I feel like Brit Gas are fiddling my energy account. Raising DD way above usage, etc. Any advice? 8 February at 12:29AM edited 8 February at 12:34AM in Energy 38 replies 1.6K views

danieljm

Really need advice here if you can take the time. Going to try and keep it short and concise but I could waffle on for a while. I honestly feel as though British Gas may on the fiddle with my energy account. I am genuinely worried about this and seriously need some advice as I'm lost and anxious.

When I started my plan with them, not long in I received an energy usage bill for £9,000. Disputed this and after some to and fro they admitted 'we got it wrong' and something about 'the meter doing a full lap'. Was corrected but I told them I still wasn't happy.

Back in Sept they increased my elec DD to £90 - definitely about right, but my gas DD to £230. The most we have ever used in a month is £75 the December just gone, that is AFTER the prices went up. Felt like they just plucked a number out of thin air. Was using an average £15 a month before this and was massively in credit. Second complaint submitted - they admitted it was 'excessive' and refunded around £190 (diff between old/new DD) and reverted it to the old amoint.

FFWD to today and I looked at my gas use for Jan - it was through the roof, £100. Funny given we heated the place much less than Dec with it being much milder and were hardly at home. Look at the day-by-day breakdown and they calculated we used precisely £3.90 every day, day-on-day for the latter half of the month. I have just submitted another complaint asking them to provide a succinct explanation as to how this has come about and insisted they amend it with precisely the exact usage.

Honestly I don't know what to do. I feel like BG are getting it VERY wrong time after time and taking much more than they should. I understand the cap is on the up but I'm absolute certain beyond all doubt they aren't getting it right and it's causing me massive stress.

Any advice before I get fobbed off on my complaint?

Am I allowed to refuse BG permission to modify my DD without consulting me?

Should I move to a pay for what you use plan?

elsien

You can’t work it out on the amount you are paying. You need to go on your meter readings and the number of KWh. 

Are you taking and submitting regular meter readings? Is your bill based on a reading or an estimate? 

As a point of comparison my direct debit for all utilities was £75 before everything went up. I live in a three bedroom not particularly well insulated terrace. My gas bill for January was £200. That’s not an estimate,  that’s based on the correct readings and with my thermostat firmly fixed at 17 degrees. 

danieljm

elsien said:

You can’t work it out on the amount you are paying. You need to go on your meter readings and the number of KWh. 

Are you taking and submitting regular meter readings? Is your bill based on a reading or an estimate? 

re; Readings, I am on a smart meter so these should be totally automatic yes?

I understand what you are saying in regards to calculating usage/payments, but my account gives a full breakdown of energy usage recorded by the smart meter both in terms of KWh and £ used, so surely it should be fairly obvious whether I am paying too much/too little by looking at the energy I used in £ terms, the amount I pay every month and comparing these? It's clear that putting the DD up to £230 was grossly in excess of our average usage.

I'm thinking I may be best to move to a variable direct debit.

victor2

Don't think in £s, kWh is what you are billed for. Of course it is money you are ultimately interested in, but read your meters and make sure BG are using actual readings and not estimates. 
Your electricity meter reads in kWh, so is easy to track. Your gas meter could be cubic meters or  (if an older meter), hundreds of cubic feet. Your statements will show the formula used to convert the reported usage into KWh.
If you can find readings about one year apart, you will see what your annual usage typically is. That will then give you an idea what your current cost should be - at current rates of course.

danieljm

victor2 said:

Don't think in £s, kWh is what you are billed for. Of course it is money you are ultimately interested in, but read your meters and make sure BG are using actual readings and not estimates. 
Your electricity meter reads in kWh, so is easy to track. Your gas meter could be cubic meters or  (if an older meter), hundreds of cubic feet. Your statements will show the formula used to convert the reported usage into KWh.
If you can find readings about one year apart, you will see what your annual usage typically is. That will then give you an idea what your current cost should be - at current rates of course.

This should be too hard for me to calculate really. I will have been on their account for exactly 12 months in just under a fortnight. I didn't think to look at it on these terms.

Correct me if I am wrong, but presumably: 28.485*365 + KWh*10.343/12 will bring me to the amount I should (roughly) be paying for gas? 

victor2

danieljm said:

victor2 said:

Don't think in £s, kWh is what you are billed for. Of course it is money you are ultimately interested in, but read your meters and make sure BG are using actual readings and not estimates. 
Your electricity meter reads in kWh, so is easy to track. Your gas meter could be cubic meters or  (if an older meter), hundreds of cubic feet. Your statements will show the formula used to convert the reported usage into KWh.
If you can find readings about one year apart, you will see what your annual usage typically is. That will then give you an idea what your current cost should be - at current rates of course.

This should be too hard for me to calculate really. I will have been on their account for exactly 12 months in just under a fortnight. I didn't think to look at it on these terms.

Correct me if I am wrong, but presumably: 28.485*365 + KWh*10.343/12 will bring me to the amount I should (roughly) be paying for gas? 

Assuming 23.485p is your daily standing charge and 10.343 is the p/kWh, that is correct, so long as you add the two numbers together before dividing by 12. 
That is obviously for one fuel only. You would need to do the same for the other (with the appropriate rates) to get an idea of total annual cost for utilities. This also assumes the rates you are using include VAT at 5%. If they do, your statements will show slightly lower rates as VAT is added to the total.

danieljm

victor2 said:

Assuming 23.485p is your daily standing charge and 10.343 is the p/kWh, that is correct, so long as you add the two numbers together before dividing by 12. 
That is obviously for one fuel only. You would need to do the same for the other (with the appropriate rates) to get an idea of total annual cost for utilities. This also assumes the rates you are using include VAT at 5%. If they do, your statements will show slightly lower rates as VAT is added to the total.

Thank you. I will crunch these numbers and see what it returns. I will use my average daily use for Jan/Feb to calculate the remaining days up to 20/02/2023 (one day before my plan started) which should give me an accurate enough figure to take to BG when I query it.

Yes, I am on dual fuel though it is taken as two separate payments. I am confident that my DD amount for electric is pretty bang on, but I shall look at it anyway for sake of accuracy. It's my gas DD that they have been trying to bump up by almost 500%.

This will just leave me to figure out how they have calculated me to have used precisely 35KWh gas every day for 15 days on the bounce in Feb - I think not somehow - this is what is concerning me more right now; that cannot be an accurate reading from my smart meter.

Spoonie_Turtle

danieljm said:

victor2 said:

Assuming 23.485p is your daily standing charge and 10.343 is the p/kWh, that is correct, so long as you add the two numbers together before dividing by 12. 
That is obviously for one fuel only. You would need to do the same for the other (with the appropriate rates) to get an idea of total annual cost for utilities. This also assumes the rates you are using include VAT at 5%. If they do, your statements will show slightly lower rates as VAT is added to the total.

Thank you. I will crunch these numbers and see what it returns. I will use my average daily use for Jan/Feb to calculate the remaining days up to 20/02/2023 (one day before my plan started) which should give me an accurate enough figure to take to BG when I query it.

Yes, I am on dual fuel though it is taken as two separate payments. I am confident that my DD amount for electric is pretty bang on, but I shall look at it anyway for sake of accuracy. It's my gas DD that they have been trying to bump up by almost 500%.

This will just leave me to figure out how they have calculated me to have used precisely 35KWh gas every day for 15 days on the bounce in Feb - I think not somehow - this is what is concerning me more right now; that cannot be an accurate reading from my smart meter.

Smart meters can be set to send the usage data at different frequencies, some of them are only monthly (although what the supplier does with the data I'm not sure, it's possible some might just average it out rather than using the actual daily/half-hourly data).  If yours is set to monthly you should be able to change it to daily - gas doesn't need to be half-hourly.

The bills will show whether the readings are estimated with an E next to it, or S for smart / A for actual.

EssexHebridean

First bit of advice is not to make accusations of companies behaving fraudulently the internet - this can at best lead to your post being deleted and MSE account being suspended, and at worst lead to them coming after you to seek legal redress. 

For context on gas use - the use that ties up with a £15 per month DD now is my own use, in fact. I use gas for cooking, nothing else. Does this also describe your situation as it sounds like you have gas heating and use it for hot water too? 

You’ve had lots of good advice around how to work out your actual use - when negotiating any drop on the DD remember that we are going to see a in the region of 20% increase in April, and that over the full dual full account there will not be the £400 help towards costs next winter. Martin Lewis has given some good advice about negotiating direct debits on his podcast and I think on the TV show too - above all though, please remember to be polite and not accuse them of dishonesty when you call up - it’s really improbable that they have singled you out to target for fraudulent activity, it will be a genuine error, a meter not sending readings properly and so estimates being used (when did you last actually read the meter - I mean the meter itself, not the IHD? It’s good practice to periodically check smart meters to ensure that all is in order and that the readings tie up with your bills.)

Something else to consider - if “barely heating the place” means a short burst of heating morning and night, then you are always using the boiler at its least cost-efficient as it constantly has to heat up everything fro:pm cold - obviously it will use more energy doing this than once it’s ticking over so the first hour of running is generally expected to be the most expensive. 

Hopefully your calculations will shed some light on what has gone on here, and if your DD can be reduced (don’t necessarily expect BG to factor in the upcoming increase by the way - they may not until it actually hits) you will be able to amicably negotiate that. 

elsien

May also be worth checking your meter to see that it is working, and your readings tally with theirs. Parent’s gas meter died last January - took her 9 months to notice. 

km1500

There is something wrong with a gas usage of exactly £3.90 every day.