Anomalously high gas bill - from British Gas

CazeryBird

So I finally have a proper response from BG. I'd appreciate a steer on my responses (in bold)? As I am sure has been obvious, I am not very good at this stuff!:

"My name is Rachael and I work in the Executive Office at British Gas.  
 
I’d like to firstly apologise for the circumstances in which you have contacted us, we aim for high standards at British Gas and I’m sorry that we have not met this expectation on this occasion.

I understand you have concerns over your billing. As you're aware your account left us in April 2024 erroneously. The account closed on 03.04.2024 and re opened on 26.04.2024. On 30.04.2024 we issued you a bill but this was only for usage up until 11.12.2023, which means the credit balance you received back of £500.12 wasn't a true reflection of the account to date and shouldn't have been issued. I believe this was advised to you in a previous complaint held with us.

Yes, but I do have actual reads for a year to the 11th Dec:

03738 - ACTUAL read 16 Dec 22
04922.8 - ACTUAL read 11 Dec 23

which gives a kWh usage of 14,000 over that year, compared to the 50,000 billed for 23/24.

The smart meter data I have accessed through Loop and Bright shows I used 743kWh in the period when the account was erroneously closed.

What we need to make sure is that the meter readings coming into us from your meter are correct and there has been no issue on the back of the Erroneous transfer. The information sent to us from your meter comes from the Data Communications company. We need to ensure that the information they hold for your meter is correct and the data transfer from them to us is linked correctly.

The main period I have issue with, and the period which initially concerned me is that of 26th April 2024 to 14th June 2024, during which you claim usage was 23194.6 kWh and the smart meter states 3765 kWh. It was while looking into this that I realised the other periods all had discrepancies too, even where your figures are based on actual reads. This made me worry that there was an issue with the smart meter. I was also told by an advisor that the smart meter had been faulty/had errors throughout 2023, but I hadn't been informed of this.

In order to establish this, as I believe it has been requested previously, is a picture of your Gas meter. We need the meter in full view all 4 corners visible, so we can obtain all the date we require from it. If you are also able to ensure the meter reading is visible, we can cross reference this will the data being sent down to us. To obtain the Gas reading, you need to push button 9 on the keypad, it should say Volume, followed by the reading and M3. 

I haven't provided this as it was requested in order to close my complaint and I had previously been advised by your colleague that once closed I could not open another complaint. I asked for the complaint to be removed instead (I hadn't and haven't opened an official complaint yet as I was hoping for a reply to my enquiries first).

Please find a photograph attached.

I note previously you have carried out some calculations for the usage and what that looks like over a year for you compared to what we are billing. I appreciate the high but from the EPC rating at your property, it does suggests a potential usage of over 35,000 kWh's to heat the home along with hot water. Have you made any home improvements that would now reduce that estimation?

Please find attached a spreadsheet. This compares the usage recorded by my smart meter with the usage you bill for, it is split into tabs to match the billing periods you use. There are discrepancies between the amounts you claim and those the data shows, in every period.

In terms of home improvements, we have undertaken extensive renovations since moving in, in September 2022, and are continuing to renovate. These include, but are not limited to:

• a new, energy efficient boiler, installed in October 2022. This replaced a gas back boiler from the mid-1970s.
• all new radiators (to replace inefficient older radiators)
• removed two old gas fires and replaced with two log burning fires (to use as primary heat for downstairs)
• ceilings replaced upstairs and replacements include insulation (and thicker kingspan in the coolest room)
• thermal window coverings installed for nighttime
• the house has a good layer of attic insulation and we have the roof checked and maintained regularly
• blown double glazing panels replaced
• a new bathroom installed, including a new shower and shower unit. The bath is used infrequently, but we paid extra for one made of a material which conserves heat for longer so lessens the need for hot water top ups.

As mentioned earlier in my responses, the actual readings from 16th December 2022 - 11th December 2023 show a usage significantly lower than 35,000kWh.

Until we have come to a resolution, I have placed all billing on hold."

Petriix

I think the data in your spreadsheet is key. If I were you I'd be more concise with bullet points but your argument is sound. The house renovation is irrelevant. If you can detail your actual usage from 11 December 2023 then we can help. My argument would be something like:

"For the period 11 December 2023 to 3 April 2024 you have billed me for x kWh but my smart meter data shows I only used y kWh in this period. Your bill is, therefore, demonstrably incorrect.

For the period..." etc. 

CazeryBird

So, everything submitted to the Ombudsman now. Just got the following message from bg (via email):

Thank you for providing the picture of your gas meter. This confirms we hold the correct meter details for you and also confirms the smart reads we are receiving direct from your meter are correct.
I have submitted all information to the Ombudsman and await their decision following their investigation.

I'm not sure how this confirms everything. The reads they have are different to the reads the smart meter is providing through Loop, Bright and n3rgy 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ildhund

CazeryBird said:

The reads they have are different to the reads the smart meter is providing through Loop, Bright and n3rgy 🤷🏻‍♀️

At the risk of sounding like a broken record,

• SMETS2 meters typically store a lot of data, some of them because SMETS2 demands it.
• Billing data, largely daily snapshots of the (import) register indices taken at midnight. 
  31 daily snapshots are stored, with the newest displacing the oldest;
• 13 end-of-billing-period snapshots are stored, the newest displacing the oldest.
• Usage data, 48 quantities recorded each half hour each day.
  13 months' worth of data are stored.

Billing data (i.e. daily meter readings) are only available to the supplier. Usage data are available to the supplier and anyone else you authorize to access them, e.g. Loop, Bright and n3rgy (so-called Other users).

While there will usually be close correlation between apparent consumption (measured by Hh data) and meter advance, it may not be close enough for billing. The statement I quoted doesn't really make sense.

brianposter

Ildhund, perhaps you need to explain the difference between "meter readings" and "usage data".

CazeryBird

I'm very confused. How can they quote usage in kWh as taken from the smart meter and it be so different from the data the smart meter provides through these other companies (the people at n3rgy were hopeful that the raw data (13 months worth) they sent me would help my case..). Surely the measurements the smart meter takes are accurate. BG keep telling me that the smart meter data is accurate.

Some periods have a difference of ~20,000kWh. I've also recently found out that our IHD (I think that's the right term) isn't registered on the national network. I switched it on once and the readings for that day all vanished. Is that normal?

Something funny definitely happened at around the time of the erroneous switch, but no one will consider that. There is no way our consumption has gone up from 14,000kWh to over 50,000kWh in a year.

Ildhund said:

CazeryBird said:

The reads they have are different to the reads the smart meter is providing through Loop, Bright and n3rgy 🤷🏻‍♀️

At the risk of sounding like a broken record,

• SMETS2 meters typically store a lot of data, some of them because SMETS2 demands it.
• Billing data, largely daily snapshots of the (import) register indices taken at midnight. 
  31 daily snapshots are stored, with the newest displacing the oldest;
• 13 end-of-billing-period snapshots are stored, the newest displacing the oldest.
• Usage data, 48 quantities recorded each half hour each day.
  13 months' worth of data are stored.

Billing data (i.e. daily meter readings) are only available to the supplier. Usage data are available to the supplier and anyone else you authorize to access them, e.g. Loop, Bright and n3rgy (so-called Other users).

While there will usually be close correlation between apparent consumption (measured by Hh data) and meter advance, it may not be close enough for billing. The statement I quoted doesn't really make sense.

Ildhund

Sorry, I thought I had ... There are after all clues in the terms themselves:
  
'Readings' are what you see on the meter itself, a number that just keeps going up with every unit you use. It is a measure of all energy that has passed through the meter since it was first installed. Only the supplier can retrieve them from the meter (and you, via your IHD).

'Usage data' are lots of numbers saying just how much energy was used in each half-hour. Anyone you authorize can retrieve them from the meter.

If you're a visual sort of person, here are screenshots of the two sorts of data from my own electricity account. Every supplier will do it differently, but that's just the way the data are presented:

Meter readings

Usage data 

For 27 February 2025

brianposter

So, for the benfit of someone who does not have a smart meter, the usage data never includes meter readings ?

And what is the half-hourly data recorded in a smart meter -  readings or usage ?

CazeryBird

I'm also interested to know why the supplier refers to kWh usage in bold/as the most prominent figure on the bill, if it's only the meter reading that matters:



It's the stated kWh usage that I'm querying with BG. The meter readings match what shows here, at least when I've been tracking them, but there is clearly an error either with the meter readings (when they leapt up dramatically following the transfer of my account back to BG), or with the usage recorded by the meter. Or both.

If they are stating something incorrect on my bill then surely I'm in the right to query this..

The crux of it is that there is no chance I have used 50,000kWh of gas in a year. 14,000kWh was the year before and we've only made improvements to energy efficiency in the preceding time.

Gerry1

kWh are in bold because they are used to calculate your bill.  However, your bill won't be accurate because both readings are only estimates.