British Gas Imperial or Metric. Overcharged and not helped. Incompetent.

Down_with_BG

Hi all, here is my tale of woe with British Gas. I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible because it is a long story.

I joined BG in September 2019, leaving OVO energy. As an average energy user (12000kWh) I always looked around for the best deal, changing providers each time a deal expired. An important note, OVO changed my meter to a smart meter in 2018 and I still have that same meter.

A little time after joining BG I noticed on one of my bills my estimated annual usage was quoted at 33000kWh and gradually my direct debit was being increased. There was also an issue with the smart meter readings not being received by BG. I queried both and eventually it turns out they had the wrong serial number on a database. So readings sorted and I left it at that.

Direct debits reached a peak of £250 a month. I had reduced my usage by not having heating on (front room down to 13’C, wrapped up well) and bathed less. Also I convinced myself that my old boiler (15 years old and never serviced) was to blame, very inefficient, so spent £2500+ replacing it. Still the bills didn’t come down.

3 years after joining them the direct debit did start to drop, the past 6 months or so paying £129 a month. I happened to come across an app called “Loop Energy” and installed it, typing in my meter serial numbers and who my provider is along with the tariff details (standard variable). I then compared my gas usage between BG and Loop and there was a pattern. BG were quoting 2.83 times more gas used than Loop. Some people maybe aware of this number, it is a well known number in fact. It’s the difference between an imperial and metric measure of gas when calculating kWh.

So for 3 years after joining BG they had been charging me imperial units not the correct metric, September 2019-October 2022. Strangely after October 2022 I was then billed in metric, no notice of this and no refund. I raised a complaint with BG 7 weeks ago, the very same day I received an email to say my direct debit was being increased to £240 a month, why? My billing stopped at October 2023, no reason why.

So September 2019 – October 2022 billed imperial

     October 2022 – October 2023 billed metric

The meter has never changed since OVO installed it.

6 weeks into the complaint (So very many emails and hour long phone calls) I received 2 emails from Poonam (the complaint handler) The first was to say he could see my meter was imperial (when I press 9 to see the meter reading it says ‘m3’ btw) and explained the formulas for working out kWh (believe me I know these formulas off the top of my head, 1.02264 correction factor for example). The second was a bill, in imperial. My credit of £1200 was now a debit of £200. So now my billing is this..

September 2019 – October 2022 billed imperial

October 2022 – October 2023 billed metric

October 2023 – April 2024 billed imperial

I have taken pictures of both the meter (displaying the m3, metric) and also sent them my final bill from OVO (billed in metric, as were all my bills from OVO as it’s a metric meter) and I have heard nothing. They are very hard to get hold off and are ignoring my messages. Some staff seem helpful on the phone but then you hear nothing back, you can’t speak to the same person twice and the case handler cannot be contacted direct either by phone or email, BG make it impossible. If you email them it goes into a general pool and you hope it’s picked up by your handler.

 

I have wasted hours on the phone and emailing and even typing this post. I have wasted so much time going through all my old bills and recalculating them. For the period Sept 2019-Oct 2022 I was overcharged £1517.xx, this does not include VAT or interest. I haven’t worked out the last bill yet as I am hoping they will generate a new, correct bill.

Of course I am desperate to leave BG but if I do right now I will have to pay them the £200 I am in debt (sickens me when I think how much of my money they already have) and it would be harder to get back what they owe me.

What pains me most is that it is so obvious BG have got this wrong. I have given them the proof, done all the work and they won’t get off their backsides to resolve it. A competent employee could have sorted this in a week, I’m sure BG have some competent employees but unfortunately for me they are not working on my case.

This post is missing background information, meter readings, dates, a statement that shows half billed imperial half billed metric but I have it all, irrefutable proof.

I’ve posted this as a warning to any others who might be paying more for their gas than they would expect, download the loop energy app, it is fantastic and it has helped me get this far. I’m also hoping that maybe the great man himself, Martin Lewis, picks up on this and can help me somehow, maybe he has a contact at BG that he could let know of this disaster that is my account.

Can anyone help in this fight?

Thank you for reading.

bagand96

You now need to take this to the Energy Ombudsman as BG seem completely unable to resolve what actually is something very simple (if it's a smart meter it's metric, end of story!) Resolve Energy Disputes | Energy Ombudsman 

Seems like you have all the evidence anyway, but just to re-iterate make sure you keep copies of all bills as the more evidence you can submit the better, and I think when BG cancel bills they take them off the customer portal.

Mobtr

Once your complaint gets to 8 weeks you can escalate it to the ombudsman. 

Make sure you give all of your info to the ombudsman as they don’t do any research themselves, just go on what you & your energy company present to them so make sure you put everything in there. 

It’s a very easy complaint to resolve but unfortunately sounds like it’s being dealt with by an off shore advisor who will just look at your account & assume it’s all correct. 

Does the serial number on your bill match the number on your meter? 

Down_with_BG

bagand96 & Mobtr, thank you both very much for reading and replying.

This is my 2nd attempt at replying, first comment disappeared, for a change I did something wrong, not BG.

6 days to go before I can go to the ombudsman, can't believe BG can't sort this simple problem out!

You are right about the bills, when BG changed to their new system, October last year, all the old bills disappeared. I have managed to get all my bills now however, some time well spent in the loft! As my OVO account was still available (Thank you OVO) I was able to get all my bills from when the meter was installed until the final bill, all in metric of course.

You are also correct about this being dealt with by off shore advisors. The case handler is impossible to communicate directly with, this is the system BG have in place. Another guy I spoke to gave me his own direct BG email address and was trying to help, relaying messages direct to the case handler. He has now gone silent, told to stay out of it I suspect.

The serial number of the meter is now correct on the bills but it wasn't always. I think this must be where they got the imperial units from but when changing the serial number to the right one they forgot to change the units over.

Tomorrow will be another hour long phone call to someone new, explaining the whole story yet again....

The fight goes on.

Down_with_BG

Here I am again with an update after todays phone call to BG.

Case handler decided after telling me my meter was imperial and sending me an imperial bill that the case was closed. I wasn't told this by him, a random advisor today let me know. I can't make sense of this but there was a duplicate claim so the original one was closed and a new one started, with a different case handler. He took it on on the 1st of May so now the time to contact the ombudsman has been reset. The lady was adamant that they have only had 2 weeks?? She told me the claim had been escalated to level 4, the highest? I don't know if there is any truth in that though, BG have not been truthful all the way through this.

The new handlers name sounds a bit like he may be from these shores so fingers crossed he knows what he is doing! (not sure I'm allowed to post his name here?).

If anyone is reading this do you think if I left BG now it would make it harder to pursue this claim? The longer it goes on the more money I am overpaying and it is stressing me out. To lose all the money I have already overpaid would likely stress me out even more.

The fight goes on.

bagand96

Down_with_BG said:

Here I am again with an update after todays phone call to BG.

Case handler decided after telling me my meter was imperial and sending me an imperial bill that the case was closed. I wasn't told this by him, a random advisor today let me know. I can't make sense of this but there was a duplicate claim so the original one was closed and a new one started, with a different case handler. He took it on on the 1st of May so now the time to contact the ombudsman has been reset. The lady was adamant that they have only had 2 weeks?? She told me the claim had been escalated to level 4, the highest? I don't know if there is any truth in that though, BG have not been truthful all the way through this.

The new handlers name sounds a bit like he may be from these shores so fingers crossed he knows what he is doing! (not sure I'm allowed to post his name here?).

If it were me (someone else who understands the Ombudsman better may have another view) I would be taking the date of the original complaint, as that's the only complaint you've made and they haven't resolved it. What BG have done internally with their case handlers and processes isn't your concern.

Down_with_BG said:

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If anyone is reading this do you think if I left BG now it would make it harder to pursue this claim? The longer it goes on the more money I am overpaying and it is stressing me out. To lose all the money I have already overpaid would likely stress me out even more.

The fight goes on.

The worry for me would be if the error on the national database is still there then any new supplier might also start billing you for Imperial. It could in fact be OVO's error in not updating the database properly, and BG probably haven't done it yet if they still think you're imperial. I also think it's likely easier to keep the process going while you're a customer. 

I know it's stressful, but this will get sorted, it's a fairly simple error and not desperately complex to resolve, even if BG are making a complete fiasco of it so far. Either it needs the Ombudsman, or just someone in BG who understands what's going on. 

Ectophile

If you want to go to the ombudsman, wait 8 weeks from the original claim.  Don't accept any delaying tactics on their part.

Attempting to switch providers will probably make things more difficult.

Down_with_BG

Thanks for all the help and advice, all of you, it really is appreciated 

BooJewels

I would concur - treat your original complaint date as the relevant one and go to the EO after 8 weeks.  Spend the time until then in preparing a good case to present - including all pertinent facts,  but in an organised manner and without hyperbole.

Don't read anything into the name of the handler - I have a friend who speaks other languages and works in the call centre for an international bank and she has a different name for whichever language she's assigned to that day.  Like security operatives, they always use the same starting sound, but not their own name.

Down_with_BG

Ombudsman has now been notified, all evidence supplied. Fingers crossed.

Down_with_BG

Case has been accepted by the ombudsman and received a phone call from them. Lady who called was very helpful and friendly and gave me a direct contact number if I need to talk to her again. If only British Gas could behave in the same manner.... Fingers still crossed 🤞