Massively High Gas Bill!

[Yam950]

Hi there, i hope someone can help me. We moved here over a year ago and there was no gas meter. we had one put in and I have been giving readings online regularly. Over the past 6 months our bills have crept up and up butnothing that we thought wouldnt even out int he summer. Today i gave a reading to find that we now owe over £800!!

Februarys reading was 2554, todays was 3833. We are paying £65.00 per month by direct debit which is now clearly nowhere near enough! We have gas central heating- we had a brand new boiler fitted in September last year and we have a gas cooker.

This seems terribly high. Does this sound about right? We are with Southern Electric and its not an imperial meter.

 

Thanks in advance.

[rebel11]

Hi yam

 

Have you checked the Tariff that your on to see if there are cheaper Tariff's. You've had a meter fitted, did you choose a Tariff or did they just stick you on the highest Tariff. Also for the next 7 days take daily readings, do the readings equate to the 'gas' that your using.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/01/are_you_paying_too_much_for_ga.html

[Yam950]

They said that we were on the best tariff? I sant seem to find a cheaper tariff and i have called them and they confirmed this and said my bill was right

[Bang!]

Hi there, i hope someone can help me. We moved here over a year ago and there was no gas meter. we had one put in and I have been giving readings online regularly. Over the past 6 months our bills have crept up and up butnothing that we thought wouldnt even out int he summer. Today i gave a reading to find that we now owe over £800!!

Februarys reading was 2554, todays was 3833. We are paying £65.00 per month by direct debit which is now clearly nowhere near enough! We have gas central heating- we had a brand new boiler fitted in September last year and we have a gas cooker.

This seems terribly high. Does this sound about right? We are with Southern Electric and its not an imperial meter.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

From the numbers/money and 'not imperial' you mention - i take it it measures in Kwh rather than cubic feet.

 

Once you have confirmed its reading properly. Go to a site like Uswitch and see who offers the lowest prices for your usage, but don't sign up. Then go to a cashback site such as Quidco and see what cashback comes from the best supplier, and if its less than the cashback from Uswitch themselves sign up via quidco. If the cashback is higher for Uswitch - go through quidco to Uswitch for the same supplier.

 

Its not uncommon to get £100 for a switch.

[Yam950]

Willt hey allow me to switch though if i owe them £800 Bang?

[Bang!]

If the £800 is actually due you need to pay it - but as its not a default/long overdue you should be able to move elsewhere even while its still unpaid.

[raydetinu]

you would have had quarterly bills that would state what you have paid, what you have used and what the balance is, so there should have been a trend, and you could of adjusted the monthly payments to suit?

have you checked the rate with the usage and are they correct?

[Yam950]

I dont get the bills through the post. I knew last quarters was high at £400 but we havent had the heating on, and i did think it would go down this quarter, so im really puzzled as to how it could be this high.

[raydetinu]

If you have an online account, which I have you still get emails with your quarterly bill which you can download.

If as you say you have been giving them readings on line and your bill is based on those then I dont see how you can be surprised.

Have they been using estimated readings in the past and have suddenly caught up?

Just check the usage amount with the rate you are paying to check it.

If you think the meter is wrong get it checked? have you made a mistake when reading the meter? or made an error when submitting it.

All you can do is check the bill.

just looking at your readings; 1279 kwh for three months is not a lot and at say 5p/unit = £64.00

are you sure its a direct read meter and cu ft?

now if it is 1279 cu ft then it would be about 40,280 kwh so at 5p/unit =£2,100; so something is wrong somewhere!

check, check and check again.

[Yam950]

Thanks for the response raydetinu. Yes i got the emails, and we were £400 in debit previously, but i did think it would drop somewhat by the next readin, hence my shock! When you say direct read what do you mean? Sorry of i appear a bit thick!! This is he info i have fromt he website with my previous readings which I gave them

 

DateService PlanStandard energy 01-Jun-2012General Saver (E&W)3833 22-Feb-2012General Saver (E&W)2554 28-Nov-2011General Saver (E&W)1548 25-Aug-2011General Saver (E&W)680

 

This is the last bill:

 

Your gas statement explained

This bill is for the period 29 Nov 2011 to 22 Feb 2012

TOTAL FROM PREVIOUS BILL £137.39

Payment received 20 Jan 2012 -£65.00

Payment received 20 Feb 2012 -£65.00

LESS YOUR PAYMENTS, THANK YOU -£130.00

YOUR GAS USAGE

Reading last

time

Reading this

time

Units

Meter:

Meter Serial Is ere

Gas Meter Advance 1548 2554 1006

1006 units x correction factor 1.02264

1028.77 cu mtrs x calorific value 39.8

/ conversion factor 3.6

1028.77

11373.62

Units converted to kilowatt hours 11373.62

kWh

YOUR GAS BILL

Your Tariff is General Saver

Standard energy

11373.62 kWh at 3.810p each £433.33

Standing charge at 29.970p for 86 day(s) £25.77

Less your Direct Debit & Online Discount -£30.33

Total charges before VAT £428.77

VAT at 5.00% on charges of £428.77 £21.43

TOTAL CHARGES THIS BILL INCLUDING VAT £450.20

TOTAL FOR YOUR ACCOUNT £457.59

 

And this is what the balance is we owe after the last reading and a few details which might help

 

Account plan Account balance Friendly name General Saver £814.40 (Debit) Gas Last billed date Balance when billed Next bill date Unknown £809.11 (Debit)

23 Nov - 10 Dec 12 How you pay Payment plan discount Statement type Direct Debit Budget 7% Paperless

If its right then fair enough, we will have to try and get some of it paid off, but if not then we need to sort it.

Many thanks in advance, much appreciated

[Bang!]

You would really need to show your bill up to May to know what is happening - as is that where the £800 figure must be coming from, as I cannot see it from that bill (which is only to February, so over winter, so higher).

 

Right - from that bill you started with £137.39 in debt last November.

 

You then presumably missed December's payment - but paid £130 between January and February.

 

So this would drop what you owed to £7.39 PLUS the gas you have used since and your standing charge.

 

I think when you copied the usage, its been in columns, and not copied clearly - so this bit is a little unclear - but the later figures make sense.

 

The gas you used from Nov 29nd to Feb 22nd was 11373,62 units charged at 3.81p ex vat. making £433.33 (which although the sums work - seems a little high to me - although I don't know your house).

 

Discounts off, and standing charges and VAT on, bring it to £450.20

 

This then has the £7.39 I mentioned above added making £457.59

 

So in summary: -

 

you started owing £137.39

you usage for Nov29 to Feb22 was £450.20

you paid £130

meaning you owed £457.59 at the quarter ending 22 Feb.

 

If you can copy up your bill for Feb to May I can check it further. If you do not have this, if you can tell me what your payments were in since Feb 20th, and what your meter is currently reading - then I can calculate what you actually owe to compare to the £800 you mention.

 

Lastly - for you to have this £800 bill, was it an estimate, or from actual readings. Where does it come from?

[raydetinu]

looks like a cu ft reading to me, although digital, still in cu ft. then corrected to KWh.

usage for that sort of period seems about right, but where has decembers payment gone, was in fact taken from your account and they have not credited to you?

when did you turn heating off, not till May I suspect as it has been cold, so that would account for it, also when you get bill for May, check that all payments have been taken?

[Bang!]

Sorry - I missed the details in the first post.

 

Also - it cannot be cubic feet as there are about 31.8 kwh to a cubic foot although it varies with pressure, which is why there is a corrective multiplier.

 

You owed £457.59 at the end of Feb - and have presumably paid £195 - taking it down to £262.59.

 

The standing charge and discount close enough cancel out - so leave that out.

 

So £800 (bill) - £262.59 (owed in Feb) = £537.41 (cost of gas)

 

£537,41 (cost of gas) / 1279 (number of unknown units) = 42,02p mystery unit cost

 

This is massively high for a kwh - which they list as being 3.810p + 5% vat = 4p per unit

 

But 42.02 is massively low for a cubic foot which would be about £1.27 based on the unit price.

 

Cubic meters are mentioned - but a cubic meter has 35.3 cubic feet and 1123 kwh.

 

Its looking like your meter measures in units of 100th parts of cubic meters.

 

This would mean one mystery unit = 4p x (1123/100) = 45p (which is not massively off 42.02p).

 

Its worth adding the errors here are £800 is not the exact bill. The gas price may have changed. The discounts and VAT do not cancel out exactly. But the result is only 6.?% off.

 

That's it - I looked up "metric gas meter" on the internet and there is a picture showing the last two digits behind the point being counted as fixed numbers and a spinning one at the end. So it is 100ths of cubic meters.

 

The article also mentions problems with the wrong meter being registered with the gas company - but as I used their figures to calculate the above, its likely they have it registered properly.

 

They do list it on your bill as cubic meters, but its clearly hundredth parts of that.

 

The only weird thing now would be why did you use more gas in spring than in winter.

 

So it looks like it's time to check the meter.

 

Here's the article...

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_meters_pic.shtml

Edited June 4, 2012 by Bang!