Anomalously high gas bill - from British Gas

QrizB

CazeryBird said:

I've not got as far as the Ombudsman as they still haven't answered any of my enquiries.

If it's been eight weeks since your initial complaint, you can go to the Ombudsman even if you haven't got any info from BG.

CazeryBird

ah, fab. I'll start putting something together. It will be 8 weeks next week.

In the meantime I was thinking of just sending them a response to their most recent message saying:

"While I have been waiting for a response to my initial enquiry (submitted at the start of December) I have accessed my smart meter data through two providers and it shows significantly different KwH usage to that which you have billed. I would like to discuss this further please."

Or should I just give the largest difference as an example?

total (meter)	3765
total (billed by BG)	23194.6
Difference	19429.6

CazeryBird

(whoops the weird formatting didn't show up on preview!)

MeteredOut

CazeryBird said:

ah, fab. I'll start putting something together. It will be 8 weeks next week.

In the meantime I was thinking of just sending them a response to their most recent message saying:

"While I have been waiting for a response to my initial enquiry (submitted at the start of December) I have accessed my smart meter data through two providers and it shows significantly different KwH usage to that which you have billed. I would like to discuss this further please."

Or should I just give the largest difference as an example?

total (meter)	3765
total (billed by BG)	23194.6
Difference	19429.6

Can you give the actual readings and dates from your meter, and redacted copies of the bill(s) from BG for the same periods of time?

CazeryBird

I have the bill with actual reads for the period with the largest difference:


The smart meter readings are from Loop and Bright so I could screengrab from my phone, but that's it. I have moved it all onto a spreadsheet and calculated the difference in each period between the smart meter readings and the amounts billed by BG.

grn99

Once you get the evidence to support your case into the Ombudsman the pain of dealing with the recalcitrant BG will hopefully drift away, like it did for me!

In my experience BG don't answer even legitimate questions. By coincidence, the Ombudsman got in touch today by phone and is upholding my complaint against BG. I rejected BG's intial "offer" as they didn't address any of the points I raised regarding their erroneous bills.

If they still don't deliver against the upheld actions, I just go straight back to the Ombudsman (I have the direct dial number of the person acting in the case) and off we go again, but I don't have to engage directly with the nonsense and incompetence of BG South Africa directly.

Petriix

Really we need to know what your actual reading was on 26 April 2024 (extrapolating backwards from your smart meter data). They claim the reading was 6713 in April then 9130 on 1 October. That seems ridiculous to me as, presumably you wouldn't have used any heating in that period yet you're supposed to have used 2417 units which equates to something close to 26,500kWh. Thats roughly what our house uses in 4 years.

If you can demonstrate from your smart meter data that you definitely didn't use that volume of gas in that period then you'll be in a fairly strong position. They can't bill you for any usage older than 12 months for which they have never sent you an accurate bill so the clock is ticking for them to figure out when the usage actually did occur. 

Are you able to show any older bills? (edit: I can see these back in your previous posts) 
How much does your smart meter (data) say you've used? (this is the crucial bit!)

brianposter

Is there any reason why the OP cannot complain to the ombudsman about BGs refusal to engage without raising anything about the merits of the case ? It sounds like it might be a simple complaint to put together and an easy decision for the Ombudsman.

Gerry1

Keep everything in writing, don't phone.  The agents are likely to be out of their depth with anything other than a straightforward enquiry.

They're probably judged mostly on the number of calls they answer, so they'll be tempted to shut down your call ASAP rather than spend the time necessary to understand it and get it resolved.

brianposter

And if BG are being difficult simply send them your SAR.

And you might also tell us exactly what you have discovered.