Gas Bill - Advice pls

[454697819]

Hello,

I live with my girlfriend in a 1 bed end terrace with a top office, its not a big house and were not heavy heating users even during the winter.

I have a combi boiler and the washing machine runs on cold feed,

I was stagered to recieve a bill for the last six months from Jan to July of nearly £480 for the gas!! 1800m3 gas!!!!

thats nearly £1000 a year!!

i called and they asked for a daily reading for 5 days, and i gave that to them which they said the reading was normal, which is great but that doesn not explain why over 5 days i used only 7 m3 but over 6 months (albiet the colder ones) i used 1800 units :shock:
They seem unwilling to assit me in solving this, i can get the meter checked but if its right i foot the bill.

I dont mind paying for what i used but there juistifcatiion is "the meter says so" , despite the two people iv spoken to saying..hmm that seems a lot high...

Any advice, im planning on contesting the bill but that will take time, so in the mean time they have racke dup the payments to £76 per month!!! :x

iv done some cals using the very first estimate they did that must be based on some reasoning, and i can only make it cost a maimum of £50 per month! that with 100% 's added :cry:

Help.....

[fizzwheel]

Price of gas has gone through the roof in the last 6 months. £76 a month does seem high though. Mines about £30 a month.

Who is your gas supplier ?

[454697819]

Price of gas has gone through the roof in the last 6 months. £76 a month does seem high though. Mines about £30 a month.

Who is your gas supplier ?
n power -

In addition though i have taken into consideration the cost rise, its not massive, tbh, but might make 5 a month difference!!

[Tara]

Mine used to be 20 quid a month gas central heating tho no gas cooker

76 quid seems high Alex I would get them out to check it

[Jabba]

Price of gas has gone through the roof in the last 6 months. £76 a month does seem high though. Mines about £30 a month.

It will be artificially high because the company will have adjusted the payments to allow for the new rate of use and to claw back the "arrears".

Does seem very high to me. I pay £160pm for gas and electric (dual-fuel tarrif) and it's about half for the gas (approx). That's for a detatched four bed house with single-glazed sash windows (****ing conservation areas - grr!!) with loft conversion. Heating, cooking and hot water by gas, heating on all day in winter due to elderly person in the house.

Yep - even allowing for "arrears", to me it looks like "number's" bill is high.

[Razor]

There's also a possibility you have a slight leak, small chance but when last was your boiler serviced or gas rated?

[johnnyrod]

Yep also how old is the heating system? I refitted mine with a combi boiler, but the original rads and pipework (single loop) meant that the water returning to the boiler was only about 2 degrees cooler than that leaving the boiler (should be 18C difference for mine). Got it all balanced and it used about half the gas, basically it wasn't running as it should. What do you know about yours? Is it an old place/heating system?

[timwilky]

Well I have just left N power and gone to EDF as they reckon to be saving me about £300/year on what I was paying before Npower hiked up their tariffs. Not much you can do about arrears, but look to switch for future savings

[BabyJ]

That sounds very high to me! :evil: :shock:

I have a card meter and even they are slightly more expensive but it works out I'm still only paying about £7 a week that still only works out about £30 a month. Much more than that and I'd get it checked out.

£76 a month is nearly £20 a week...!! That's a LOT of gas!! :shock:

[rwoodcock01]

Have to agree with everyone that is a lot of Gas, its a little steep, get you meter checked out and make sure you have no leaks.

I know prices have changed, but still! :shock:

Hope you get it sorted mate.

Rich

[Fizzy Fish]

That does sound pretty high - we pay about half that for a 3 bed house.

Is the bill definitely based on actual meter readings for the start/end of the period rather than estimated ones? Actual readings should at least tell you if the amount that they are trying to charge is correct.

Also, when I was a student we got caught out when British Gas sent us bills based on estimated readings for a year (based on the previous tenant's low usage) then hit us with an extra £300 bill when we moved out as the estimates had been totally wrong - just what you need at the end of a term when you're all totally skint!

[Peter Henry]

If this is an assessed reading then maybe the previous occupier of the property had much higher usage?

I did wonder though why you would justl et things roll on for such a length of time before contacting the gas people to let them know, you are using gas at the premises and would like to set up bill payment.

Obviously I am out of touch these days with how billing works in the UK. :?

[454697819]

If this is an assessed reading then maybe the previous occupier of the property had much higher usage?

I did wonder though why you would justl et things roll on for such a length of time before contacting the gas people to let them know, you are using gas at the premises and would like to set up bill payment.

Obviously I am out of touch these days with how billing works in the UK. :?


When we took the property on, we read the meter and registed the reading with them, i then signed up to pay monthly £25 to cover gas usage, they said that wouel be re assesed but bassed on simmillar properties that would be about right.

three months later we were sent a bill with a supposed actual reading, and they asked for another 147£, when i re read the meter they had read it wrong. they corrected thier computer records and kept the payment at 25£ / month.

so i have been happily paying £25 since december now they have sent me this 6 monthly bill with total due = £480 ish less payments to date = 6 x £25 = £150 = £330 ish to pay now ( i think the figure is actually £287) but thats how they worked it out.

when i checked the consumption its a joke.. there is no gas leak im aware of im not supplying the street, and i run hot so the boiler has been off since april march time!

if i owe it ill stump up, but its a joke... its £74 pounds cause they have divided the outstanding and added it onto what they reckon i am using (£50 a month) plus the £24 to recover the outstanding.

its plain and simple i cannot have a gas bill that big... :evil: ill call customer services again today and see what if anything they say.

im trying to put together sum usefull figures to put in a letter to them, but am struggling as it seems to be one these mystery billing systems that only they know!!

ho hum.. keep trying i guess :(

[BabyJ]

When we took the property on, we read the meter and registed the reading with them, i then signed up to pay monthly £25 to cover gas usage, they said that wouel be re assesed but bassed on simmillar properties that would be about right.

three months later we were sent a bill with a supposed actual reading, and they asked for another 147£, when i re read the meter they had read it wrong. they corrected thier computer records and kept the payment at 25£ / month.

so i have been happily paying £25 since december now they have sent me this 6 monthly bill with total due = £480 ish less payments to date = 6 x £25 = £150 = £330 ish to pay now ( i think the figure is actually £287) but thats how they worked it out.

when i checked the consumption its a joke.. there is no gas leak im aware of im not supplying the street, and i run hot so the boiler has been off since april march time!

if i owe it ill stump up, but its a joke... its £74 pounds cause they have divided the outstanding and added it onto what they reckon i am using (£50 a month) plus the £24 to recover the outstanding.

its plain and simple i cannot have a gas bill that big... :evil: ill call customer services again today and see what if anything they say.

im trying to put together sum usefull figures to put in a letter to them, but am struggling as it seems to be one these mystery billing systems that only they know!!

ho hum.. keep trying i guess :(

Have you checked the reading for this last 3 month bill that you received??

You say you took a reading when you moved in. Then 3 months later they sent you a bill which was wrong so you re-read the meter and gave them the correct reading. Then you said they sent you a bill recently.... have you re-checked that reading that they have? If the 1st reading was correct and they have the second correct how can they get this one so wrong???

[454697819]

When we took the property on, we read the meter and registed the reading with them, i then signed up to pay monthly £25 to cover gas usage, they said that wouel be re assesed but bassed on simmillar properties that would be about right.

three months later we were sent a bill with a supposed actual reading, and they asked for another 147£, when i re read the meter they had read it wrong. they corrected thier computer records and kept the payment at 25£ / month.

so i have been happily paying £25 since december now they have sent me this 6 monthly bill with total due = £480 ish less payments to date = 6 x £25 = £150 = £330 ish to pay now ( i think the figure is actually £287) but thats how they worked it out.

when i checked the consumption its a joke.. there is no gas leak im aware of im not supplying the street, and i run hot so the boiler has been off since april march time!

if i owe it ill stump up, but its a joke... its £74 pounds cause they have divided the outstanding and added it onto what they reckon i am using (£50 a month) plus the £24 to recover the outstanding.

its plain and simple i cannot have a gas bill that big... :evil: ill call customer services again today and see what if anything they say.

im trying to put together sum usefull figures to put in a letter to them, but am struggling as it seems to be one these mystery billing systems that only they know!!

ho hum.. keep trying i guess :(

Have you checked the reading for this last 3 month bill that you received??

You say you took a reading when you moved in. Then 3 months later they sent you a bill which was wrong so you re-read the meter and gave them the correct reading. Then you said they sent you a bill recently.... have you re-checked that reading that they have? If the 1st reading was correct and they have the second correct how can they get this one so wrong???
i moved in in june last year,

not to over complicate things, ihave the reading i gave when i moved in, and the latest, i have checked the reading and its right,

i think the total for the year is about 2000m3 plus!!

il look again tonight.

[kwak zzr]

i pay £42 elec to n power and £40 to british gas for the gas.

[kwak zzr]

Well I have just left N power and gone to EDF as they reckon to be saving me about £300/year on what I was paying before Npower hiked up their tariffs. Not much you can do about arrears, but look to switch for future savings

how did you find your switch to EDF because uswitch said they could save me £170 per year was it straight foreward and easy?

[philipMac]

Our new house, which not only have we not moved in yet, not only do we have everything turned off, the actuall pipe into the house was disconnected and now just sticks into the air with a cap on it.

And... recieved the Gas bill, and suprise suprise, $120. I took the reading, and its right. Somebody shafted somebody.

I suppose that would be me. Nothing I can do really is there.

[Red ones]

You have a PM.



My 3 bed house is running at £20 gas and £22.50 electric per month fixed for the next 18 months. Watch out is is vital that when you move in you get a read over to them ASAP and then dispute where their records are wrong

[tigersaw]

Staggering amount. :shock:

I have a 4 bed detached, with a 36 year old boiler, (energy rating Z!), and £50 / month more than covers the annual gas consumption.

[Red ones]

how did you find your switch to EDF because uswitch said they could save me £170 per year was it straight foreward and easy?

The switch is easy - all done over the phone, but make sure you allow a good 20 minutes to do it. Also watch out as uswitch aren't always up to date on their prices. I would double check the unit prices before agreeing to any change.

All domestic supplies are subject to a rolling 28 day contract - which is great cos you could change 12 times a year to track the best rates! I would ask any potential supplier about fixing their price for 18 or 24 months. EdF and BG have just put theirs up - the others will follow. I am not sure what will happen in the future months, but I doubt they will go down much (note to self - I need to do my job better - research the market tomorrow). Green electricity sources are not as expensive as they were too!

[embee]

Also watch out as uswitch aren't always up to date on their prices. I would double check the unit prices before agreeing to any change.

Good advice.

Try
http://www.energyhelpline.com/energy/rg_home.aspx
aswell as uswitch. You'll probably find some supplier/tariffs listed that are not shown on uswitch.

Also http://money.guardian.co.uk/ has some useful stuff.

I recently changed to Gritish Bass for elec+gas, it all took a long time but was painless (so far anyway :roll: ). They weren't the cheapest, but the cheapest one for me was a company that has awful reputation and tried to switch my parents suppliers without consent, so I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. :evil:

[Red ones]

Yeah, I have heard bad things about Atlantic Electric and Gas too (said Red Ones jumping to a conclusion). I have used them professionally and must say that I had far fewer problems than with npower or Scottish and Southern.


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