Estimate bills for two years now with a real reading BG say I owe £900 instead of £57

Sensitivesoul

Hi

TLDR: I recently gave an accurate reading to British Gas over the phone and they say I owe £900 which was gas used before the 2 recent price increases (last proper reading was about 2 years ago). I'm hoping for some help please

Because of the 2 price increases this year I wanted to get an accurate reading on my meter (from now onwards to only pay what I actually owe). So I phoned British Gas (BG) with my reading. Long story short my bill went from about £57 to about £900.

I can't remember what the customer service guy said properly (I was in shock) but it was either that I haven't had a meter reading since before Covid started or just after. I knew it had been a long time since a proper reading and all the bills since have been estimated.

Obviously, it's £900 because of the new 96% increase this year has brought (or however much it's increased), But the vast majority of this gas was used before the 2 price increases. Since the first increase was announced in February or March I have cut down using gas a lot, no more central heating, turning taps off more frequently, and even stopped baths and showers (full body wash using the sink).

The customer service guy said he was passing all of this info off to a place to review it (or something), and because of the difference in the 2 reading (estimated vs real readings) he hadn't actually put that reading on my account/bill, (which I thought was really nice of him to do). He said this 'review' would take about a week so they'd contact me then. (BTW my reading was 06xxx when their reading was 05xxx). I disagreed that I should have to pay this amount because of the prices increases this year so I don't know if this 'review' is happening because I disagreed that I should have to pay the new amount or that he is simply passing it on to this place because of the huge difference between the two. (Price amount or meter numbers).

So they haven't charged me yet, but I feel I need to get more info on this to try to protect/prepare myself, and to understand my rights etc.

I really don't think I should have to pay this massive amount jumping from about £57 to about £900 as this gas was used up to 2 years ago at those prices, and I also don't know why they would estimate my bills so low over this time. I'm on income support for depression and agoraphobia so it'd be very hard for me paying this amount should I be forced to.


I'm really hoping someone can give me advice on what to do next with this problem if they choose to charge me the full amount.

What legal rights do I have?

Do I stand a chance of paying the old tariffs?

Also is there any consumer group I could contact for extra help to fight this if BG chooses to charge me all of it? (though I would really like some advice from you guys/girls first).

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong subforum, I thought that this might be the more appropriate place to post this.

sammyjammy

Sounds like they are looking into it and trying to help so let them do that, no point worrying until then.  Can I ask why you didn't give them a meter reading in that long period of time if you knew they were estimating your bills?

turnitround

You won't be being billed for all the last 2 years at the higher prices. The bill will be adjusted to take into consideration the price rise dates. 
However you must have been paying a lot less than you should have been over the last 2 years. Too late to say iy now but you really should have checked that the estimates were against what the actual reading was. 

There wont be a way out of paying for what you have actually used but they should agree a payment plan with you.

[Deleted User]

They should have re-estimated all the readings in between the accurate ones - it should not be that all the usage is charged at the most recent prices.

This is what happens when you do not give regular accurate readings.

Why would you be trying to "fight" paying for the energy you have actually used?

newlywed

I don’t think the Op is trying to fight paying, but just wants to be paying for the energy they used at the relevant rate.

Do you have photos or readings of your meters at the points the price changed (as Martin suggested)? If so, then you may be able to send that to them and prove you didn’t use it evenly through the 2 year period.

if not… then I don’t see how you prove anything….

Miser1964

Unfortunate, but the press has always emphasised providing an actual reading a few days before each of the price rise dates to avoid just this situation. 

Sensitivesoul

@sammyjammy With my depression and other health issues I struggle to get to the door in time sometimes. Also the times they knock are random so I don't know it's them.

Thanks for the advice, I'm trying not to worry.

My estamates have never been that bad and they've always seemed quite close (before this I've never had a reading and then got an unreasonable or massive bill) so I always assumed (wrongly) that estamates weren't a problem.

Thank you for replying so swiftly.

@turnitround Thanks for the information and taking the time to reply so quickly.

If the 96% tarriff was taken off I'm willing to pay it, I have no problem with that, as you say it's what I've actually used. So if I get charged about £400 odd I'd pay it without issue (money management aside). I probably should have been more clear, my problem is paying the new 96% tarriff, I don't expect to pay just the £57 that they estimated.

Edit: I know it won't be £400 odd, I just don't known if the whole bill is charged at the new rate

[Deleted User]

Only the bit used since 1 October will be at the new rate. If you look at the most recent statement it should show you new estimates for the dates in between.

 If they haven’t gone back and changed the old estimates, that is worth complaining about. You might find that the £900 is correct though.

Spoonie_Turtle

In your opening post you say you gave BG an accurate reading yourself.  Why did you not do that previously, when you missed the meter reader?  No judgement, I'm genuinely interested to know.
(When we were with EOn we would always miss the meter reader because they called in the day with nobody home, so my parents used to phone up with a reading after they left the card.)

Edited to add: at least you know now, to start doing it so you get accurate bills rather than estimates in future.

t0rt0ise

It's very rare to have meter reader round now as we are expected to read the meter ourselves and send it in either via our online account or a phone call. It would be a good idea to start doing this monthly from now.

Sensitivesoul

newlywed said:

I don’t think the Op is trying to fight paying, but just wants to be paying for the energy they used at the relevant rate.

Do you have photos or readings of your meters at the points the price changed (as Martin suggested)? If so, then you may be able to send that to them and prove you didn’t use it evenly through the 2 year period.

if not… then I don’t see how you prove anything….

Thanks, you're right, I'm not against paying what I owe, I'm against paying these new (crazy) rates.

The majority of my used gas would of come from before these price increases (and also when they came in it was nearly spring so it would be warming up more).

Sadly I don't often take pictures of the inside of my cupboard (sorry just joking ) I don't have any pictures that I can present unfortunately.