must be the cause of the issue.  As I say, I know exactly how many kWh I’ve used.  Their start and/or end figures are clearly wrong which hopefully will rectify once the engineer has been.  If they are saying that my meter shows 5200 less on their end today, than it does at my end, then that’s clearly a huge problem !

BG are removing the bill for the time being.
I’ll update this thread once the engineer has been. Hopefully this year !!!

QrizB

snake147 said:

QrizB - We don’t have an IHD.  I’m purely using the actual electric meter and the BG app/website. 

...  If they are saying that my meter shows 5200 less on their end today, than it does at my end, then that’s clearly a huge problem !

Have you checked all four registers? That could be where the "missing" 5200kWh are hiding.

snake147

I have no idea what the registers are you refer to.  The meter was put in several years before BG supplied us, if that makes any difference to your theory.  You simply press the number ‘9’, which then shows the current reading and then passes through several other displays.