£3000 Leccy Bill wrong

Bemmy2525

I moved into my flat in July last year and am with British gas. I'm on a smart meter. My meter and onscreen display also the usage data on the app says I've used 253 kWh since I moved in and that I owe £180(I know this is correct I've never paid more than £40 a month for electricity as I'm barely home and use around 40-60kwh per month depending on season) , British gas bill claims I've used 12259 kWh since then and owe £3000. My reading when I moved in was 12000 and is now 12253. It appears on the bill that it is claiming my meter was reset back to zero(after a tariff change) but it never reset it, resulting in a massive bill. 

I have 2 estimated reading on 21 July for 00000-06000(!!!!!! No way to use that much in 3 days my heating runs on gas not leccy) and then another for 24 July 06000-12012(again !!!!!). Smart meter reading on august 1st is 12029.  Those reading in July are completely wrong because it kept going slowly up from the reading provided when I moved in, not lower. My meter has never been changed so it's nothing to do with that. British Gas are claiming it is correct but have referred it to a specialist team as I kicked off. Can anyone figure out what has happened here?I'm freaking out cannot afford it. 

Great bill to wake up too on Christmas Eve.

Update: an electricity engineer on Facebook has said a meter would not be reset back to zero unless it was new meter or clocked over(99999-00000). Big red flag that there is an error which I will be bringing up.

Grumpy_chap

Bemmy2525 said:

I moved into my flat in July last year and am with British gas. I'm on a smart meter. My meter and onscreen display also the usage data on the app says I've used 253 kWh since I moved in and that I owe £180(I know this is correct I've never paid more than £40 a month for electricity as I'm barely home and use around 40-60kwh per month depending on season) , British gas bill claims I've used 12259 kWh since then and owe £3000. My reading when I moved in was 12000 and is now 12253. It appears on the bill that it is claiming my meter was reset back to zero(after a tariff change) but it never reset it, resulting in a massive bill. 

I have 2 estimated reading on 21 July for 00000-06000(!!!!!! No way to use that much in 3 days my heating runs on gas not leccy) and then another for 24 July 06000-12012(again !!!!!). Smart meter reading on august 1st is 12029.  Those reading in July are completely wrong because it kept going slowly up from the reading provided when I moved in, not lower. My meter has never been changed so it's nothing to do with that. British Gas are claiming it is correct but have referred it to a specialist team as I kicked off. Can anyone figure out what has happened here?I'm freaking out cannot afford it. 

Great bill to wake up too on Christmas Eve.

It does kind of seem as though you have identified the root cause of the error, which is a good thing.
Did you take a photo or other record of the meter on moving in day?  
Was it truly exactly 12,000 reading, or do you have the actual reading value?  This is something where the preciseness of your records will be helpful compared to approximations.
I know this is stressful, but I very much doubt you will be able to get to the correct people within BG until the New Year, i.e. 5th January onwards.

Bemmy2525

Yea the readings are correct, I've got all my usage data from the day I moved in  until now(no missing data or missing days) and it completely conflicts with the bill. The meter itself states I only used 253kwh this year which tracks with my usage data. 

I got an email yesterday saying it was with a specialist team, not expecting it to be resolved quickly due to the holidays. Person I spoke too did acknowledge bill seemed excessively high considering my usage over the winter (with legitimate meter reads)has been very low.

WiserMiser

Sadly, this is par for the course for BG.  Write, don't phone.  Make the heading COMPLAINT.

Make a separate request for monthly paper bills, all those from the start date.  (Check they don't charge; if so, submit a Subject Access Request instead which is free.)
Also make electronic copies as soon as your online account has a new bill: they have a nasty habit of deleting all previous bills when they correct a blunder.  This often makes it difficult or impossible to prove overcharging.

Go to the Energy Ombudsman upon receipt of a deadlock letter, or after eight weeks if they don't send one.

They may offer £25 - £50 compo when they own up.  Ask for £200 for all the wasted time and aggro: their billing system should have spotted such an obvious error.  Settle for £100 if they quibble.

Tell us how you get on !

Bemmy2525

I did request monthly bills when I moved in on July but they said my first bill would be on December and then monthly ongoing, no idea why. I do get electronic copies of bills and paper bills which is why I found out about extortionate bill on Christmas eve.
My bill hasn't been changed yet but I downloaded copy anyway.

I'm going to wait and see what the specialist team says before sending a written complaint, I'll give them time since it is holidays. If I upload all my evidence and they still fob me off then I will definitely take it further as there is no way in hell I'm paying £3000(can't even if I wanted too). I will definitely be asking for compo since it completely ruined my Christmas and all the phone calls/web chats trying to sort it out.

Swipe

This thread is confirmation for anyone reading to always take photos of any meter readings when you move in or get a new meter. In the OP's case, all the evidence will be held in the meter but a photo could have been enough to settle the matter swiftly without needing a detailed investgation.

sheenas

We had a few meter replacements over the last year, due to faults. All of the replacements came reading zero. Photo are vital and the dummy replacing the first time wrote the wrong readings down. 

Scot_39

Bemmy2525 said:

I moved into my flat in July last year and am with British gas. I'm on a smart meter. My meter and onscreen display also the usage data on the app says I've used 253 kWh since I moved in and that I owe £180(I know this is correct I've never paid more than £40 a month for electricity as I'm barely home and use around 40-60kwh per month depending on season) , British gas bill claims I've used 12259 kWh since then and owe £3000. My reading when I moved in was 12000 and is now 12253. It appears on the bill that it is claiming my meter was reset back to zero(after a tariff change) but it never reset it, resulting in a massive bill. 

I have 2 estimated reading on 21 July for 00000-06000(!!!!!! No way to use that much in 3 days my heating runs on gas not leccy) and then another for 24 July 06000-12012(again !!!!!). Smart meter reading on august 1st is 12029.  Those reading in July are completely wrong because it kept going slowly up from the reading provided when I moved in, not lower. My meter has never been changed so it's nothing to do with that. British Gas are claiming it is correct but have referred it to a specialist team as I kicked off. Can anyone figure out what has happened here?I'm freaking out cannot afford it. 

Great bill to wake up too on Christmas Eve.

Update: an electricity engineer on Facebook has said a meter would not be reset back to zero unless it was new meter or clocked over(99999-00000). Big red flag that there is an error which I will be bringing up.

Is it normal for meter readings to be reset - i didn't think so either.

In fact people get into trouble because their register readings like for old e7 night register  stay frozen when switch to sr or others when go tou billing at some suppliers - and that causes a step error when move suppliers when get into a total vs register 1 only based tracking / reporting error - often for 10000s of kWh.

Stick to your guns - straight to complaint with a clear request to freeze the disputed bill until meter readings properly investigated. 

Bemmy2525

Swipe said:

This thread is confirmation for anyone reading to always take photos of any meter readings when you move in or get a new meter. In the OP's case, all the evidence will be held in the meter but a photo could have been enough to settle the matter swiftly without needing a detailed investgation.

It wouldn't of made any difference in this case. The reading when I moved in is correct and the final reading is correct and not being disputed, the bill is claiming my meter was reset back to zero a week after I moved in and then went back up to what is currently is resulting in usage of over 12053kwh, I only actually used 253kwh because it never reset.

Bemmy2525

Scot_39 said:

Bemmy2525 said:

I moved into my flat in July last year and am with British gas. I'm on a smart meter. My meter and onscreen display also the usage data on the app says I've used 253 kWh since I moved in and that I owe £180(I know this is correct I've never paid more than £40 a month for electricity as I'm barely home and use around 40-60kwh per month depending on season) , British gas bill claims I've used 12259 kWh since then and owe £3000. My reading when I moved in was 12000 and is now 12253. It appears on the bill that it is claiming my meter was reset back to zero(after a tariff change) but it never reset it, resulting in a massive bill. 

I have 2 estimated reading on 21 July for 00000-06000(!!!!!! No way to use that much in 3 days my heating runs on gas not leccy) and then another for 24 July 06000-12012(again !!!!!). Smart meter reading on august 1st is 12029.  Those reading in July are completely wrong because it kept going slowly up from the reading provided when I moved in, not lower. My meter has never been changed so it's nothing to do with that. British Gas are claiming it is correct but have referred it to a specialist team as I kicked off. Can anyone figure out what has happened here?I'm freaking out cannot afford it. 

Great bill to wake up too on Christmas Eve.

Update: an electricity engineer on Facebook has said a meter would not be reset back to zero unless it was new meter or clocked over(99999-00000). Big red flag that there is an error which I will be bringing up.

Is it normal for meter readings to be reset - i didn't think so either.

In fact people get into trouble because their register readings like for old e7 night register  stay frozen when switch to sr or others when go tou billing at some suppliers - and that causes a step error when move suppliers when get into a total vs register 1 only based tracking / reporting error - often for 10000s of kWh.

Stick to your guns - straight to complaint with a clear request to freeze the disputed bill until meter readings properly investigated. 

Yep. The error happened the day I switched tariff

QrizB

Bemmy2525 said:

... the bill is claiming my meter was reset back to zero a week after I moved in ...

For the avoidance of doubt, it's impossible* for a supplier or the DCC to reset a meter back to zero.

It could roll around from 99999 to 00000, but that's it.

* I guess it might be possible if you dismantled the meter and edited the memory at chip level, or if you wrote your own firmware and reflashed the meter, but that's beyond most folk and is definitely "meter tampering".