enormous electricity bill british gas

[jessica'smum]

Hi, I have just had to borrow £900 to pay off my outstanding electricity bill from British Gas, on top of the £50 by direct debit which they told me would cover the bill. I live in a three bed semi with gas central heating, and we are out during the day (although the OH was here with our daughter until August). Is £300 a quarter an excessive bill? What could be causing it? How do I go about finding out?

Help would be most welcome

THanks

Cath

[ozzywizard]

This is very excessive, please check your statements and check your meter readings and if they are estimated or not, if not then check what tarrif you are on and if it is a single or two rate meter (one or two readings ) also what heaters you use etc. For advise on appliances phone 0800 183 1600. (this is a Powergen number that offers advise on energy efficiency, you might want to use your own suppliers energy efficiency line) .
You may be on the wrong tarrif though for yourheaters.

[Big Grambo]

You may consider asking them to check and calibrate your meter. I had heard of a meter over running by as much as 50%.

[jessica'smum]

It gets worse. They threatened to put my dd up to £204, then to reduce it to £150 (and I have a letter saying this will happen) and then I called to ensure it went down to £50 as the £900 had been paid off, they said yes.

Today the dd has gone out... for £204! I spoke to a nice lad who said he'd try and get it refunded electronically this afternoon, so far no sign, so I am expecting a cheque now. It means we have £12 to live on until friday when £45 wftc goes in, and on the 1st there are 2 direct debits for £50, so there's £70 gone to the bank in charges. I want to go to Southampton's British Gas office and strangle someone.

Are they in breech of the direct debit code if they told me they'd take £150 and they took £204?

Cath

[Glenn UK]

Cath

FWIW I had a similar problem although mine could be traced to a rather large fish tank with 500W of lighitng plus other pumps and stuff.

anyway mine bill owing was £800, they tried to get me to settle it with three monthly payments.

I refused and offered £30 pcm.

I wrote to them with a cheque and basically said if you cash the cheque you accept the offer of payment.

They paased me to their debt collecting agency, they were embaressed when i told them what i had done and sent them a copy of the letter and prooof of delivery.

i now have an arrangement to pay by standing order £30pcm.

HTH

Glenn

[jessica'smum]

all my radiators are part of the central heating, except for one convector in the computer room which is on for a few hours a week.

The dishwasher, tumble drier and fridge are all relatively new (under a year) and are all A-graded, the washing machine's not much older, we usually switch off the computer when we're done with it, and always at night, there's an electric oven but it's also quite new, a gas hob and the microwave.

DH insists on only boiling the water we need in the kettle (grrrr) and most of the lights are now low energy bulbs - they are changed when the old ones pop. I always turn off the shower too.

DD has a nightlight, there are two tellies sky+ etc. All the heating is gas, we have insulation in the walls and roof, I make sure to switch off lights when we're not in. It is a mystery to me. I am beginning to wonder if we are supplying the power to a street light or something!

BG told me to take readings for five consecutive days and phone them in to them, haven't had two minutes to myself since as DD has chickenpox and the plumbing is also up the duff, have been juggling babysitters and plumbers today - not a pretty sight.

I have a digital meter with two tarrifs, day and night (I think) and a grand total, plus the date. I rang with the figure so I know it's not estimated.

Sorry that's a bit rambly

Cath

[nearlyoldwoman]

can someone give me more info on "calibrate your meter" please, as this sounds simalar to a prob we're having with scottish hydo electric (or whatever they call themselves now) we think they've made a mistake as the bills have shot up like nothing else!

[Big Grambo]

Hi,

My sister complained to Scottish Power about the amount of electricity they were using. They had moved house to a similar sized property and the electricity cost was much higher than their previous house.

Scottish Power will argue that it is impossible for their meters to be faulty blah blah blah. They said that the cost of having the meter tested by an independant organisation would be £250.00 and if the meter was faulty they would refund the £250.00 and discount her outstanding bill.

Scottish Power warned her that if the meter was found to be in perfect working order the £250.00 charge for testing would be added to her bill.

In her case, she was certain the meter was at fault and she asked for the test to carried out. Eventually, the electricity meter was found to be faulty and she was compensated by £300.00 and had the £250.00 test fee credited back to her account

Caution. The moral here of course is be sure of your facts. My sister monitored their power useage on an almost daily basis over a 6 month period before taking this risky step. An extra £250.00 on top of an already large bill is the price of getting it wrong!!!

I hope this info will be useful.

Cheers.

[nearlyoldwoman]

fantastic info! £250.00 is a big gamble!, luckily we too have been monitoring our electric on a weekly basis, i have no probs with doing that for another couple of months, (just a shame our meter is in the cellar and its always me that has to go down there with all the yucky beetles!) the house is only 30 years old, but it was a self build and looking at the general electrics of the house they look about 100 years old!! its good to know that its not just a myth that 'meters can be out etc' i'll be keeping my beady eye on it for a few months yet. thanks!