British Gas overcharging due gas units used formula

Daisydude123

I recently moved to British Gas due to fixed tariff advertised on this site. I gave all the correct readings from my smart meter but my recent gas bill was 2.5 times as much as it should have been. They confirmed the reading from the meter was correct but instead of using the standard gas unit conversion formula that most other energy companies use, they included converting imperial to metric in the formula, which resulted in showing kilo watt hours being used was 2.5 times more. When speaking to customer services they seemed aware that this was the default setting, even though the majority of modern smart meters measure in meters cubed, which is obviously metric. How many other customers are unaware of this? Potentially being overcharged without realising as the readings are correct but their formula is wrong!  The operator was clearly aware of this issue but it took me 2 days to work it out myself and I had to challenge them. Very concerning and should be looked in to further.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

Daisydude123 said:

...they included converting imperial to metric in the formula, which resulted in showing kilo watt hours being used was 2.5 times more. 

2.83 times. Yes, this happens fairly often.

Daisydude123 said:

The operator was clearly aware of this issue but it took me 2 days to work it out myself and I had to challenge them. Very concerning and should be looked in to further.

Have they now corrected your account and re-issued the bills?

Daisydude123

No, this is still not resolved 

Daisydude123

Daisydude123 said:

No, this is still not resolved 

QrizB said:

Welcome to the forum.

Daisydude123 said:

...they included converting imperial to metric in the formula, which resulted in showing kilo watt hours being used was 2.5 times more. 

2.83 times. Yes, this happens fairly often.

Daisydude123 said:

The operator was clearly aware of this issue but it took me 2 days to work it out myself and I had to challenge them. Very concerning and should be looked in to further.

Have they now corrected your account and re-issued the bills?

No, still unresolved 

QrizB

Daisydude123 said:

No, this is still not resolved 

BG have a complaints process. You should follow it to conclusion, including a referral to the Energy Ombudsman if it remains unreolved after eight weeks.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/complaints.html

This is a fairly common problem and is simple for BG to resolve. I would hope it's done within a week or two but BG aren't always the most effective supplier at fixing problems.