British Gas fiasco - any advice very welcome!

timiambeing

Hi all - I’m not sure whether we can actually do anything about this, but at least if not this might be a lesson for anyone else who is with British Gas!

I had an email to say my fixed rate tariff ends early September, so out of curiosity I logged into my British Gas account to see how things were. I get an email every month saying all is well and they will be taking the usual amount by direct debit so I didn't expect any surprises. I checked my electricity account first as that is the one I had an email about the fixed rate coming to an end, all was fine, a credit balance of £116. 

Unfortunately when I checked the gas account I had a shock - £268.05 in debit!! Plus they were now asking my to up my payments to £89pm to cover the gap. I checked my usage on the account and according to their calculations it was £320.08 yearly - which meant I should have been OK at £29pm?

So, engaging Ai smarts I offered up my bills and what came back was an actual usage since July last year of £657.55!!

Now… the issue here is back in December 2025 I was happily paying around £45pm direct debit for gas, which would have seen me pretty much ok at this point. But then British Gas emailed me saying they had checked my usage and implemented a new Direct Debit of just £29pm - I was very pleased of course, being a pensioner and living alone and all!. Having only moved in here earlier that year I presumed they now knew what I was using and this was a sensible adjustment.

However it seems that British Gas were using an erroneous usage estimate from their own system back in December 2025 to adjust my bill down, that if they hadn’t I wouldn’t be in arrears. Speaking to an operative in India she admitted that £320.08 wasn’t the estimate they had on their system now, but yes it was the one shown on my accounts usage page.

Well I have been having a long running email conversation with a guy called Bosco who says basically its not their fault and I have to pay up, best he can do is a £20 gift voucher and move the electricity credit to the gas account to reduce the balance a bit.

Obviously I don’t suppose British Gas will move on this so I wondered what would be the sensible sequence of events once the fixed rate tariff is up and I want to move suppliers?

And yes I should have checked my account more often, BG state that is my responsibility and so I suppose I am culpable as well… but BG will not admit responsibility for reducing my payments, they skirt all around that issue, so for anyone else reading this I would say give this company a wide birth!

Reed_Richards

If your account is in debit, you may find that British Gas will block your move to another supplier. So the first thing to do in the sequence of events is to pay off your debt (if you can afford to).

Alnat1

You can move suppliers without penalty within 49 days of your fix ending, so that's today!

As mentioned above, get your BG account in order and then switch away, hopefully to a company that combines the cost of gas and electricity use (most others) and gives you one total of what's owing on your account.

Woodstok2000

The first thing I would do is check all the numbers are right. Do you have smart meters? If not, is the bill based on estimated or actual usage? Do the meter readings on your meters match what is on the latest bills?

timiambeing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100395#Comment_82100395

HI - yes I have checked the bills and the smart meters have been used each time, don't know if they are correct, time has moved on?

timiambeing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100391#Comment_82100391

Ah, so that means leading up to the ending, didn't realise that, thanks! So I'm considering Eon First (long term fixed rate but hefty exit fee) so I can make a start on changing now and when BG say no you haven't paid I will no doubt get a final bill? I've been checking MSE suggestions, but the advice doesn't seem to be updated for the October increase yet?

EssexHebridean

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100404#Comment_82100404

It's good practise to still check the readings on the meters at least every few months just to ensure that everything is correct - assuming you are able to of course. If not, perhaps there is a friend of family member who might be able to assist if the meters aren't safely accessible to you?

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100404#Comment_82100404

You're pretty safe to assume the meters are correct - if they match what's on the bills is the important thing.

EssexHebridean

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100532#Comment_82100532

I was reading that as the OP saying that the billing says it is using smart meter readings, and that he doesn't know if the readings on the bills are correct as per what is on the smart meter itself?

M4rkOne97One

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6679552/british-gas-fiasco-any-advice-very-welcome

Bit harsh There will be many BG customers, me included who have had positive experiences with BG. But feel free to switch to another company after your experience.

tfhnota

You have to laugh, a few years ago I had endless problems with BG trying to up my DD even when there was credit on the account and here they are actually lowering someone's DD when it was about right. If leaving BG I would photograph the exit readings on the meters and keep all the bills going back to when joined as they have a nasty habit of sometimes doing a fantasy recalculation of the bills even after the "final bill" has been issued and paid, although usually the final readings are accurate, to be fair.