Anomalously high gas bill - from British Gas

MeteredOut

CazeryBird said:

MeteredOut said:

Scanning back through the thread, you posted early on:

03738 - ACTUAL read 16 Dec 22
04922.8 - ACTUAL read 11 Dec 23
9511.8 -Actual read 15 Nov 24

Why the difference in reading formats (first two with leading 0, last one not)? Is this just how you typed it, or how you have it recorded? 

I'm wondering if your meter has two different registers and at some point (perhaps when the erroneous supplier switch took place) the "other" reading is what has been recorded, accounting for the big jump at that time?

Are you or have you ever been on an E7 tariff?

Not sure about the tariff. I'll see if I can find out, but they deleted all my records on my side of the account when they transferred me to the other provider.

Someone has probably already suggested this - have to looked into doing a subject access request (SAR) to get all the data they have on you? I'm not sure about energy, but many industries have legal requirements for how long companies must keep customer data before it is purged, and moving to a new system would not be an excuse for not responding. And, whether meter readings would be part of that, I'm not sure...

debitcardmayhem

MeteredOut said:

CazeryBird said:

The summer blip happened around the same time as the erroneous swap, but not entirely. We haven't had a new smart meter (the current one is 8 years old), and I don't know about the switch to a new BG system (but I'll look into that).

It would help you if you could find out the exact dates of the switch and switch back.

looking back in the thread appears 25/26 April, but something was wrong between then and 15/6  
6713 and 8754. I can’t understand where the decimal point comes from either.

CazeryBird

MeteredOut said:

CazeryBird said:

The summer blip happened around the same time as the erroneous swap, but not entirely. We haven't had a new smart meter (the current one is 8 years old), and I don't know about the switch to a new BG system (but I'll look into that).

It would help you if you could find out the exact dates of the switch and switch back.

I'll ask BG. Just looking on my online account now and there is an opening read on the 26th April, but there aren't any records on there from before March 2023 and nothing to say about the switch away date.
They sent me a text on the 30th March saying 'sorry to hear you are leaving'.

Tariff is a standard variable.

CazeryBird

MeteredOut said:

CazeryBird said:

MeteredOut said:

Scanning back through the thread, you posted early on:

03738 - ACTUAL read 16 Dec 22
04922.8 - ACTUAL read 11 Dec 23
9511.8 -Actual read 15 Nov 24

Why the difference in reading formats (first two with leading 0, last one not)? Is this just how you typed it, or how you have it recorded? 

I'm wondering if your meter has two different registers and at some point (perhaps when the erroneous supplier switch took place) the "other" reading is what has been recorded, accounting for the big jump at that time?

Are you or have you ever been on an E7 tariff?

Not sure about the tariff. I'll see if I can find out, but they deleted all my records on my side of the account when they transferred me to the other provider.

Someone has probably already suggested this - have to looked into doing a subject access request (SAR) to get all the data they have on you? I'm not sure about energy, but many industries have legal requirements for how long companies must keep customer data before it is purged, and moving to a new system would not be an excuse for not responding. And, whether meter readings would be part of that, I'm not sure...

SAR is on my to do list for tomorrow... I work in quality assurance so up to speed with GDPR etc. and they should have my data. I'll be asking for everything, including any internal correspondence mentioning my name.

CazeryBird

MeteredOut said:

CazeryBird said:

This whole thing has me completely lost. Which is, I suppose, their aim: wear me out so I just pay out of exhaustion to stop the stress. Lovely technique.

To misquote that common phrase, don't put down to planning something that can be easier explained by incompetence.

thank you for the much needed laugh. x

QrizB

debitcardmayhem said:

MeteredOut said:

CazeryBird said:

The summer blip happened around the same time as the erroneous swap, but not entirely. We haven't had a new smart meter (the current one is 8 years old), and I don't know about the switch to a new BG system (but I'll look into that).

It would help you if you could find out the exact dates of the switch and switch back.

looking back in the thread appears 25/26 April, but something was wrong between then and 15/6  
6713 and 8754. I can’t understand where the decimal point comes from either.

Smart gas meters only display whole cubic metres, so that's all that a householder can submit.

Usually, if a reading has a decimal point it's either an estimated reading or a smart reading.

MeteredOut

QrizB said:

debitcardmayhem said:

MeteredOut said:

CazeryBird said:

The summer blip happened around the same time as the erroneous swap, but not entirely. We haven't had a new smart meter (the current one is 8 years old), and I don't know about the switch to a new BG system (but I'll look into that).

It would help you if you could find out the exact dates of the switch and switch back.

looking back in the thread appears 25/26 April, but something was wrong between then and 15/6  
6713 and 8754. I can’t understand where the decimal point comes from either.

Smart gas meters only display whole cubic metres, so that's all that a householder can submit.

Usually, if a reading has a decimal point it's either an estimated reading or a smart reading.

I thought you could get to the decimal place value behind one of the menus, but I've never checked as my IHD does give the gas reading to 3 decimal places.

brianposter

Could someone confirm that if you change supplier there will be an update to at least some of the software in a smart gas meter ?

QrizB

brianposter said:

Could someone confirm that if you change supplier there will be an update to at least some of the software in a smart gas meter ?

Not sure quite what you're asking?

If you switch supplier, your new supplier will send their tariff info etc. to your meter.

Suppliers aren't responsible for the firmware in your meter, that's all handled centrally.

brianposter

You have answered my question, although it would be interesting to know what "etc." means in this particular case. Updating things is something that can go wrong and there have presumably been at least two updates..