British Gas quietly clawing back money from winter 2022/2023?

paulcwarren2910

Hi all,

My elderly Mother just got a gas bill that is almost double last year's October to January bill.  I know tariff's have gone up but not by that much, surely.  So, I took a look at her statement to see what was what and it seems like they are revising (up) charges all the way back to October 2022.

This makes me extremely suspicious that this is BG clawing back money that they weren't able to charge at the time, due to the political pressure.  But now everyone has forgotten about that and we are onto the next political soundbite BG are quietly re-billing us.

Curious if this is a pattern?   And if anyone has questioned BG about this and what their justification for this was?

Apologies if I am behind the eight ball here.  I live in the US and my Mother doesn't stay up on current affairs.

Many thanks in advance

Hoenir

Previous bills based on estimated readings? 

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

Energy bills are entirely transparent, and are based on time elapsed (daily standing charges) plus energy used (unit rates). If your mother's bills have been revised, and noting that the calendar hasn't changed, it suggests that BG think that a different amount of energy has been used than they initially billed for.

You should be able to compare the old and new bills and see exactly what has changed, and why.

Floating the idea that BG were prevented from billing accurately due to "political pressure" isn't going to help anyone.

p00hsticks

paulcwarren2910 said:

Hi all,

My elderly Mother just got a gas bill that is almost double last year's October to January bill. 

Is her electricity with BG or a different supplier ? 
I've already forgotten the details but I think it was last year that there was a cost of living payment which would have reduced an electricity / duel fuel bill  by something like £60 a month from October to March.  

Robin9

@paulcwarren2910  I note that you live in the US  but have you got access to her online accounts ?   CAn you look in detail particularly note the readings and the letters A E  etc.

@p00hsticks makes a valid point re the support payments last winter.

Does your Mum qualify (and did she get) the £500 winter fuel payment in Nov or Dec?

dunstonh

British Gas quietly clawing back money from winter 2022/2023?

Not sure why you would think that.   Energy billing is straightforward.  You use energy which is recorded as units and those units are priced at a published rate.  Along with a daily standing charge.

If you use more, you pay more.  If you use less, you pay less.

My elderly Mother just got a gas bill that is almost double last year's October to January bill.  I know tariff's have gone up but not by that much, surely.

You have the bill. We don't.  So, we cannot really comment.      However, you would expect an increase as the Government is not paying towards the bills this year. 

 So, I took a look at her statement to see what was what and it seems like they are revising (up) charges all the way back to October 2022.

What do you mean by charges?  BG won't be changing the unit cost.   They are fixed and published.  
The only thing that can change is the unit count and that would only happen if there were estimated readings in place and an actual reading has now been given and it requires adjusting.  That adjustment will go back to the previous actual reading that was given.

This makes me extremely suspicious that this is BG clawing back money that they weren't able to charge at the time, due to the political pressure.    But now everyone has forgotten about that and we are onto the next political soundbite BG are quietly re-billing us.

Where on earth of have you got that from?
a) there was no political pressure.  
b) they do not change their unit charges retrospectively

The most likely reasons are:
a) no Government handouts this year
b) previous readings were estimates and not actual.
c) some parts of the UK have been much colder in 23/24 than they were in the same period in 22/23.

EssexHebridean

If working in purely monetary terms, it should be remembered that as referred to above there was the £66/£67 per month through last winter that will have reduced what a lot of people paid by quite a chunk. This is the reason that Martin has been saying that although the unit rates have dropped from last winter, in many cases people will be paying more than they were 12 months ago. 

Where I live, it was also a far colder start to the winter than in 22/23 - although we were using a different form of heating then we didn't put that on until mid November '22, whereas our current GCH sprang into the life for the first time in 2023 in October over a very chilly weekend! 

Going  back over your Mum's bills is the first port of call - and ideally perhaps altering your thread title (although you may not be able to do this as a new forum member)  as currently it is a little "conspiracy theorist" and that's not helpful to you or indeed to those who read later. Nobody is "clawing back" anything - as Qriz says, energy bills generally really are very transparent once you know how they work and how to read them. 

wild666

Hoenir said:

Previous bills based on estimated readings? 

Suppliers normally overestimate an estimated reading rather than underestimate it. A few winters ago when I spent 7 weeks in hospital my bill was greatly overestimated by Bulb and when I came out of hospital just in time to give the next reading it turned out that that months bill was just £11  for electric and gas usage.

molerat

wild666 said:

Hoenir said:

Previous bills based on estimated readings? 

Suppliers normally overestimate an estimated reading rather than underestimate it. A few winters ago when I spent 7 weeks in hospital my bill was greatly overestimated by Bulb and when I came out of hospital just in time to give the next reading it turned out that that months bill was just £11  for electric and gas usage.

That is not at all true, there are many instances on here of underestimating.  Your particular case shows that their estimate may have been accurate in accordance with your normal usage pattern, your usage pattern changed due to you not being in the property so an over estimate of your use was made.

Hoenir

wild666 said:

Hoenir said:

Previous bills based on estimated readings? 

Suppliers normally overestimate an estimated reading rather than underestimate it. A few winters ago when I spent 7 weeks in hospital my bill was greatly overestimated by Bulb and when I came out of hospital just in time to give the next reading it turned out that that months bill was just £11  for electric and gas usage.

Circumstances differ. I was responding to the OP's assertions. 

NorfolkCanary

molerat said:

wild666 said:

Hoenir said:

Previous bills based on estimated readings? 

Suppliers normally overestimate an estimated reading rather than underestimate it. A few winters ago when I spent 7 weeks in hospital my bill was greatly overestimated by Bulb and when I came out of hospital just in time to give the next reading it turned out that that months bill was just £11  for electric and gas usage.

That is not at all true, there are many instances on here of underestimating.  Your particular case shows that their estimate may have been accurate in accordance with your normal usage pattern, your usage pattern changed due to you not being in the property so an over estimate of your use was made.

Indeed, BG estimated my gas usage during December billing lower than actual