British Gas claiming 3817.85kWh gas usage but only boiler running, no other appliances

angemr

My energy provider, Nabuh, switched me over to British Gas as they stopped trading, as soon as I was informed I started taking regular meter readings including pics every time. I have gas central heating and water, all other appliances, cooker/shower/fire etc are electric. British Gas state that between 6/9 - 9/11/2022 I have used 3817.85kWh of gas!!!!!! There's 2 adults & 2 teenagers in the house, we're all shower users rather than bath, maybe 1 bath per week. Central heating went on maybe 2-3 times at the end of October and maybe 3-2 times since start of November (we're all big jumper and blanket users). How can this be right? The bill for gas is £421.60 and £387.59 for electric. I had already made a payment of £269.38 and has 2 x £66 so the remaining balance is £401.81. I'm panicking as that's ridiculous, but I just don't think this can be right. We had the boiler serviced end of October by British Gas and I asked the engineer to check the boiler is running efficiently which he confirmed it is and told him about the usage and even he said that can't be right. Does anyone understand or can help me, is this correct???

DullGreyGuy

What meter values are BG using? Are they estimates or actuals? Have you been supplying your reads to them?

Jonboy_1984

Some questions to hopefully assist:

What meter readings do your photos have for the start and end of the period?

What meter readings are listed on the bill? Are they readings or estimated?

Have you submitted the readings or just recorded them?

Does the meter serial number on your  BG bill match the one on the actual meter?

Is the unit on the billing the same at on the meter (cubic ft, M3 etc)?

Does the opening reading from BG match the closing reading from your final bill with Nabuh?

dunstonh

British Gas state that between 6/9 - 9/11/2022 I have used 3817.85kWh of gas!!!!!!

And what do your meter readings say you used between those dates?
Was there any carry forward in in that reading from the previous supplier?.  i.e. you used x kWh with Nabuh that had yet to be billed which were carried forward to BG.  Therefore making the actual period longer than the dates you have given.

How can this be right? 

We can only know by the meter readings.  Give us your meter readings. Actual readings, not estimates (and whether the BG readings are actual or estimate)

Robin9

@angemr

Can you edit the title please - I was expecting a story about having no gas in the house,

You do have an appliance   - your boiler.

wild666

Even with no heating used the boiler will register gas usage for the pilot light and hot water used through the taps.

EssexHebridean

angemr said:

My energy provider, Nabuh, switched me over to British Gas as they stopped trading, as soon as I was informed I started taking regular meter readings including pics every time. I have gas central heating and water, all other appliances, cooker/shower/fire etc are electric. British Gas state that between 6/9 - 9/11/2022 I have used 3817.85kWh of gas!!!!!! There's 2 adults & 2 teenagers in the house, we're all shower users rather than bath, maybe 1 bath per week. Central heating went on maybe 2-3 times at the end of October and maybe 3-2 times since start of November (we're all big jumper and blanket users). How can this be right? The bill for gas is £421.60 and £387.59 for electric. I had already made a payment of £269.38 and has 2 x £66 so the remaining balance is £401.81. I'm panicking as that's ridiculous, but I just don't think this can be right. We had the boiler serviced end of October by British Gas and I asked the engineer to check the boiler is running efficiently which he confirmed it is and told him about the usage and even he said that can't be right. Does anyone understand or can help me, is this correct???

You're not querying the electricity cost at all? Only to me, that figure suggests that as a household you probably are higher than average users - I'm near as anything an all electric household and that £387 would pay nearly 4 months of electric use, for us! (The fact that you refer to a "fire" being run on electric adds weight to this - why do you use an electric fire when you have GSH installed?) Similarly having your showers fed by the boiler would be far less expensive than using electric ones - I suspect the cost of the modifications on that might pay for itself quite fast, particularly with 2 teenagers in the house! 

dunstonh

The bill for gas is £421.60 and £387.59 for electric.

I missed the electric bit before.  That is a lot.  It puts you right at the high end of users if payment is reflective of your actual use and isn't covering arrears.

theoretica

angemr said:

My energy provider, Nabuh, switched me over to British Gas as they stopped trading, as soon as I was informed I started taking regular meter readings including pics every time. I have gas central heating and water, all other appliances, cooker/shower/fire etc are electric. British Gas state that between 6/9 - 9/11/2022 I have used 3817.85kWh of gas!!!!!! There's 2 adults & 2 teenagers in the house, we're all shower users rather than bath, maybe 1 bath per week. Central heating went on maybe 2-3 times at the end of October and maybe 3-2 times since start of November (we're all big jumper and blanket users). How can this be right? The bill for gas is £421.60 and £387.59 for electric. I had already made a payment of £269.38 and has 2 x £66 so the remaining balance is £401.81. I'm panicking as that's ridiculous, but I just don't think this can be right. We had the boiler serviced end of October by British Gas and I asked the engineer to check the boiler is running efficiently which he confirmed it is and told him about the usage and even he said that can't be right. Does anyone understand or can help me, is this correct???

Good - you have the record to check up on your bills - but you need to use it.

How much gas use do your readings show?  Do your readings match the readings used on the bill?  Does your meter record in cubic meters or (100s of) cubic feet and does the bill have the same units? 

angemr

meter readings for 10/9/2022 gas 000006.30  electric 0000035.8  then 9/11/2022 gas 000342.12  electric 0001406.7

The fire is electric but is never used.
We're all shower users, my husband likes a bath but only has maybe 1 a week, he sticks to the shower.
I've told BG the meter readings and sent them the pics of the meters for start and end dates and that's what they say they've based the bill on.
We were on pre-payment meters with Nabuh until we switched over to BG on 6/9/2022, no outstanding debt to carry over from them.
Our electric usage was high as we have a hot tub but it has been switched off since July, we were averaging £50per week when it was switched on.
Everything is switched off at the plug socket when not in use. I have a dishwasher which goes on after 9pm, so no hot water being used there as it's a cold water feed. I have a wahcing machine with a timer so I set that to start around 6am so I'm not using in the day and although I have a tumble drier it is only used maybe once or twice a week in the evening for around 30mins.

QrizB

angemr said:

meter readings for 10/9/2022 gas 000006.30  electric 0000035.8  then 9/11/2022 gas 000342.12  electric 0001406.7

OK, so in two months you've used 335.82 units (cubic metres?) which is roughly 3800kWh of gas, and 1370.9 units (kWh) of electricity.

That's quite a lot.

The gas should be £350-ish and the electricity £450-ish, assuming you used it roughly half-and-half in September and October and you're paying the standard variable tariff.

These are brand-new meters, presumably smart meters, and are definitely connected to your home and not to any other property?

Can you confirm what tariff you're on?