British Gas energy bill

Options
Emily_A
Emily_A Posts: 2 Newbie
in Energy
Hi

I moved into a small flat a couple of months ago and I have just received my first quarterly British Gas electricity bill. The bill came to £915 which is A LOT higher than I expected given that I live by myself in a small flat and I’m out at work for most of the day.

I phoned British Gas who asked me to send them meter readings a week apart so they can recalculate my bill, which I did. I heard nothing from British Gas so I sent an email to their complaints department. I still heard nothing. Today I received a new bill, this time for £1100.

What should I do? This is very stressful and upsetting and I have not budgeted for this priced energy bill! Any advice would be much appreciated.

Emily

Comments

  • daveyjp
    daveyjp Posts: 12,527 Forumite
    First Post Name Dropper First Anniversary
    Options
    What date did you move in and supply a reading?
    What was the reading when you moved in?
    What is the reading now?
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 12,106 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Name Dropper
    Options
    From your bill do the readings shown have a letter E (estimated) or A (actual) against them.
    Never pay on an estimated bill
  • House_Martin
    House_Martin Posts: 1,462 Forumite
    Options
    That is a huge bill. If it seems like three times what you are expecting check that they are billing you for the correct type of meter.When they get that mixed up the bill can be 2.8 times more.
    There are 2 types of gas meter, Imperial meters which meter in cubic feet (they use 4 dials for them ) and Metric meters which meter in cubic metres ( 5 dial s )
    Rule that mix up out by checking how the bill converts the units used to kwh s.
    If you have an Imperial meter they multiply units used by 31. Metric units are converted by multiplying the units by 11.
    Sometimes a Metric meter units used is multiplied by 31 which results in a very large bill 2.8 times more than it should be
  • PaschalFun
    PaschalFun Posts: 241 Forumite
    edited 13 April 2018 at 11:28AM
    Options
    Emily_A wrote: »
    Hi

    I moved into a small flat a couple of months ago and I have just received my first quarterly British Gas electricity bill. The bill came to £915 which is A LOT higher than I expected given that I live by myself in a small flat and I’m out at work for most of the day.

    I phoned British Gas who asked me to send them meter readings a week apart so they can recalculate my bill, which I did. I heard nothing from British Gas so I sent an email to their complaints department. I still heard nothing. Today I received a new bill, this time for £1100.

    What should I do? This is very stressful and upsetting and I have not budgeted for this priced energy bill! Any advice would be much appreciated.

    Emily

    It sounds like the first bill was an estimate.
    Was the second bill (presumably a replacement for the first) based on the meter readings you supplied?
    Are you contesting the opening read?
    If readings are agreed, what exactly is the basis of your complaint? (other than it is more than you expected)
  • Willow92
    Willow92 Posts: 2,186 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Options
    It sounds like estimated reads, did you call BG when you first moved in to give a start reading and set up an account? Did you also give an up to date reading when your bill was due?
    Savings £8,865.22 £/15,000 Aiming to save enough for a house deposit.
  • dogshome
    dogshome Posts: 3,877 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Options
    Is this small flat Electrically heated ? - If so the bills over the winter months are bound to be high

    With that said, a £915 bill over, say 10 weeks, works out very roughly to 5,400 Kwh - 76 Kwh a day - the equivalent of having a 3 bar electric fire going full blast, all day, every day.

    If you have one, the first suspect is a hot water tank that has been left switched on 24/7 every day

    Second suspect is that you have been assigned the wrong meter.
    In flats where all the meters are together in a Service Room, mix-ups in which meter serves what flat are quite frequent.

    If your meter is in a common room, switch off all your power at the Consumer Unit / Fuse box, then check what you think is your meter for activity - If it's moving you are looking at the wrong meter.

    In a big flats complex there will be a lot of meters, but if yours has just a few check each one for activity and if one of these is inactive it's likely to be yours, but a further check is needed.

    Turn your flats Consumer Unit / Fuse Box power back on, and then Switch off absolutely everything with the switches.
    Go back to the meter, and with a friend in the flat with a mobile phone, give commands to switch your kettle ON/OFF to your repeated orders
    If the meter responds in synch. with your commands it is yours for certain, so get onto BG a.s.a.p.
  • Emily_A
    Emily_A Posts: 2 Newbie
    Options
    UPDATE: The situation has now been resolved. I phoned the complaints line of British Gas and they recalculated my bill using my actual meter readings. My new bill is around three times under the original bill. There was no explanation as to why British Gas estimates were so high. Either way I have now switched energy suppliers.

    Thanks for all the advice. My advice to anybody who finds themselves in a similar situation would be write down your meter readings over the course of a week and then phone the British Gas complaints line and ask them to recalculate your bill.
This discussion has been closed.
★ ★ ★ Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 343.3K Banking & Borrowing
  • 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.7K Spending & Discounts
  • 235.3K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 608.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 173.1K Life & Family
  • 248K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards