British Gas doubled direct debit!

pochase

Are you sure you have a real credit, was that after you received a bill and shown on the bill, or did you just check you account and it showed that  you are in credit?

I have taken the 6499KWh for 8 months and divided by 2 and multiplied x 3 to get a full year. As you are not using electrical heating summer and winter use should not be that different. 



As you can see with the predicted increase in October it will about £360 a month for electricity if you don't start to make changes.

As was asked before, for how long was the immersion heater running 24/7? 

pochase

witchwood said:

pochase said:

witchwood said:

QrizB said:

witchwood said:

They have now put us on to a variable dd, so hopefully we will only pay what we use and not what they think we will use.

Hopefully your first 2 or 3 months will br a nil DD as it'll be pasid from your credit. Just keep an eye on things and make sure it's all working as intended.

They have said we will pay nothing til December when they do a new bill... so only 2 DD a year? 

Are you sure about this? 

BG is only billing twice a year, but taking a monthly direct debit, which is a reason why there are huge credits visible on the account, they just have not billed yet. Once the bill is available, much of the credit disappears.

But I understand that you went onto the variable direct debit. That means you will be billed monthly, and they will take whatever you own also monthly, and not only in December. Of course if you have enough real credit you might not need to pay for a while.

We have gone onto the variable dd today. Up until now we have been paying a monthly dd, and getting statements quarterly. After I changed today they said our next payment will be december and so assume it will be twice a year? Our last dd for 199 went out today. Our next one was due 1st aug, but they wanted to increase to 549. So we changed to variable. 

This is from the BG web site


There is nothing about a bill only every 6 months. I even thought the 3 months was only for cash/cheque payments.

witchwood

pochase said:

Are you sure you have a real credit, was that after you received a bill and shown on the bill, or did you just check you account and it showed that  you are in credit?

I have taken the 6499KWh for 8 months and divided by 2 and multiplied x 3 to get a full year. As you are not using electrical heating summer and winter use should not be that different. 



As you can see with the predicted increase in October it will about £360 a month for electricity if you don't start to make changes.

As was asked before, for how long was the immersion heater running 24/7? 

Thanks for this. Yes, I would say summer/winter should be roughly the same too. I do expect to may more and not grumbling about the actual increases going on, just the huge and unjustified increase they are putting on us when it is obvious we are not using or ever will use that much! It was actually last october that we think the immersion was on constantly without realising! We checked it in April as the water was unusually hot ( too hot) and realised it was on 24/7. Only guessing it was the powercut in october... could have been any powercut over the years!!

Mstty

I think there have been some good points in the responses.

The one that means the most for people here is your actual yearly usage in kWh as that is key.

Do you have those exact figures for the last year (not from bills but your own reads so actual usage) it may be there is something behind the request for £549 a month that may become clear should you share those figures👍

pochase

I would suggest you do a daily reading over the next few weeks. You monthly usage may have come down a lot if you really had the immersion heater on 24/7 over months.

markin

Main sewer or tanks with an aerator?

The must be an explanation for double usage in winter, and the fan on for just 20min isn't it, Are you all having under 10min showers or closer to 25min?

The number i first came up with is 9600 but that must be low, At last years low rate 22p? That would be closer to 11,000kwh

pochase

Mstty said:

I think there have been some good points in the responses.

The one that means the most for people here is your actual yearly usage in kWh as that is key.

Do you have those exact figures for the last year (not from bills but your own reads so actual usage) it may be there is something behind the request for £549 a month that may become clear should you share those figures👍

There might be an easy explanation.

If the immersion heater was running 24/7 from November to early this year it would look like electric heating, the energy use coming down after the heating period because the immersion heater is on timer again.

But BG would estimate the future use based on a much higher use during winter and not based on the current much lower use staying the same in summer and winter..

witchwood

Mstty said:

I think there have been some good points in the responses.

The one that means the most for people here is your actual yearly usage in kWh as that is key.

Do you have those exact figures for the last year (not from bills but your own reads so actual usage) it may be there is something behind the request for £549 a month that may become clear should you share those figures👍

No. I don't but am now going to be keeping a daily diary of usage etc. I cant access my old peoples energy account either and so only going by BG from the last few months. I assumed, like most people that the smart meters would give accurate info and that BG would act upon that info rather than estimates. According to BG our estimated annual usage is 12463kwh which equates to just over 1000kwh month, yet our average ( even with the hot water issue now rectified) is 800kwh month worked out from nov-june. . Not sure why they think we will use more! Maybe its a learning thing as only been with them a few months..

markin

Get the bright app? Or the other app...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.hildebrand.brightionic&hl=en&gl=US

And don't trust the price per kWh and standing charge, They can be out dated.

wild666

4.4 kWh per day is only 1606 kWh per year about £450 plus around £180 SC. You will be paying most of your yearly usage with one months DD if that is your true usage.
If BG say they can read the meter then if your usage is correct at no more than 4.4 kWh per day then BG are trying it on as £549 per month with no debt on the account is just short of £6,600 per year.