British Gas direct debit

StevenCox66

Hi

I have been with British Gas for nearly two years. Despite me providing metre readings they have continued to dramatically overestimate my electricity metre readings.  For a 2 bed room terrace my bill is going from £294 to £438 per month dual fuel. They do cancel and reverse bill on a daily basis and have do so for about six weeks

I have only been able to get through to them once and they said they would fix. I have submitted formal complaint but the direct debit will go out before that is resolved.

Any suggestions?

Alnat1

Give us some details of your actual annual usage over the last year. You say you have given regular meter readings so hopefully you have details of what they were this time last year and up to date ones. If you could also say how much your energy account is in debit/credit.

Someone will work out what you need to pay to cover the next 12 months.

StevenCox66

They estimated it as 71180 in February my reading in October was 70662. I think although can’t view it on their app their latest estimate was around 74500.

Alnat1

Your reading October this year or last year? Can you give any actual readings about a year apart, not estimates? You need to find out how much you actually use each year.

StevenCox66

October 2022 the reading is lower than British Has estimate of Feb 2022. 

TheMilkmansDad

was your starter meter reading based on the actual read or an estimate?

how often did/do you submit meter reads?

As you say you've raised a complaint (Assume through the correct channels) wait for resolution or a deadlock letter, at which point you can go to the ombudsman (assuming the complaint is valid of course!).

StevenCox66

The starter reading.was an actual reading. I have given them three metre readings over the last couple of months. None of these are reflected on bills. The issue is I cannot afford November direct debit currently on new style jsa and the complaint process will not be resolved before money goes out. Ever time I contact them they say they will review dir3 5 debit but have yet to do so.

StevenCox66

Also the app states today I am £64 in credit and my the end of the plan I will be £1227 in credit so why can’t direct debit be reduced ?

[Deleted User]

StevenCox66 said:

Also the app states today I am £64 in credit and my the end of the plan I will be £1227 in credit so why can’t direct debit be reduced ?

That's the key part really - if they are predicting that you will be so far 'ahead' at the end of the plan, they should be willing to reduce the DD.