Are you on the right British Gas Tariff if in receipt of DLA etc ??

alison74

I have just been on the phone to British Gas on behalf of my friend who orginally got the winter rebate scheme a couple of years ago thanks to a thread on this forum.

We wrongly assumed that she was moved over to the new 'essentials tariff' when it came out as it said she would be here

http://www.britishgas.co.uk/about-british-gas/what's-important-to-us/customer-commitment/essential.html


Her bills have been expensive and I was just checking through the best options for her today and it turns out she WAS NOT switched over to the new tariff and is now getting a rebate, backdated to March 2007.

It's worth a check on your bill to make sure you are getting the right amount charged to you and not assume they changed you over.

It could be a one off mistake, but would rather that MSE'ers checked and maybe got some money back

Depending on your type of payment, meter etc, it can be up to a 26% difference in cost !!

colin13

ty for ur post,, I am with scottish power duel fuel and they told me tht I am better on the tarrif I am on at the moment after reading this I may phone them back up again and get it looked at again

Borgie

ty for ur post,, I am with scottish power duel fuel and they told me tht I am better on the tarrif I am on at the moment after reading this I may phone them back up again and get it looked at again


I would be interested in what they say as this would apply to myself too.

Would be grateful if you could post when you have spoken to them.

Many thanks

dmg24

Lots more information, including a list of qualifying benefits here.

TangledMemories_2

Hi,
We're with British Gas for our gas and electric and my partner is in receipt of DLA. We haven't had our first bill yet...but should we contact British Gas beforehand to see which tariff we're on?
What tariff should we be on?

alison74

dmg24 wrote: »

Lots more information, including a list of qualifying benefits here.

Thanks for posting that link, I knew it would have been mentioned somewhere before, but the key thing today is that it can be backdated.

I also meant to mention before that although it's supposed to apply to people with just pre payment meters etc, it does in fact include customers who pay by direct debit (although their discount is not as good)

The BG guy said there would be a postal order put in the post, but it may be a couple of months because of the backlog. When I questioned him about what backlog he meant, he said in relation to essentials tariff payments i.e this has happened to a lot of people.

dmg24

TangledMemories wrote: »

Hi,
We're with British Gas for our gas and electric and my partner is in receipt of DLA. We haven't had our first bill yet...but should we contact British Gas beforehand to see which tariff we're on?
What tariff should we be on?

You need to ask them to compare the figures of the tariff that you are currently on, to the Essentials tariff. If you are on a dual tariff this should be very simple, there are only about five different rates (two for electric and three for gas), unless you are on an Economy 7 type tariff when there are more, so they can tell you them over the phone x

hm71_2

just a footnote southern electric have a similar scheme called careline.
http://www.southern-electric.co.uk/Help/ForYourHome/SpecialPackages/Default.aspx
you have to be using 10% of your annual income on fuel bills and can save a further 20%. maybe worth a look if you are with them.