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

Dolor

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? 

Your annual gas cost will be the (daily standing charge x 365) + (kWh x unit price) + 5% VAT

There is little point in my opinion working out a daily average cost given how gas usage varies with each season,

Your estimated annual gas usage should be shown on each statement.

brewerdave

As an observation ,I currently have the opposite problem with BG for my electricity only account.
Their predicted annual usage on the last bill, is far higher than I'm actually using BUT their DD "algorithm" is coming up with a much, much lower figure for monthly DD.
 I am actually paying more, an amount which will just about cover me until my fix ends in May (and then I will have to increase) but BG keep wanting me to lower the amount as they predict that I will be in credit by £150+ by account review in December !!
Their systems really are useless !!

Alnat1

There's nothing wrong with a gas showing the same every day if the account is set to only take a monthly reading. Usage across the month will be averaged out.

It could also be caused if BG are unable to obtain any readings (OP please check the actual meter) and are estimating use.

diystarter7

Hi OP

Give BG customer services a call and I'm sure they will help

Good luck

danieljm

Ok so from looking at my historical gas usage from 21/02/22 to 20/02/23, taking a daily mean figure for Jan/Feb to calculate the remainder, I have used 4138KWh...

4138*10.343p = £428 fuel.
10.343*365 = £37.75 annual standing charge

465.75+(465.75*0.05) = £489.03 inc. 5% vat

Meaning...

489.03/12 = 40.75/mo should in theory maintain balance on my account.

So I now have a figure to take to British Gas at the end of the month if they try to massively inflate my monthly gas payment again when they review it the end of this month. 

It is a start

Mstty

What was you actual meter reading between 21/02/22 to 20/02/23. From your meter, not the in house display or bills. This won't be a kWh figure either 

danieljm

Mstty said:

What was you actual meter reading between 21/02/22 to 20/02/23. From your meter, not the in house display or bills. This won't be a kWh figure either 

This is a KWh reading from my smart meter records on my account, not a cash reading. My account tracks meter readings and displays them to me in kwh. The smart meter knows what it read on 21/02/22 and also what the kwh reading is now.

Like I said in the previous comment 4138 kwh.

I don't know the cubic readings.

BUFF

danieljm said:

Ok so from looking at my historical gas usage from 21/02/22 to 20/02/23, taking a daily mean figure for Jan/Feb to calculate the remainder, I have used 4138KWh...

4138*10.343p = £428 fuel.
10.343*365 = £37.75 annual standing charge

465.75+(465.75*0.05) = £489.03 inc. 5% vat

Meaning...

489.03/12 = 40.75/mo should in theory maintain balance on my account.

So I now have a figure to take to British Gas at the end of the month if they try to massively inflate my monthly gas payment again when they review it the end of this month. 

It is a start

10.343p is a very low standing charge for gas by current standards, on most SVTs it will be ~28/30p (so ~£100 per year) & possibly more come April.
Are you on a fix & if so, when does it end?

Mstty

danieljm said:

Mstty said:

What was you actual meter reading between 21/02/22 to 20/02/23. From your meter, not the in house display or bills. This won't be a kWh figure either 

This is a KWh reading from my smart meter records on my account, not a cash reading. My account tracks meter readings and displays them to me in kwh. The smart meter knows what it read on 21/02/22 and also what the kwh reading is now.

Like I said in the previous comment 4138 kwh.

I don't know the cubic readings.

The point was you should check the actual meter that could be where a fault lies. 

danieljm

BUFF said:

danieljm said:

Ok so from looking at my historical gas usage from 21/02/22 to 20/02/23, taking a daily mean figure for Jan/Feb to calculate the remainder, I have used 4138KWh...

4138*10.343p = £428 fuel.
10.343*365 = £37.75 annual standing charge

465.75+(465.75*0.05) = £489.03 inc. 5% vat

Meaning...

489.03/12 = 40.75/mo should in theory maintain balance on my account.

So I now have a figure to take to British Gas at the end of the month if they try to massively inflate my monthly gas payment again when they review it the end of this month. 

It is a start

10.343p is a very low standing charge for gas by current standards, on most SVTs it will be ~28/30p (so ~£100 per year) & possibly more come April.
Are you on a fix & if so, when does it end?

Oops. Big mistake on my part, thanks for pointing that out, I punched in the kwh price as the meter charge. 28.485p/day. £103.97 annually.

103.97+428+(532*0.05)=£559
£46.55mo

SVT