British Gas Smart meter vs Bills

GP57

This is my first post on this forum. I wanted to see if other people have or had similar problems.
Brief history- Together Energy fitted smart meters around June 2021, British Gas took us over end of January 2022 when TE failed. They wanted me to pay £575/month D/D. I thought this was excessive ( 1950's3 bedroom semi near Portsmouth). They also estimated my Gas usage would be 42000kWh per year(3x our usual usage)  Our first bill was £1179 for Feb-April). I phoned, emailed, and chatted online to query their estimates. Filed a complaint in May 2022. Only reply I got was to say they had exceeded the 8 week turn around time. Filed a second complaint in July 2022 because they had opened a direct debit without our permission and taken £575 out of our bank account. The bank refunded it immediately when told. Have now submitted a third complaint since I noticed another discrepancy in my energy usage between what is shown on the smart meters and what is shown on the energy usage graphs on our online account. A lot of the early bills were on estimated readings but they have tallied over the last several months. I have attached a picture showing December 2023 readings. This has been similar for each month back to August, then the graphs are blank before that. Am I reading something wrong? 

QrizB

Let's get back to basics.

Have you been reading your meters manually? If not, do you know how to?

Can you share you meter reading history? What did your meters read at the beginning of December, and at the end?

The discrepancy seems to be with your gas reading. It's not 2.83x, but it's fairly close. On your actual gas bill, is there a 2.83 multiplier in your volume-to-kWh calculation?

See this thread for discussion of the mysterious 2.83 multiplier (it comes up fairly frequently):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6339280/missing-2-83-in-gas-bill

Smart meters are metric, not Imperial, and the conversion should NOT include the 2.83.

Gerry1

Yes, you're doing it wrong.  Forget the fancy graphs and the shiny portable toy.

Read the meters on the wall (imported kWh for electricity and m³ for gas), then do the sums.

Omit the 2.83 multiplier which is only for Imperial meters.

GP57

Thanks for the replies. Yes I do read my meters and the fancy little box tallies fine with the graphs when you compare the electricity usage. All that said 3600kWh (£252)for one months gas is rather excessive.
The meter reading for the end of 30th Nov was 2038 and for 1st Jan was 2173 =135m3
so   m3 x Correction Factor x Calorific value is 135 x 1.02264 x 40   =  5542.776
divided by 3.6 to convert to kWh  = 1534kWh
Not quite the 2.83, but when I compared the daily usage for December they were all around x2,83.

Now I'm going to compare the quarterly bill and readings for Aug-Oct, and see what conversion they've used. 

GP57

Thought I would confirm the conversion of cubic metres to kWh, so I had a chat with British Gas.

Here's how it went.

Hello, you're through to S and I'm a Case Handler here at British Gas Home Energy. Please give me a few minutes to catch up on this conversation, so I can help you quickly today

S

thanks for waiting, how may I assist you today

can you tell me what 50 cubic meters of gas converts to in kWh

S

XXX, I can see it will be 1,527.4 kWh.

can you show me the formula please

S

The formula is 50 x 2.83 x 38 x 1.02264 ÷ 3.6

can you tell me what the 2.83 figure is

S

XXX it is the calorific value.

surely 38 is the calorific value?

S

XXX, I am sure that 2.83 is the calorific value.

the calorific value on my bills is around the 40 mark. the 1.02264 is an adjustment factor, and the 3.6 is to convert from MJ to kwh

S

Actually XXX it is the digit for the used for doing the sum for converting the meter into KWH.

are you sure it isn't a convertor for imperial readings to metric

S

If the imperial meter measures in cubic feet (which is unusual these days) then you’ll need to multiply by 0.0283 rather than 2.83. If it’s thousands of cubic feet, then it’ll be 28.3.

yes. so that still doesn't explain what the 2.83 multiplier is for.

S

I’m going to be in another window working on this for you. This should only take about [4 minutes] and I’ll still be here if you need me. Is that ok?

as far as i know the formula using readings from a metric meter is ---- m3 x calorific value x 1.02264 divided by 3.6

S

Corrected Consumption x 2.83 = Cubic Metres (ignore any figures after the first decimal point)

S

As per the records XXX 2.83 is the calorific value.

thankyou that is all thanks

S

Thank you XXX . Have a great day and take care!

The 2.83 figure is used in my gas bills going back to February 2022. Every search for the conversion formula for metric readings to kWh says do not include the 2.83.  So I'm still confused.

Gerry1

Surprise, surprise, the Chat agent clearly doesn't have a clue.  Probably paid a pittance overseas and has had virtually zero training.

Forget Chat and the phone, submit a formal written complaint.  Go to the ombudsman upon receipt of a deadlock letter or after eight weeks if they don't send one.

Although Ofgem don't deal with individual complaints, if you're on the new BG billing system (account starts with 'A' rather than a number) it would be worth alerting them to this issue, which has been reported several times on the forum.  It should be impossible for BG to bill a smart meter using the Imperial conversion formula, so dozy Ofgem would need to instruct BG to prevent this happening.

QrizB

GP57 said:

The 2.83 figure is used in my gas bills going back to February 2022. Every search for the conversion formula for metric readings to kWh says do not include the 2.83.

You have a smart meter. All UK domestic smart meters are metric. Smart gas meters measure in cubic metres.

It sounds to me as though B have been overcharging you by 2.83x since February 2022.

GP57 said:

So I'm still confused.

Start with a formal complaint:

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/complaints.html

Explain that, since at least February 2022, BG have been billing you as though you have an Imperial meter but you have a metric meter. Include a photo of your meter. Ask for the excess payments to be refunded to you.

If you don't get satifaction within 8 weeks, you can take your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman. You will give them the same information, supported by copies of your bills.

GP57

thanks Gerry1. Yep, the conversation went exactly as I expected. Every rime I have spoken to British gas they haven't understood what I was trying to get over to them, apart from one very nice Scottish lady who agreed £6900 a year was excessive for a three bed semi. So it looks like its a case of waiting for a few weeks to see if they respond to my latest complaint or its going to be Ofgem. At least my suspicions are reinforced now.
 

QrizB

GP57 said:

So it looks like its a case of waiting for a few weeks to see if they respond to my latest complaint or its going to be Ofgem. At least my suspicions are reinforced now.

Have you followed BGs complaints process? If not, you don't have a "complaint".

And you won't be going to Ofgem, you'll be taking your complaint to the Ombudsman.

GP57

Hi QrizB. Thanks again for your comments. I meant to say the ombudsman. I did indeed submit a complaint through the online complaint procedure twice now regarding our high bills. I expect the most recent one to not be resolved before the 8 week limit (in about 6 weeks)