British Gas website is a shambles!

cyprusmax

British Gas migrated me (and I assume lots of other customers) to their new wensite at the begining of December 2022.
It has taken weeks to get my information over and my customer information is still split between the old and new websites.

I want to minimise my energy costs (who doesn't?) but it's impossible with BG. I was allocated BG when my chosen supplier went bust in September 2021.
Since then I have had only one accurate bill covering just over 12mths - and I had a battle getting that (thanks Resolver and the smart meter app 'Loop').  That was at the beginning of October 2022. 
I haven't had a bill/statement since then but my direct debit is being collected and its far too high (I used the MSE tool).  I contacted BG and asked for a reduction, but it didn't happen.  I complained (Resolver) and it was reduced to less than half what it should be - no explanation or notice.

I then contacted them in January 2023 to ask for a bill or an account overall position (credit/debit?).  This was refused as they said that they couldn't issue bills yet from their new website.  I asked to be moved to variable monthly direct debit - which would mean that they would have to send me monthly bills - but this was again refused.  Apparently, this is not available on the new website either!

Has anyone else had these problems?  How on earth are you supposed to plan or budget with a total lack of information?  It seems amazing that an independent app like Loop can read your old smart meter, but the big emergy companies can't?

What a shame the smaller energy suppliers went bust.  The ones I used were well set up and always willing to listen. 
 

MattMattMattUK

cyprusmax said:

British Gas migrated me (and I assume lots of other customers) to their new wensite at the begining of December 2022.
It has taken weeks to get my information over and my customer information is still split between the old and new websites.

I want to minimise my energy costs (who doesn't?) but it's impossible with BG. I was allocated BG when my chosen supplier went bust in September 2021.
Since then I have had only one accurate bill covering just over 12mths - and I had a battle getting that (thanks Resolver and the smart meter app 'Loop').  That was at the beginning of October 2022. 
I haven't had a bill/statement since then but my direct debit is being collected and its far too high (I used the MSE tool).  I contacted BG and asked for a reduction, but it didn't happen.  I complained (Resolver) and it was reduced to less than half what it should be - no explanation or notice.

I then contacted them in January 2023 to ask for a bill or an account overall position (credit/debit?).  This was refused as they said that they couldn't issue bills yet from their new website.  I asked to be moved to variable monthly direct debit - which would mean that they would have to send me monthly bills - but this was again refused.  Apparently, this is not available on the new website either!

Has anyone else had these problems?  How on earth are you supposed to plan or budget with a total lack of information?  It seems amazing that an independent app like Loop can read your old smart meter, but the big emergy companies can't?

What a shame the smaller energy suppliers went bust.  The ones I used were well set up and always willing to listen. 

They are migrating systems and I am sure it is not going a well as they expected it to, however there will always be a changover period where data is incomplete or split. You can submit a formal complaint if you wish, though I am not sure it will get you where you want to be any quicker than letting them complete the rollout.

If your main goal is to minimise your energy costs I am not sure that any of this makes a difference though, getting a monthly bill or statement has zero impact on you minimising your usage so if that is your goal you can carry on doing that. If you want to work out your costs then you can tally up our usage and payments to get a reasonably accurate calculation of your position, it will not be perfect and I accept it is not ideal but it would be a temporary solution. 

Once the migration is complete the new platform will be a reskin of Octopus's Kraken system which is by far the best billing/usage platform in the industry so you should have everything as visible as you want in another month or two.

pochase

You are not on a new web site, this is a new accounting system British Gas will use in future for all customers.

From what has been reported back to this site variable direct debit is no longer available on the new system, the web site still lists it as a valid payment form.

British Gas only bills every six month, if you got a bill in October you will get the next bill in March. Not really great, but by Ofgem regulations they only have to send one bill per year.

I cannot really see that a complaint will work, they don't have to offer variable direct debit and they bill twice as often as they have to.

Either you live with this, for example use a spreadsheet to keep up to date with your energy use and cost, or you need to change to another supplier.

@MattMattMattUK
I was not aware that BG will also change to Kraken and cannot find any information, Do you have a link?

InvertedVee

There's been nothing about my experience with British Gas to tempt me to stay. I've had chaotic billing and generally poor administration. I can't think of a single interaction which hasn't been problematic. I was moved new accounting system in October, I think, but it still feels incomplete. So I'm moving to Octopus this week.

BooJewels

pochase said:

British Gas only bills every six month, if you got a bill in October you will get the next bill in March. Not really great, but by Ofgem regulations they only have to send one bill per year. [...]

@MattMattMattUK
I was not aware that BG will also change to Kraken and cannot find any information, Do you have a link?

My own billing (and that of my aunt that I manage with mine under an LPA) would not support the six month billing interval that I see posted about so often here.  I give a meter reading on the last day of every calendar month (and pay by monthly DD) and have done for about 3 years (as they could never seem to estimate my usage correctly and still don't) and in the last year, my bills were issued on the following seemingly random dates - on some occasions, they used an estimate for my usage, despite having a meter reading for the same day - so I don't think my reading generated the bill: 

1/2/22
1/3/22
30/4/22
21/7/22
31/8/22
29/9/22
30/12/22

I'm also not sure about the idea that their billing system is based on a re-skinned Kraken - nothing in the functionality or efficiency of their system would support this. My gas is with BG and my electric is with Octopus - so I have experience of both.

@cyprusmax - I think the only way you will be able to make sense of BGs billing is to take responsibility for it yourself.  Take regular meter readings and as @pochase suggested - keep the details in a spreadsheet.  I've been doing this for a long while anyway, but recently, it has been even more important as their system is sometimes unfathomable.  Even though I keep on top of it monthly, I often can't make sense of the actual bills - they take some unravelling - they seem to make it unnecessarily complicated. We can help you with that if you don't know how.

I think I went onto their new billing system quite early on as I first noticed changes at the end of last August and it still seems to be a mess.  Adding my aunt's accounts under the umbrella of mine has only complicated it further - they seem to have made my account a satellite of hers, not the other way around, as requested.

Annemos

Out of interest Cyprusmax.... please see post I just added to on here:  

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6420122/british-gas-moved-me-to-paperless-bills-without-my-consent#latest

MattMattMattUK

pochase said:

MattMattMattUK
I was not aware that BG will also change to Kraken and cannot find any information, Do you have a link?

Sorry, my mistake, EDF are migrating to Kraken, British Gas are migrating to "new platform" whatever that is.

Eldi_Dos

I would go further and say their system is not fit for purpose at the moment.

I have been trying since Oct 2022 to get them to repay me a credit due on a closed account.

I have been told untruths by their staff on several occasions.

Twice on web chat agents have told me they are not issuing refunds due to large level of scams, that fills me with confidence.

British Gas is handling large amounts of public money and I do not think their system is fit for this.

wrf12345

It is not that new a system as I am apparently on it (signed up eleven months ago) and they do not do variable direct debit but you can switch to on-demand billing - but if it is every six months then it is a joke - and not sure how much extra they charge. To be fair, apart from no way to adjust the DD downwards even when in credit, the system does seem to work ok for inputing meter readings and generating a bill.

MuckChucker

I'm just going to dig up the recent oldie rather than start my own but I've been moved to this in the last 2 months and quite frankly, it's not good enough. There's zero useage info (thankfully keep track myself), the "chat with an expert" button doesn't do anything, it doesn't even pretend to put you in a queue, it just doesn't work, it says "loading" and then nothing happens. My biggest issue is that I'm over-due a bill, it should have been in early April but the system has nothing in billing. I've been over-paying since all this fun started so I'm looking to cut my DD but I'm loathe to wait in an endless phone queue to do simple tasks. I have a distinct feeling they are going to have billing issues. As soon as it's cost effective, I shall be on my way.

Alnat1

Why wait to switch until it's cheaper? Switch for better service as it's the only difference between companies at the moment.