British Gas Contradicting Figures

QrizB

snake147 said:

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.

It sounds as though you've got a Secure Liberty 100. Watch this video all the way through:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFeQ_y5LRrM

If this is your meter, press "6" instead of "9" and you'll get the registers displayed.

snake147

QrizB - you are correct, we do have that meter.  However she says if you have a standard meter press 9 (which is what we were told when it was installed).  If we press 6 (economy 7 - we don’t have that) we do indeed see the reading which is around 5000 units less and this is also the reading British Gas are seeing.

This is still totally confusing as if we used the value that button 6 shows, that would incur we use around 1000kWh a month, which is double our actual usage.

I just don’t know where to go from here.  Something is seriously wrong and I’m worried we are going to be forced to pay an annual electric only bill of around £3k

Gonna de-stress with a coffee and it’ll be cheaper to drive to Starbucks rather than boil my kettle I’m concluding !!!

snake147

Here’s our yearly so far as well.  This is correct…..so I just cannot get my head around why the actual readings are not right…..

QrizB

snake147 said:

QrizB - you are correct, we do have that meter.  However she says if you have a standard meter press 9 (which is what we were told when it was installed).  If we press 6 (economy 7 - we don’t have that) we do indeed see the reading which is around 5000 units less and this is also the reading British Gas are seeing.

Pressing "6" you should get separate readings for IMP R01 and IMP R02. Added together they should equal the IMP KWH number you get when pressing "9".

BG know you're on a single-rate tariff, and so are only reading one register, most likely R01.

We see this problem quite often on the forum. Here's an 11-page thread from a year ago that sticks in my mind:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6277550/eon-massive-bill/p1

This is still totally confusing as if we used the value that button 6 shows, that would incur we use around 1000kWh a month, which is double our actual usage. I just don’t know where to go from here.  Something is seriously wrong and I’m worried we are going to be forced to pay an annual electric only bill of around £3k

This bit remains a mystery. BG seem to be reading R01 correctly, and if R01 has increased from 26930 on 03/12/21 to 32085 on 15/06/21 you do seem to have used 5155kWh in that period - which seems at odds with the numbers in the BG app. However, looking at your BG bill on the first page they don't seem to have read your meter between December and June.

How often are BG meant to be reading your meter? Is it possible the numbers in the app are entirely estimated?

You could, if you wished, download and install the Hildebrand Bright app on your phone/device. This will give you access to your smart meter data without the added complication of BG's app.

Or you can achieve much the same but without the need for an app by registering as a consumer at the http://www.n3rgy.com/ website.

snake147

Thanks for that.  I’ve just come off the phone to a guy at BG.  Completely disregards the fact my online dashboard shows I’ve spent £722 since 1 day and that our first and only bill is £1170.
Also total disregard that to date it shows we’ve used 3017kWh, but he says we’ve used 5155kWh.  Couldn’t speak to a manager because ‘he knew what he was talking about’.
Got me to do a meter reading, then boil the kettle.  Once boiled I had to read the meter again…. The reading was identical to pre-boiling, and he said ‘see it’s working perfectly as it hasn’t gone up’

What ??? Haha, I have to laugh rather than cry at this point !

I’ll have to try a complaints dept or go to the regulator.  I can’t keep paying for 900kWh a month when we use 450.

I’m convinced the initial starting read was incorrect and if so, that would explain everything perfectly.

I’ll be taking daily reads too so I hopefully don’t get fleeced in future months.

QrizB

Good luck with BG, and do please let us know how your daily readings work out.

Not directly related to your question, but even 500kWh/month seems quite a lot. Is your house all-electric, with no gas/oil/LPG? How do you heat?

snake147

We use heating oil.

To me, the fact the meter updates my online dashboard with the correct daily/weekly/monthly usage can only mean the initial starting reading was done manually and in error.  At the moment they refuse to take any notice of anything other than the start/end reading which, in 99.9% of cases I’d agree with, but not today !

Will keep you guys posted and thanks again for the input.

and remember when you see this….there might be £400 to add on for the Xmas party…..

k_man

snake147 said:

We use heating oil.

To me, the fact the meter updates my online dashboard with the correct daily/weekly/monthly usage can only mean the initial starting reading was done manually and in error.  At the moment they refuse to take any notice of anything other than the start/end reading which, in 99.9% of cases I’d agree with, but not today !

Will keep you guys posted and thanks again for the input.

What are you basing this on?
Do the app figured match you own manual (daily, weekly monthly) readings?

Just because the app updates, doesn't mean it is using the right data. Did you really use what looks like zero electricity on 17th and 21st Feb?

I second the suggestion to use the Bright app, as that can supplement your manual readings, with data from your meter, not via BG's systems. Albeit I am not sure how Bright deals with different registers.

Finally, make sure you take, and record, manual readings for all the registers on your meter.
It is possible billing is based on the sum of both/all but the app is only based on one.

snake147

Clearly those 2 missing days are an error.  Not really top of my list to be fair.  Why should I assume my usage data on BG’s own website isn’t correct ?

I haven’t routinely been taking manual figures due to having the smart meter.

We’ve used around 450kWh per month for the 8 years we’ve lived here, so when they are saying we are using 900kWh per month there’s clear a rabbit away.  Two adults in a terraced house who are out at work all day !

I’m fairly sure the meter has been functioning correctly over the past 6 months however a huge difference in a starting reading has gave the average of around 900kWh a month.

I’ll be monitoring it everyday now and I’m sure it’ll register fine at around 15-16kWh per day.  

pochase

So if you believe your start reading is wrong, that is easy to check.

What is the reading in the final bill from your old supplier?