Energy Credit Refund - New Build

c_ellis92

Hi all, 

Was listening to Martin's podcast last week and I took an interest in the energy credit refund suggestions. I went onto my British Gas account and I can see that I'm £925.20 in credit... Martin's advice was to call BG as nobody should be 'in credit' at this time of year. However, we moved into a new build November 2022 so have not yet received a bill.

What would the advice be here?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

matt_drummer

Obviously you have six months of usage unbilled.

You are not in credit by the amount quoted.

BG bill six monthly as far as I know.

Do you know how much energy you have used since you moved in?

You should be able to calculate what your bill will be.

I think most people would advise you to read your meters regularly and get an idea of what you are using, especially in a new home. 

You could be in for a nasty shock if you have been using with no regard to the cost.


There is another thread running at the moment talking about a licence condition that statements should allow a customer to understand their account and their energy costs.

This is a clear example of a breach of that licence condition.

c_ellis92

matt_drummer said:

Obviously you have six months of usage unbilled.

You are not in credit by the amount quoted.

BG bill six monthly as far as I know.

Do you know how much energy you have used since you moved in?

You should be able to calculate what your bill will be.

I think most people would advise you to read your meters regularly and get an idea of what you are using, especially in a new home. 

You could be in for a nasty shock if you have been using with no regard to the cost.


There is another thread running at the moment talking about a licence condition that statements should allow a customer to understand their account and their energy costs.

This is a clear example of a breach of that licence condition.

Hi Matt,

That's useful to know, I wasn't even aware they bill six monthly.

I've been checking regularly our meter readings but the usage section on the British Gas app isn't working... and hasn't been since we moved in back in November 2022. Our smart monitor also doesn't work. I've raised this multiple times with British Gas and we've had multiple people visit, and still no resolution. They can see our usage but we can't! I've not chased for months now as given up hope, they seem utterly useless.

Silly question, how can I calculate what our bill will be? 

I'll check out that thread!

matt_drummer

The thread is just called `British Gas' I think.

As it is a new build the meters should have been practically zero when you moved in.

Did you take opening readings and supply them to British Gas?

Do you know what tariff you are on?

Is your electricity single rate or something like Economy 7?

Go and read your meters now.

Do you have gas?

If you do the meter should read in cubic metres.

Calculate the cubic metres used and multiply by 11.2 to give your energy usage in Kwh.

Then multiply that by the price per Kwh and that is your gas usage.

Then add the standing charge (number of days x price per day)


Do the same for electricity but you don't need to multiply the reading(s) by 11.2 as it is already in Kwh.

Add your electricity standing charge.


Add it all up and that will be close to your bill, the gas might be a little out as 11.2 is an approximation to the conversion of cubic metres of gas into Kwh.

[Deleted User]

matt_drummer said:

Obviously you have six months of usage unbilled.

You are not in credit by the amount quoted.

BG bill six monthly as far as I know.

Do you know how much energy you have used since you moved in?

You should be able to calculate what your bill will be.

I think most people would advise you to read your meters regularly and get an idea of what you are using, especially in a new home. 

You could be in for a nasty shock if you have been using with no regard to the cost.


There is another thread running at the moment talking about a licence condition that statements should allow a customer to understand their account and their energy costs.

This is a clear example of a breach of that licence condition.

The issue here is that the OP - along with others - has failed to understand that unless a statement has been raised the online credit balance is inaccurate as it is awaiting the deduction of energy charges. The SLC relates specifically to the detail on statements. If the OP gets a statement tomorrow and fails to understand it then that might be a potential breach of the SLC. Note: the SLC makes no mention of online Apps - it relates specifically to bills and statements of account - and it doesn’t say that the credit/debit balance has to be accurate 100% of the time.

To look at it another way. My Bank account shows a credit of £500. However, I know that before the next influx of funds I have a Council Tax charge of £300 pending which more accurately leaves me with a credit balance of £200. Energy credit/debit balances are no different.

matt_drummer

Dolor said:

matt_drummer said:

Obviously you have six months of usage unbilled.

You are not in credit by the amount quoted.

BG bill six monthly as far as I know.

Do you know how much energy you have used since you moved in?

You should be able to calculate what your bill will be.

I think most people would advise you to read your meters regularly and get an idea of what you are using, especially in a new home. 

You could be in for a nasty shock if you have been using with no regard to the cost.


There is another thread running at the moment talking about a licence condition that statements should allow a customer to understand their account and their energy costs.

This is a clear example of a breach of that licence condition.

The issue here is that the OP - along with others - has failed to understand that unless a statement has been raised the online credit balance is inaccurate as it is awaiting the deduction of energy charges. The SLC relates specifically to the detail on statements. If the OP gets a statement tomorrow and fails to understand it then that might be a potential breach of the SLC. Note: the SLC makes no mention of online Apps - it relates specifically to bills and statements of account - and it doesn’t say that the credit/debit balance has to be accurate 100% of the time.

To look at it another way. My Bank account shows a credit of £500. However, I know that before the next influx of funds I have a Council Tax charge of £300 pending which more accurately leaves me with a credit balance of £200. Energy credit/debit balances are no different.

Well, in this case, it is not a satisfactory communication from the supplier in my opinion.

This customer thinks they are nearly £1,000 in credit and were wondering how to get a refund on the advice of Martin Lewis.

Whatever the words say, British gas have not made it clear enough that this customer's credit balance is nothing of the sort.

The statement has not been in a form or of a frequency that allows this customer to understand and manage their energy costs.

They have had to resort to an internet forum to understand their account.

That cannot be right and as far as I am concerned that is a breach of that particular licence condition.


It is a rather poor performance from a company that has been around long enough to know and do much better.


You and I are informed and experienced enough to work this kind of stuff out for ourselves but many people are not, and they shouldn't have to.

With regular meter readings, an energy supplier should easily be able to keep track of unbilled charges yet to be applied to the account and include them in a statement, whether online or in paper form, it's simple and I really don't know why they can't do it.

[Deleted User]

matt_drummer said:

Dolor said:

matt_drummer said:

Obviously you have six months of usage unbilled.

You are not in credit by the amount quoted.

BG bill six monthly as far as I know.

Do you know how much energy you have used since you moved in?

You should be able to calculate what your bill will be.

I think most people would advise you to read your meters regularly and get an idea of what you are using, especially in a new home. 

You could be in for a nasty shock if you have been using with no regard to the cost.


There is another thread running at the moment talking about a licence condition that statements should allow a customer to understand their account and their energy costs.

This is a clear example of a breach of that licence condition.

The issue here is that the OP - along with others - has failed to understand that unless a statement has been raised the online credit balance is inaccurate as it is awaiting the deduction of energy charges. The SLC relates specifically to the detail on statements. If the OP gets a statement tomorrow and fails to understand it then that might be a potential breach of the SLC. Note: the SLC makes no mention of online Apps - it relates specifically to bills and statements of account - and it doesn’t say that the credit/debit balance has to be accurate 100% of the time.

To look at it another way. My Bank account shows a credit of £500. However, I know that before the next influx of funds I have a Council Tax charge of £300 pending which more accurately leaves me with a credit balance of £200. Energy credit/debit balances are no different.

Well, in this case, it is not a satisfactory communication from the supplier in my opinion.

This customer thinks they are nearly £1,000 in credit and were wondering how to get a refund on the advice of Martin Lewis.

Whatever the words say, British gas have not made it clear enough that this customer's credit balance is nothing of the sort.

The statement has not been in a form or of a frequency that allows this customer to understand and manage their energy costs.

They have had to resort to an internet forum to understand their account.

That cannot be right and as far as I am concerned that is a breach of that particular licence condition.


It is a rather poor performance from a company that has been around long enough to know and do much better.


You and I are informed and experienced enough to work this kind of stuff out for ourselves but many people are not, and they shouldn't have to.

With regular meter readings, an energy supplier should easily be able to keep track of unbilled charges yet to be applied to the account and include them in a statement, whether online or in paper form, it's simple and I really don't know why they can't do it.

The answer is simple but I have no idea if BG follows standard practice. All that is required is for CS to ask for meter readings which can be used to produce an interim statement. A refund can then be made.

How can a supplier that bills every 6 months keep track of unbilled charges if there is no smart meter and a consumer only provides meter readings just prior to each statement being raised? The supplier is not in default by only offering 6 month billing/statements: it is an agreed contract term. 

matt_drummer

The statement should be of a frequency to allow a customer to understand and manage their account.

The supplier should make every effort possible to obtain regular and timely meters readings from their customers.

If they don't get the readings it should made very clear that the account balance is incorrect and doesn't reflect the true position. That warning should get stronger the longer the gap between bills.

Six months isn't frequent enough in my opinion with energy costs as they are now, too much scope to get into trouble.

The OP has no idea how much they owe BG or BG may owe them, it's not great is it?

Also BG as a company have no idea what they have sold for the last six months and whether they will actually get paid for all of it.

Smart meters should be made compulsory and fines issued for non compliance.

We really shouldn't have customers potentially racking up huge bills for six months not realising how much debt they are now in.

It's unnecessary with the technology we have available today.

Spoonie_Turtle

matt_drummer said:

The statement should be of a frequency to allow a customer to understand and manage their account.

…

Six months isn't frequent enough in my opinion with energy costs as they are now, too much scope to get into trouble.

Especially now that prices will be changing every three months by default, except for people on more specialised tariffs (who are much more likely to be engaged with their energy usage) or on fixes (who may or may not be engaged with their energy use).

6-monthly billing may have been fine in the days of cheap energy and long fixes, but if it were to remain an option at all it ought to be opt-in, with the customer having to confirm they understand that their account balance will not reflect their actual credit.  I know there are some people who still actively want quarterly billing, for whatever reason, so no doubt there'll be some who want to stick with 6-monthly, but other than to appease them I really cannot see any justification for keeping 6-monthly billing that does not take interim meter readings into account.

debitcardmayhem

c_ellis92 said:

Hi Matt,

That's useful to know, I wasn't even aware they bill six monthly.

I've been checking regularly our meter readings but the usage section on the British Gas app isn't working... and hasn't been since we moved in back in November 2022. Our smart monitor also doesn't work. I've raised this multiple times with British Gas and we've had multiple people visit, and still no resolution. They can see our usage but we can't! I've not chased for months now as given up hope, they seem utterly useless.

Silly question, how can I calculate what our bill will be? 

I'll check out that thread!

Silly question, how can I calculate what our bill will be? 

Read the meters in the meter cupboards (probably outside) don't rely on the monitor that is in the house, then check the rates and work forwards from there. If you get confusd post your readings here  and someone will help

Oh and make sure you read the meters monthly so you can compare the bills

Robin9

c_ellis92 said:

Hi all, 

Was listening to Martin's podcast last week and I took an interest in the energy credit refund suggestions. I went onto my British Gas account and I can see that I'm £925.20 in credit... Martin's advice was to call BG as nobody should be 'in credit' at this time of year. However, we moved into a new build November 2022 so have not yet received a bill.

What would the advice be here?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

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