British Gas £700+ overcharge

QrizB

markin said:

So 10kwh a day, And very close to the 3,700kWh year.
Is it possibly BG were reading R01 rather than the total?

That would account for the sudden jump, yes.

If the OP is on a single-rate tariff it's quite possible that only R01 was being read when the meter is smart.

R02 is 2392.6kWh, which is about the size of the unexpected jump in reading.

joben_jones

Thanks again for the replies this really useful, I didn't know about the dual-rate reading on the 6 button.

We are on a single rate tariff.

So the figure under R02 for the second rate which we don't use, is that a reading from a previous period when the house might have been on a dual-rate tariff? Or is it actual usage relating to this current tariff?

It is interesting that it's a similar amount to the anomalous extra usage, and the timing with the smart meter readings stopping and them asking for manual ones.

Cheers,
J

Gerry1

joben_jones said:

We are on a single rate tariff.

So the figure under R02 for the second rate which we don't use, is that a reading from a previous period when the house might have been on a dual-rate tariff? Or is it actual usage relating to this current tariff?

@[Deleted User] has reported that BG had a promotion that offered cheap or free electricity for a few hours on Sundays and this recorded usage on a different register, so it's probably fallout from that.

QrizB

joben_jones said:
So the figure under R02 for the second rate which we don't use, is that a reading from a previous period when the house might have been on a dual-rate tariff? Or is it actual usage relating to this current tariff?

It isn't usage on your current tariff. It's from a time when the meter was used for a dual-rate tariff.

Gerry1's suggestion is a good one, although 2200kWh is quite a lot for anyone to use over a couple of years of Sunday afternoons (which was when BG ran their promotion).

The meter was only manufactured in 2018, so if you moved into the house in 2019, tht's a pretty small window where this might have happened.

Alternatively, do you know if your house ever had Economy 7, with storage heaters? Possibly before you purchased it? Do you have all your old electricity bills back to when you moved in? Were the earliest bills for E7?

You also need to work out whether only R01 is increasing, and that your meter doesn't switch to recording usage on R02 in the middle of the night. If you check both readings daily, at about the same time of day, for a few days you should see whether R02 changes or not pretty easily.

[Deleted User]

Send BG a photo of the meter ToU matrix showing both register readings and the meter serial number. As @QuizB has said this has happened before. When asked for a manual reading from a non-communicating smart meter, the readings for any registers that have been used should be given. That said, the reason why suppliers have independent data collectors is so that readings provided can be validated for billing purposes.

Note: any reading showing on an IHD is the Total of all the registers that have been used since the meter was first installed.

joben_jones

This is all brilliant information, thanks again for all your help, really appreciate it.


@QrizB
We moved in here March 2020. Looking at old photos on Zoopla, no sign of storage heaters back as far as 2012.

We don't have many old bills (now learning the value of downloading copies of these, as they're not safe online should you need them if your supplier goes bust..) But do have copies of our first two from People's Energy, April and May 2020. These show 120kWh used in April, 94 kWH used in May 2020 - on a fixed tariff, single-rate.

So, our provider history at this property is;

• Utilitia - on a pre-pay meter when we first moved in for a month or two. Had issues with credit draining very quickly.
• People's Energy - on a single-rate tariff paid by DD from mid-2020, to late 2021 when they went bust. No problems here (as far as I remember)
• British Gas - late '21-now. transferred here automatically, on a single-rate 

Checked the 6 button reading again today, and the R01 has increased a bit, R02 exactly the same. I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days as you suggest.


@[Deleted User]
What's the ToU Matrix reading? The figures from pressing the 6 button?


Cheers,
J

Gerry1

joben_jones said:

Button 6 says;

• TARRIF
• ACT RATE
• IMP R01
• STCHG/DAY
• 058-280p
• +IMP R01 +
• 0004484.4
• 029-950p
• IMP R02
• 0002392.6
• 000-000p
• IMP R03
• 0000000.0
• etc.

From the 11th bullet point it looks like the rate on the R02 register is 0.00p/kWh which would be consistent with a 'Free Electricity' promotional offer.  However, it's a high reading.

[Deleted User]

Gerry1 said:

joben_jones said:

Button 6 says;

• TARRIF
• ACT RATE
• IMP R01
• STCHG/DAY
• 058-280p
• +IMP R01 +
• 0004484.4
• 029-950p
• IMP R02
• 0002392.6
• 000-000p
• IMP R03
• 0000000.0
• etc.

From the 11th bullet point it looks like the rate on the R02 register is 0.00p/kWh which would be consistent with a 'Free Electricity' promotional offer.  However, it's a high reading.

Not quite. IMP R02 with 000-000p normally means that no tariff has been set for that Register. That is what I see on my Kaifa meter which has been dual register in the past. 

[Deleted User]

joben_jones said:

This is all brilliant information, thanks again for all your help, really appreciate it.


@QrizB
We moved in here March 2020. Looking at old photos on Zoopla, no sign of storage heaters back as far as 2012.

We don't have many old bills (now learning the value of downloading copies of these, as they're not safe online should you need them if your supplier goes bust..) But do have copies of our first two from People's Energy, April and May 2020. These show 120kWh used in April, 94 kWH used in May 2020 - on a fixed tariff, single-rate.

So, our provider history at this property is;

• Utilitia - on a pre-pay meter when we first moved in for a month or two. Had issues with credit draining very quickly.
• People's Energy - on a single-rate tariff paid by DD from mid-2020, to late 2021 when they went bust. No problems here (as far as I remember)
• British Gas - late '21-now. transferred here automatically, on a single-rate 

Checked the 6 button reading again today, and the R01 has increased a bit, R02 exactly the same. I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days as you suggest.


@[Deleted User]
What's the ToU Matrix reading? The figures from pressing the 6 button?


Cheers,
J

Yes, send them a photo of what your meter shows when button 6 is pressed - along with the meter serial number.

Has your meter been enrolled on and adopted by the DCC?  You can check here:

https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/

If not, I would press your supplier to replace your meters with SMETS2. Most SMETS1 meters are now DCC compliant.