British Gas collaboration charge???

[nohope]

As the title says. Just got of the phone to british gas asking how comes every time i top up my gas meter i get charged a few pence here and there for debt when i have no debt.

 

They said it was a collaboration charge which as explained to me is because i didnt use enough gas for the day so they charge me for the extra that i didnt use before the meter drops to the second tier rate.

 

So my understanding is if i dont use enough gas in the day, they charge me for what i didnt use anyway then drop the tariff to a cheaper one.

 

So they are charging me for something i have not used, i said if i didnt use it then how can they charge me for it, to which bloke replied your meter is just set up that way and its the collaboration charge????

 

Then i asked if i was away for a month and turned the gas of from the mains so no gas could go through the meter would i still be charged, he said yes i'd still be charged even though i didnt use any gas at all (collaboration charge) for not using enough???

 

How is it legal to charge me for something i have not used yet. Tried saying its a bit like charging interest on a loan i dont have and the bloke from british gas just agreed and said he couldnt tell me any more or why they do it..

 

Any ideas anyone? do we have a british gas rep on here????

[BankFodder]

Can you try and have the call again, but record it this time.

[nohope]

I've got to ring them again tomorrow when the rest of the office is open and then hopefully be put through to someone that no's a bit more. I will try and record the call i have with them tomorrow.

 

I would have though weather i use loads or not a lot would make no difference. If i didnt use much in a day then i would be paying a higher price as i have not used up enough to get me on to the lower tariff. So now the better weather is starting to get here and i wont be having my heating on i'l still be getting charged for the gas i'm not using. Wonder if i can ask them to deliver the gas i'm not using in a calor gas bottle so i can use it in my calor gas fire instead..

[orphean]

hi, your prepay meter will be the type which supports the " no standing charge option ". in this case your meter will collect the standing charge, approx £85 a year, by having a certain number of your units, known as Tier 1 priced high. the rest of the units, Tier 2 will be at the cheap rate. currently where I work as a meter reader in Yorkshire Tier 1 is 24.7 pence a kwh and Tier 2 is 11.7. Its no [problem] because the meter will only take the maximun of £85 a year at the high Tier 1. each day you use the meter it will start on the Tier 1 and then switch to the cheap Tier 2 once it has paid the daily standing charge.If you dont use enough electric on any day to pay the daily standing charge it converts some of the previous cheap rate Tier2 to offset the cost

[dx100uk]

and their's me thinking there was no standing charge allowed on pre payments meters

 

apart from british gas and their own rules!!!

 

dx

[orphean]

yeah, everybody pays a standing charge,the only advantage to the no standing charge option is that if you leave the property vacant for a while its not racking up the approx £1. 85 a week.all the suppliers use the same set up,not just B.Gas although I think they were one of the first to dupe people into thinking they did not pay a standing charge.The standing charge is payment to the owners of the meters, which in my area is Y.E.D.L. (now northern power grid )

[nohope]

If you dont use enough electric on any day to pay the daily standing charge it converts some of the previous cheap rate Tier2 to offset the cost

 

Its not for the electric, its the gas meter thats doing it and yes i was on the understanding there was no standing charge for having a gas meter, only for the electric meter but guess i was wrong as well...

[orphean]

same principle applys to gas prepays, and credit meters as well with the no standing charge option.every meter pays a standing charge.rent is paid by the supplier to national grid for upkeep and support of the meter.if the meter leaks or go s wrong thats the people you phone 0800 111 999. its all got to be paid for somehow. you are not being robbed, I guess the word " collaborate" means its Tier 1 collabarating with Tier2 so it gets your daily standing charge paid.

[nohope]

" no standing charge option ". in this case your meter will collect the standing charge, approx £85 a year

So if there is no standing charge then if i went away for a month i would owe nothing as i have used nothing and there is no standing charge. They can't charge me for not using enough of the higher charge units. Thats like being charged for not making a phone call, you wouldn't put up with that at all so why do i have to put up with being charged for something i've not used.

 

During the summer i use hardly any gas at all yet by what you and BG say i'm going to get charged for it even if i don't use it, so i would be better of having the meter taking out during the summer and only fitter for the winter months when i use the gas otherwise i'm paying for something i'm not using.

Would anyone pay for a sky bill each month if they didn't use it - i think not..

[orphean]

if you went away for a month and did nt have a no standing charge meter you would come back to a months standing charge racked up on your meter. with your current meter now, after that month off, the meter would be using the high Tier 1 rate for quite a while to catch up your standing charge. only if you used an unfeasible ammount are you not goint to pay the full years standing charge. I blame Brit Gas for giving the name "no standing charge " because it gives the impression you are getting the standing charge for free. Every body would select no standing charge if that was the case.To check all this you could get your gas kwh useage for the year and use a comparison website such as UKpower etc and compare prices with both "no standing charge" and" standing charge".There will be little difference in the two

[dx100uk]

never happened to me.

 

we had a quantum card gas meter

never used it from april to oct from 94 to 2011

as the only thing it did was the central heating

 

never ever had any debt 'wanting' when putting the card back in each september.

 

dx

[nohope]

I'm still trying to get to the bottom of it. They say there is no standing charge at all for the gas meter so i don't expect to pay anything unless i use it and if i don't use much gas in a day then i don't expect to get charged for not using it.

[dx100uk]

you do know you can intorrogate the meter and make it tell you whats going on?

 

dx

[orphean]

you are right, theres no standing charge on the meter,its put on the units you use instead.My gas use is extremely low as i have only a gas cooker, but most of my gas units are billed at the high Tier 1 price. the correct name for this sort of billing is known as "Block Tariff " in the trade. theres no getting away from the standing charge, everyone pays one, just like your phone line.You phone Brit Gas up and see how they squirm out of it.It was just a marketing ploy that Brit Gas came up with designed to confuse.I have worked for them as a meter reader for 15 years. they are a pretty crafty and slimey company, always trying new ways of conning the public.

[nohope]

So if i'm getting charged a higher rate most of the time because i'm not using enough gas on any given day then they should not be charging me extra for not using enough gas each day. If i use little gas at a higher rate then they make there money no mata what.

 

Again, i should only pay for what i use and no more. Bit like going to the garage and putting a fiver of petrol in but being charged a tenner because i've not put enough in.

[pelham9]

Its no [problem] because the meter will only take the maximun of £85 a year at the high Tier 1. each day you use the meter it will start on the Tier 1 and then switch to the cheap Tier 2 once it has paid the daily standing charge.

 

Orphean.

 

A) if the meter will only take a maximun of £85 a year at the high tier one rate then it is necessary to know when the year starts and ends. Have you any information?

 

B) If in fact the tier one rate is used to pay the the daily standing charge it is necessary to know what the daily standard charge is. Do you have any information?

 

and

 

C) If because of no or low usage the standing charge is not paid on any one day is this then transferred to the next day and so on?

 

I ask you these questions because the Tier 1/2 system applies not only to prepay meters but also to credit meters and I can find nothing in the utilities blurb that explains how they do the sums. There is always an arbitrary amount taken using Tier 1 rates on every bill.

[2Grumpy]

Orphean.

 

A) if the meter will only take a maximun of £85 a year at the high tier one rate then it is necessary to know when the year starts and ends. Have you any information?

 

B) If in fact the tier one rate is used to pay the the daily standing charge it is necessary to know what the daily standard charge is. Do you have any information?

 

and

 

C) If because of no or low usage the standing charge is not paid on any one day is this then transferred to the next day and so on?

 

I ask you these questions because the Tier 1/2 system applies not only to prepay meters but also to credit meters and I can find nothing in the utilities blurb that explains how they do the sums. There is always an arbitrary amount taken using Tier 1 rates on every bill.

 

On a credit bill, the higher rate is for 2680 (in my case) KwH per year. On each bill it will be that divided by 365 * no of days that you are being billed for. I suspect that with credit meters they will look at the number of days that the meter has been installed for for that calculation. For credit bills, they might make adjustments for previous low usage when you get a higher one...