British Gas - Bill Errors from New System

Runriggie

Hi All, British Gas has recently (in the last few months it seems) migrated data to a new system.  I had my first bill from it in early November (several weeks after one was initially promised) and it had lots of errors in.  It looks like a lot of them are due to an inaccurate meter reading history being established in the new system.  I’ve raised a complaint with British Gas - their initial response was poor so I’ve detailed all the errors in reply.  Hopefully the incorrect data will be sorted eventually and I’ll get an accurate bill but I wondered if anyone else had noticed similar problems with their migrated data?

Yorkie006

Yes, error in my bills too. Gas bill is fine but electricity is all over the place. I have smart meters, so readings are send every 30mins.
My last bill (on old system) was issued early October (smart meter reading, all ok), new bill (new system) supposedly actual smart meter reading from early November is lower than the closing reading on the bill in October. So I'm being massively overcharged. I have all the old bills and it turns out the reading that was supposedly from early November is actually from early July - unable to get through to them on chat/phone so filed a complaint. No response yet, but they better get it sorted before the payment is taken (I pay by variable DD so being massively overcharged at this time of the year is no fun).

Runriggie

Hi Yorkie006, thank you for your reply. Good luck with your complaint!

Mine is still rumbling on. I have two responses from BG now and neither address the substance of my complaint. I too have a value in the electricity meter reading history that is lower than values recorded for earlier dates. It is clearly wrong. Interestingly, several values (that I did not provide) are recorded as neither ‘Actual’ nor ‘Estimated’, but are labelled ‘Other’ and I have no idea how any of them have been sourced. After two insubstantive responses from BG, I think I’m heading for the energy regulator. As an aside, I don’t have a smart meter but do note down all the readings provided over time so I know if their meter reading history is correct or not.

This might be useful, BG have taken 3-4 weeks to respond with each of the two replies. Their last one arrived just before Xmas and today, only 1 week later, they are stating that they will close my complaint if I don’t respond by the 4th. So they can take 3-4 weeks to respond but they assume the customer can reply in a fortnight over the busy holiday season. I have just told them not to do that and demanded a longer period to respond. Funny how they use their process to suit them and not the customer. Anyway, please watch out for similar tactics. 

Best wishes

LochLomondlad

Hi guys, I have also had horrific arithmetically  wrong bills from BG since 5/12/23 due to problems with my transfer to their new platform in June 23…. And must be their IT system … think BT Horizon issue BTW…

they have also “lost”/my 2k credit from previous platform..

spent 1 - 3 hours on phone Every Day except public holidays, from 5/12/23 till last week to them… kept on saying my bill was correct, fired me to South Africa call centre every day in Dec’ horrific again…. Went through citizens advice energy support service to BG..
no use again.. and continually explained, yet again to them that…
when you look at my bill the actual and actual (previous and present) readings add up to appx 200 units..yet they state on bill it’s 700 units….andcharge £500.00 per month !!!!. clearly arithmetically so so wrong…

Went to deadlock…
now at Ombudsman for decision in next two weeks…

ombudsman state they are seeing loads of similar complaints..

I also wrote to their CEO Chris O’Shea (Scottish).. after his appearance on BBC Breakfast, getting grilled by Charlie n Nagga and saying he gets 4.5 K salary and is happy to hear personally of any probs…

wrote to him…no reply ..surprise surprise

LochLomondlad

Sorry…
typo mistake.. the CEO ‘s salary is 4.5 Million a year… even more sickening 

RavingMad

Can I ask if everyone on BG got moved over to this new system? My elderly in laws are with them. Should we ask to see their bills from that period? They've had smart meters for a long while so mistakes should be easy to spot?

MultiFuelBurner

Take you meter readings and vote with your feet.

Join another supplier with better customer service and earn £50 referral for moving supplier with some of the suppliers out there. 

Referrals currently active with (others may also do this)

Octopus
Eon Next
EDF

Personally I wouldn't touch EDF with a barge pole, Eon Next are as incompetent as BG and Octopus have recently seen a downward turn in customer service probably due to growing to large to quickly. However the best billing is probably Octopus out of the lot.

BellaBlondykeTheThird

Vote for moving to Octopus here.

Ditch the old dinosaur that is BG

LochLomondlad

Agree with moving provider posts… but a bit dubious to do it whilst in dispute, however the soon as I get my wrong bills issue sorted and my 2K credit back from BG that disappeared at my transfer over to their new platform….. 
believe me I will dump them like a ton of hot..#####…

still waiting on Ombudsman decision… takes 2 weeks…

LochLomondlad

Success….
as stated above, took British Gas to Ombudsman last week 
this week BG specialist Ombudsman complaints adviser from Edinburgh called and state I was completely correct in highlighting their billing errors.. has had it checked with another specialist colleague in Edinburgh office who also said I am correct..I.e. their new billing system is creating arithmetically wrong bills..

BG rep agreed to apology letter, recount my bill from transfer over (which will massively reduce bill and give me back MY credit) and offer £200.00 compo credit for the horrific way some of BG complaint handlers have dealt with me since Dec 23…
ran all above past the great, great service of my Ombudsman office allocated case officer who stated they could not beat the BG offer and outcome..
accepted offer as above today and wrote the most disappointing email I could to the BG reps who continually said I was wrong…..NO I WASN’T BG….You were….


my advice…argue your case for the 56 days time span.. go to Ombudsman… simple easy to use service and they seem to crap themselves and allocate a specialist officer to resolve and stop the bad press…

Good Luck Guys….

ka7e

Good result LochLomondlad! I think I'm heading to the Ombudsman route after a catalogue of errors and nonsensical "solutions" were offered. They triumphantly declare the problems are now resolved and I am £470 in credit while simultaneously issuing a statement that I owe £750!

They suggest I submit gas meter readings without the first digit and they will "add" it on their system. Seeing as I am currently on a reading of 19xxx I can only imagine the chaos that will ensue when I reach 20000 units that will show as zero.

The original error was made in Feb 23 when I was moved to the new system. I queried the sites inability to accept 5-digit numbers when I tried to submit regular readings and the chatline took my readings or directed me to a site where I could manually enter them. A bill was issued in Sept 23 that showed readings in the 4xxx range - so not my meter. I have submitted numerous photos of my whole meter and in Dec was issued a statement with revised charges....still using the 4xxx readings. They also decided to revise my electricity meter readings which are not in dispute.