Anomalously high gas bill - from British Gas

CazeryBird

QrizB said:

The lever on the left (below the yellow tape that says "on") is the main gas valve. That's the one Gerry is referring to.

Ah, thanks. I'll definitely ask the plumber to do that one. It's very stiff and rusty!

Gerry1

No need to wait for the plumber.  You need to be able to switch off the supply, by yourself, at any time, if ever there's a gas leak.

If necessary, wiggle the lever back and forth or tap it gently with a hammer a few times.  Make sure it can be turned through a full through 90°.

CazeryBird

Still waiting for a response from BG but I'm monitoring my usage in the meantime with photos of the meter reading first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

CazeryBird

Just had this reply...
"I hope this email finds you well. My name is Pritpal. I am a Solver from British Gas and will be your main point of contact regarding incorrect bills.

What I have done

I have taken the following steps in resolving your case:

I understand that this situation may be challenging for you. However, I want to assure you that the bill is based on accurate readings. Additionally, I have updated your Priority service in light of your husband’s health condition. If you would like to explore options for financial assistance, please feel free to connect with us via live chat. One of our advisors would be delighted to help you. Our availability is Monday to Friday from 8 am to 8 pm, and Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm.
https://www.britishgas.co.uk/energy/contact-us

Also you can contact external help they will help you with any financial help you need."

They are refusing to consider that the amount is incorrect. Apparently we use an industrial level of gas in our small 3 bed terrace?! Is this the point at which I should go to the Ombudsman?

MeteredOut

What results did your meter monitoring provide?

Did you do the meter test? Turn the lever off and see if the meter still incremented?

It sounds like you're going to need to take this to the Ombudsman, but as I've said before, the onus will be on you to show the issue - no-one else is going to investigate it for you, so the more evidence you can provide (and a video of a meter incrementing whilst isolated is pretty compelling) the easier the process will be.

CazeryBird

I haven't had a chance to turn it off overnight. I have been photographing my meter morning and night and it goes up like this:

CazeryBird

My brother used to work in their complaints department and said its very clearly an error and he saw similar corrected regularly without this amount of fuss. Again my plumber has confirmed that it isn't possible for our house to have used that amount of gas: 50,000kWh a year..

MeteredOut

Why haven't you turned it off during the day, so you can watch/record it?

Use an app like LensBuddy (its free) to create a time-lapse video (it can take a picture every minute and creates a video from it).

Gerry1

CazeryBird said:

Just had this reply...

They are refusing to consider that the amount is incorrect. Apparently we use an industrial level of gas in our small 3 bed terrace?! Is this the point at which I should go to the Ombudsman?

That's your deadlock letter so you can now go to the ombudsman. But I'll echo the general view that you only get one shot so it had better be a good one. Post it here (meter numbers and personae info redacted) and you'll get suggestions if any changes are needed.

MeteredOut

CazeryBird said:

My brother used to work in their complaints department and said its very clearly an error and he saw similar corrected regularly without this amount of fuss. Again my plumber has confirmed that it isn't possible for our house to have used that amount of gas: 50,000kWh a year..

The Ombudsman isn't going to accept "my brother said its clearly and error and he worked in their complaints department". My experience is that those that deal in suppliers' complaints departments (unless he is L2/L3 escalations) know little more than the scripts they work from about meters.

Is your plumber willing to write a signed statement, as an expert witness, stating your house could not have used that energy?

I'd change your spreadsheet to add a column that shows the time difference between those readings (will probably be easier if you change column B to a DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM format and then your new column can subtract the two), and then another column showing the usage during that time (difference in readings divided by the new time difference column). At the moment, its impossible to tell if those readings are askew.