Bill: KwH price is exceeding the Price Guarantee for Gas in April 2023: is that allowed?

Annemos

I am analysing a friend's high bill after a gas leak. Can anyone please help me out here? 

I do not understand what British Gas is charging her.     (Direct Debit.     Variable Tariff as far as I can see.     Stoke on Trent, which may be Midlands area)


January 1 2023   to March 31, 2023      kWh price is 9.842p   (before VAT)      standing charge is 23.314 pence per day 

April 1  2023        to  June 25, 2023         kWh price is 12.290p (before VAT)      standing charge has stayed the same. 

Isn't the Gas Price Guarantee  from April 1 2023 about 9.75p  (see link at bottom for "other payment method") 


Is it allowed that British Gas has charged her 12.290p (which is more than 9.75p), in that April to June 2023 period?   It makes 180 pounds difference to the bill. 


https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-price-guarantee-regional-rates/energy-price-guarantee-regional-rates-april-to-june-2023


On Monday, I have a call in with British Gas about the gas leak and also the current level of direct debits post the gas leak. So I would be grateful if anyone can comment on this, in case there is a problem here with that charge per kWh. 

Thank you in advance. 

Robin9

What tariff is your friend on please? If this is a fix taken out recently then it is quite possible to be paying these sort of figures.

Unless you have POA or a letter of authority BG probably won't talk to you.

Mobtr

Did she cancel her direct debit in April? The lower price is only for direct debit 

[Deleted User]

You may be conflating two things. Ofgem set a Cap and the suppliers produced tariffs based on this Cap. The Government brought in the EPG which was dealt with by suppliers in different ways. Some suppliers billed using an EPG-abated tariff whilst others billed using the Ofgem-capped tariff and then applied an EPG billing adjustment. The billing choice was driven by the limitations of a supplier’s billing system.

bristolleedsfan

April 1  2023   to  June 25, 2023  rate looks like before EPG discount was applied

Annemos

Thanks everyone. 


I have a prior post on this.   British Gas are speaking to me, because this concerns an 80 year old who has no family. She has suddenly suffered an escalation of bill usage which was 3,284 for 9 months in the previous year in kWh. Yet 24,536 for the same 9 month period this year. 

She has been told to pay 1700 pounds as a one-off and monthly direct debits have now gone from 89 to 389 level. (Half her pension.)

The lady had spoken to British Gas twice and all they said to her was "Well you must have used the gas (which has now turned out to be true!) ". "What CAN you afford?" They then agreed to lower her Direct Debits to 200. But nothing else was being done at all to help her work out just why she had suffered such a major escalation of costs and how and how to end it. (There is, also, a big red alert on the account screen saying "Your Direct debits have been changed (to 200) and are now too low and you are going to have a 2,400 bill to pay at the end of the year!") 

So I have had to step in. It now turns out she has had a major gas fire leak going on for about 9 months. (Going up the Chimney?) The Health and Safety around this does not bare thinking about. 

I have been incredibly firm with British Gas and they have been speaking to me about this case. The person in South Africa is quite horrified about it and called a Manager in. 

===========================

Anyway, the bill says at the bottom that she is now on Standard Variable. Direct Debits are there all the way through. The October 2022 to December 2022    and the     January to March 2023     both look like an EPG. But the April to June 2023ndoes not.

She was on a tariff that was on Fixed Oct 23v1 on the prior bill and that kwH rate seems to continue on this new bill from September 22 to September 30th 2023 at 14.476p per kwH.

Then it suddenly drops to the EPG on October 1, 2022. If she was still on Fixed Oct 23v1, did they give people the EPG who were on those Fixed Tariffs, if they were paying higher than the EPG? 

If so, I do have an indication she gave them a meter reading on April 1st, so maybe she did telephone and put herself on the Standard Variable Tariff on April 1, 2023 and they forgot to apply the EPG??


(The lady is very confused about what she did and did not do with her tariffs.) 

victor2

I don't have access to any BG bills to look at, but some suppliers applied the EPG as a credit, so they show the calculated rate charge then effectively make a deduction to bring it down to the EPG level. The effective rate is the rate shown minus the EPG adjustment rate.

Like this (from a different supplier):

The effective rate above is 11.88-2.19 = 9.69p/kWh

Annemos

Nothing like that victor2.

I have just spoken to her. She says she did NOT call them on April 1st to give a meter reading! (The bill implies that she did!)

She thinks she has been on the Fixed tariff throughout that whole period. And only switched to variable within the last 4 days. Maybe that is why that bill is showing that she is now on Standard Variable on the front of the bill (it just means going forward). 

I hope British Gas can enlighten me what that 12.29 represents. 

(Good news. She read the meter today, after the gas-fire was removed yesterday. And in the past 14 hours there was no movement. So the leak seems to be stopped. She had only fried an omelette on the gas cooker.) 

bristolleedsfan

Annemos said:

She thinks she has been on the Fixed tariff throughout that whole period. And only switched to variable within the last 4 days. Maybe that is why that bill is showing that she is now on Standard Variable on the front of the bill (it just means going forward). 

Fixed gas rate of 12.290p before VAT should still have had EPG reduction applied.

Qyburn

Annemos said:

She was on a tariff that was on Fixed Oct 23v1 on the prior bill and that kwH rate seems to continue on this new bill from September 22 to September 30th 2023 at 14.476p per kwH.

Then it suddenly drops to the EPG on October 1, 2022. If she was still on Fixed Oct 23v1, did they give people the EPG who were on those Fixed Tariffs, if they were paying higher than the EPG? 

They did, and should continue to do so until end of June. What is the name of the tariff shown on her bills before April, and after?

QrizB

Annemos said:

I have just spoken to her. She says she did NOT call them on April 1st to give a meter reading! (The bill implies that she did!)

There will have been a tariff change on that date. She has a smart meter, from your previous posts? If so, BG will have taken a meter reading automatically to reflect the changeover reading.

If she does not have a smart meter, BG will have estimated a reading for that day.