British Gas Bill SHOCK!!!!

Magenta

Hi all, I got home to night to find a letter from British Gas. I usually pay them £30 per month direct debit for my electricity (no gas) which covers my bill. The letter said that from July 18th my monthly direct debit will be £94. Is this a mistake do you think? My God I hope it is. I have no washing machine, I hardly ever use the cooker as I eat mostly sandwiches and salads. I am a student and I cannot pay £94 per month. What an earth can I do, I am in total shock.

Energised

Do you have storage heaters, Magenta?

It's very possible to use that amount of energy if you use them a lot.

Best thing to do is to check your meter readings and phone BG to ensure they have billed to accurate readings.

Second is to ask them for your yearly consumption. We can have a look at things a little closer then .

Cardew

A property that uses any form of electrical heating* is very unlikely to be covered by a £30 monthly DD. So it is very probable that the DD you pay does not 'cover your bill'(as you put it!

You have almost certainly run up a large debit balance which BG are recovering over the next months.

Check your bills and see how much you owe.

* The average property in UK spends over £1,000 pa on gas/electricity and those with Electricity only pay more than average.

Magenta

Thanks Energised I do have storage heaters.
Thanks Cardew, you are exactly right. This is what has happened. I contacted Brit Gas and as you said my £30 DD was not covering the bills (they fixed the amount not me) and so now I am in debt with them and my DD has now being adjusted.
It's a pity that they did not increase my £30 DD a little bit at a time then it would not have been such a big shock!

Thanks for your replies.

Scousebird_2

Unfortunately British Gas did this to me and I fought them over miscalculating bills and won-took a year but I did it! I am now with Scottish and Southern Energy and NOTHING would make me move from them-not even if someone offered me supply for free. They are a fantastic company and I have never been happier-the service is fantastic and the energy is one of the cheapest around so I am made up with them!