Gas Smart meter sending wrong readings to British Gas

NinjasUnite

Hi,
After my old supplier went bust back in November, OFGEM moved me to British Gas. Since then, my Scottish Power SMETS1 Gas Meter keeps telling them I’ve used zero Gas, despite it telling me I have. I have rang British Gas three times regarding this. First time, there was an issue with them receiving no signal from it which according to them has been fixed. 2nd time, they told me to do the meter test, and provide me with the readings, they used that to back-calculate my Gas usage and started using them for estimations for future usage. But I have Smart Meters so why they need to estimate I don’t know. So a few days ago, I told them to re-bill and use the Smart Meter readings for Gas. Got the bill in and since November the reading hasn’t changed. But every time I ring up they tell me my meters are working and they’re getting a signal from them. In summary, my Gas bill has never been accurate since joining them. Any ideas on what to do? I don’t fancy leaving as their Oct fixed tariff is on MSE’s consider list and by my calculations that fixed tariff will be cheaper than the Price Cap after the January increase. Oh and my electricity meter which again is SP and SMETS1 is working fine and is sending the correct reading to them. Any ideas on what to do?

Xbigman

You need to keep proof that you have contacted them so email or screen shots of chat conversations or send a recorded delivery letter. Just have proof that you have made multiple attempts to inform them of the problem. Then just work out what the charges should actually be and put that amount in a savings account. Eventually BG will realise there's a problem and sort it out. The reason you need proof is because they can only back bill you 12 months and this could go on for years. For the back billing rules to apply you need to have informed BG of the problem and provided meter readings. 

Darren

pochase

Is the meter itself working? Can you read it manually?

Submit a meter reading with todays numbers? Did you take a manual read on 31st of March? 

Alnat1

I think from previous threads, if you have smart meters with BG you can't input the readings you take yourself online. Ring or webchat and give them manual readings each month and keep your account up to date that way.

alicef

@Alnat1 There is a point at which, we as BG customers have to say 'enough is enough'.  I don't think I should have to micro manage my supplier's billing, or run parallel spreadsheets to double check. 

From my experience BG's systems are not fit for purpose.  Goodness only knows what is happening to those who don't follow this forum or don't have enough information to understand that BG is making errors.  It is bad enough having to deal with the utter failure of OFGEM to regulate the market, the c**k up smart meter roll out and the increases to price caps.  

Alnat1

I never mentioned micro- managing or spreadsheets, I simply said give BG a monthly reading as your smart meter isn't communicating with them. Exactly what you would do if you had non-smart meters.

If you find this is too much effort, then expect estimated bills.

alicef

Alnat1 said:

I never mentioned micro- managing or spreadsheets, I simply said give BG a monthly reading as your smart meter isn't communicating with them. Exactly what you would do if you had non-smart meters.

If you find this is too much effort, then expect estimated bills.

Too much effort... hmmmm are you currently a BG customer experiencing issues with their smart meter set up. 
 I spent 40 minutes on the phone recently trying to sort out my account with BG - and yes, that was TOO much effort on my part and no I don't want estimated bills.  

Brie

alicef said:

Alnat1 said:

I never mentioned micro- managing or spreadsheets, I simply said give BG a monthly reading as your smart meter isn't communicating with them. Exactly what you would do if you had non-smart meters.

If you find this is too much effort, then expect estimated bills.

Too much effort... hmmmm are you currently a BG customer experiencing issues with their smart meter set up. 
 I spent 40 minutes on the phone recently trying to sort out my account with BG - and yes, that was TOO much effort on my part and no I don't want estimated bills.  

Raise a complaint and tell them you will be charging them for your time on the phone if they cannot provide you with an email address or similar that you can use instead.

[Deleted User]

Brie said:

alicef said:

you will be charging them for your time on the phone if they cannot provide you with an email address or similar that you can use instead.

Best of luck with that. A supplier may offer modest compensation for poor CS but there is absolutely no way it is going to agree to a payment for time spent on the phone.

KenEarl

Many years ago, I had a problem where whenever my neighbours house changed ownership I received a letter from their provider informing me that I had changed provider.

It seemed that this was down to the initial registrations of the meters being incorrect; could this be the problem?

I don't know whether the system has changed since I went through this but there was a central registration system (called MPAS, I recall) if the meter is incorrectly registered there then your suppliers information will be wrong.

You will need to check your meter details against MPAS to check all is correct. 

Once I realised this was the problem, and this had been happening over a number of years, I informed my supplier what the problem was and that I would be withholding my payments until the situation was resolved (obviously saving these payments so I could pay once resolved) and also informed the supplier that I had raised a complaint with the Energy Ombudsman (giving the reference number). 

This will involve effort on your part but if this is the problem, it could be worth persevering as I was given a sizable refund as a result.

Good luck