British Gas - complaints - please help

JoJo24601

To anyone that can help me ....

I phoned British Gas with my meter reading last week and I was told over the phone my gas was £253 in credit and my electricity £22.75 in debt. Two days later I recieve a statement in the post stating my Gas is actually -£500 in debt! 

Today I log into my account to see my gas is now £5 in credit and my electricity is £350 in debt.

I have tried several times to raise a complaint but they state that is the debt and close my complaint instantly. I cannot trust anyone on the phone in the South African call centre to give me the correct figures. Can anyone please tell me how I speak to a manager in the UK and get this escalated asap?? I have constantly been in constant with BG giving meter readings and checking my DD amount to ensure we do not end up in a bit debt but the frustration of the changing figures is causing me so much worry and anxiety over what we actually owe!

Thanks
Jo

BooJewels

You're likely to be more successful with any complaint with an energy company if you're armed with decent data of your own to back your argument.  If you're already giving them meter readings, can you not work out the position for yourself?  If you can't, we can help you with it.

If you're giving readings, you already have that information and you should know exactly what and when you've paid them, so it should be fairly easy to work out your current position.  So if you supply us with some of this information, we can help you get to grips with it. 

It's entirely possible that if you rang with a reading, the credits they gave you over the phone were your position before the use of those readings was taken into account, so it is possible that a credit balance became a debit balance in short order.

JoJo24601

Hi Boo, thank you for this.

I must admit working it out for myself is something I am not sure I am capable of doing....

I would really appreciate your help if you have the time ... could you tell me what information you need and I will get it to you.  The gas is on a smart meter but it does not work hence I have to call and send it in (BG have been out 3 times to try and fix it and have failed each time). Electricity is on a smart meter and it works. 

I did check with the caller and she clarified she had 'pushed the readings through for gas' and that was my final position. So I am pi**ed off to put it mildly lol. The gas figures have changed 3 times in the last week ... so I am totally confused.

Thanks for your reply and offer of help - it is greatly appreciated.

Jo

jimjames

JoJo24601 said:

Hi Boo, thank you for this.

I must admit working it out for myself is something I am not sure I am capable of doing....

Without being awkward if that's the case how do you know their figures are wrong? Can you check your bills vs what payments you have made? But if you put the details here then I'm sure someone will be able to explain the calcs to you.

JoJo24601

Jim because how can their figures change so significantly over less than a week?

Last Wednesday - gas £253 in credit
Last Friday -  gas £500 debt
Today - gas £5 credit

Whilst I totally understand that this may be easy for some people and straight forward maths, it is for me very difficult to understand. If someone can explain what I have to do to work it out I will gladly do it on my own. 

Jo

TheMilkmansDad

The Gas statement you received - is that dated before or after you rang them with the reads. Could there have been a crossover whereby they sent out a statement on estimated reads showing the account in Debt? In the interim, when providing the reads they verbally confirmed the credit figure. This now differs from the online figure - but again what does this figure take into account? Just trying to understand before making any comments.

JoJo24601

Hi TheMilkmansDad, the gas statement is from 15th Dec 2022 to 19th Apr 2023. I called them on the 19th April 2023. Statement date is 19th April 2023 and reads:

Your previous balance on 15th December 2022 £91.37
Total energy costs £764.48
You paid us £343.70 CR

Your new balance on 19th April 2023 £512.15. 

I just logged in again online and it reads for gas projected end of plan balance £5.88.

I am so confused  

BooJewels

One thing that I've noticed of late with the new billing system is that BG do seem to zig zag back and forth through time with their billing.  For example, I had a bill to a date in January (from November) and it left me with a slight deficit, so I paid this debit with a card, bringing my account to a zero balance, aligned with the last reading I'd given them and being straight as far as my own calcs were concerned. 

They then issued another bill in March, but also took this back to December, partially overlapping the earlier bill, doing some complicated and unnecessary additions and subtractions with estimated readings on dates where none were given, leaving a bottom line that was exactly the same as if they'd just started forwards from the last reading and bill.  Yet it took me a while to unravel and check. On another account, they withdrew a bill and reissued one making it even more confusing.

So it's no wonder people are getting confused, if they don't already understand their billing and keep on top of it.

It's further complicated in that they no longer put the calculations/formula for gas billing on their bills, making it even harder to work out if it's correct or not, if you don't already know.  Electricity is easier as your meter records kWh and you're billed for each one, so it's easier to check.

To explain gas though @JoJo24601 - gas is measured for billing by volume - the amount that passes through your pipes/meter en route to your boiler, cooker etc. - usually measured in cubic metres (=m³ - although BG call them 'gas units') - certainly if you have a smart meter. This volume of used gas is then converted into the energy this would give rise to (as it varies a little as it's a natural product) and you are then billed for the actual energy you were able to use - in kiloWatt hours = kWh.  The variable bit is the 'Calorific Value' which appears on the bill - usually a number around 40-ish.  So it might say something like (just copied from one I have open):

1 Apr 2023 - 7 Apr 2023
147.71kWh at 9.825p per kWh                                  £14.51
06180 - estimated meter reading at price change
06193 - you gave us your meter reading
13 gas units at 40.0 calorific value

So, in this case, I'd used 13m³ of gas (i.e. my meter had increased by 13 'gas units') at a calorific value of 40.0, which gave rise to an energy value of 147.71 kWh, for which I was charges 9.825p +VAT per kWh.   For rough calculations, you can multiply your meter reading usage by 11.3 to convert m³ to kWh - then multiply by your unit price to get how much you'll be billed, plus standing charges - and VAT at 5%, if not already included in the unit price used.

So if you can give us some meter reads over the last few months and how much you've made in payments - £343.70 doesn't sound that much since December if it's for both fuels - we can work out what your usage looks like.  

Edited to add - if you go to your BG account and look at the payments section, it lists the payments received and amounts billed - this sometimes makes it clearer to see in chronological order what's been credited and debited to the account.

BooJewels

JoJo24601 said:

Hi TheMilkmansDad, the gas statement is from 15th Dec 2022 to 19th Apr 2023. I called them on the 19th April 2023. Statement date is 19th April 2023 and reads:

Your previous balance on 15th December 2022 £91.37
Total energy costs £764.48
You paid us £343.70 CR

Your new balance on 19th April 2023 £512.15. 

This works out correctly, if the £91.37 is a debit opening amount.

-91.37 (debit on the account) - 764.48 (billed for fuel used)  (= -855.85 debit) + 343.70 (payments credited) =  -512.15 in debit.

ETA:  Just checked a few of my bills and an opening balance that is just a number is a debit balance and if it's a credit balance is states CR next to the number.

JoJo24601

HI BooJewels, 

Thank you so much for this and for your explanation. I am copying and pasting it to my PC for future reference and calculations. As far as I am concerned you are all extremely clever people for being able to work all this out! It is like Japanese to me lol. It is also extremely worrying for me as I have been in constant contact with them every month so to get a sudden debt was a shock.

Ok so meter readings and actual payments are as follows:

Electric

19/04/2023	06740	0 kWh
18/04/2023	06740	48 kWh
14/04/2023	06692	294 kWh
31/03/2023	06398	222 kWh
14/03/2023	06176	243 kWh
23/02/2023	05933	84 kWh
14/02/2023	05849	600 kWh
29/12/2022	05249	123 kWh
14/12/2022	05126	1341 kWh

My DD for electricity was £180.53 for December 2022 until Jan 2023 when I dropped to £100 per month based on the projections from BG. 

Gas
Ok so my gas looks really sporadic in terms of meter readings  .... I have no idea what is going on here as I have been sending them in and submitting them, however here is what is online.

19/04/2023	01509	1263 kWh
21/03/2023	01395	5839 kWh
14/12/2022	00872	1091 kWh
29/11/2022	00774	4498 kWh
20/05/2022	00369	2001 kWh
30/03/2022	00192	2127 kWh
21/02/2022	00000	0 kWh
20/02/2022	01008	1150 kWh

Direct Debits were £72.29 until 3rd Apr 2023 when it seems to have gone up to £126.83.  I just checked my meter and it is reading Rate 1 1529.

Is this enough information? I cannot thank you enough for your help and understanding.

Jo

BooJewels

The only period I can calculate for each bill where the dates are consistent over both fuels is from 14th December to 19th April.

Using my own tariffs, which are likely to vary a little from your own if you live in a different area of the country, is that you've used £1,358.06 in both fuels since 14th December. 

637m³ of gas = 7238kWh + standing charges (126 days) and VAT = £783.42

and 1614kWh electricity +SC and VAT = £574.65.

If I've understood correctly, you've paid £561.06 for gas in December, January, Feb and March and £289.16 for electric for the same 4 months @ £72.29 x 4.  (This is where the payment history I mentioned is useful)

So you've used £1,358.06
Paid £850.22
Debit remaining = -£507.84

Which seems remarkably close to the debit BG say you have of -£512.15 - BUT - I don't know what date you made payments in each month, so it might well be pure fluke that it came to almost the same amount.  I know you mentioned £91.37 on the 15th December (which I think was a debit balance), but don't know if that already includes December's payments or not.

But on the numbers given, it does look like you've used more over winter than you've paid for, resulting in a debit balance at the moment.

Was your new smart meter installed on 21st February 2022 - it seems odd to have a zero reading without a very high one beforehand - i.e. it had gone round the clock.

Are you able to post screen grabs of the recent bills (with all personal details, meter nos. etc. redacted) so that we can check the details are correct on those?