British Gas large bill won't except D/D

[bloodline67]

Hi All I was hoping somebody might be able to advice me o how I should proceed.

 

In December a number of D/D failed due to my money not being in the bank on time

and with the hussle and bustle of Xmas and new year I didn't really notice but

 

as soon as I did I contacted all parties concerned to reset up the D/D and everyone except BG were very helpful.

 

Our previous D/D had been £80 a month which was slowly bring down the amount we owed them (about £200) plus paying the bill,

 

when I tried to set up the D/D again they refused unless I gave them an up to date meter reading as it had been estimated since last Feb

when they got their last actual meter reading.

 

I rang them back with new meter reading and was shocked to find it was over 3700 units different to their estimated reading,

 

once this was added to our current bill it came out to over £800!.

 

The other problem was because we had missed another D/D in June because of similar problems

they wouldn't or couldn't set up a D/D.

 

The options I was given was to pay the whole bill or go down the key meter route.

 

Obviously there is noway I can afford to pay them over £800 and I don't want a key meter,

eventually after he discussed with the billing dept he told me he could reinstate the D/D

but it would be for £198 a month,

 

again I can't afford that but to show willing I explained I could stretch to £120

but was again refused so once more I was left with the two initial options.

 

I finished the phone call by saying I would pay BG £120 at the end of the month when I get paid

and then the same amount each month and possibly more if I have any spare money.

 

I was still told this wasn't a good enough solution but would stop me from being disconnected

and the debit passed on to DCA for this month. But I would have to either pay the bill in full or have a key meter, no other options.

 

Can BG do this if I'm trying to pay off my debit?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[fkofilee]

Why not go to another Energy supplier, i believe certain rules were put in place by OFgem to allow you transfer

[*RainbowTears*]

If the BG DD had failed due to your having insufficient funds in your account at Christmas

then what usually happens is that BG are informed by the Bank & then BG apply for payment again within 10 days.

(But what with the Christmas period this would be longer)

 

So did you actually cancel the BG DD instead of having the DD returned?

I ask as BG will attempt payment again on a live DD that failed the first time, so I would double check.

 

If you had cancelled the DD then log into your BG account online & reset up your DD

& you can choose the payment dates etc.

You are also able to make additional payments towards your debt as & when you can via your online BG account.

 

Ive had my own issues with BG as I moved home & it took BG months to get them to close out my old accounts

& reset up my new ones & getting my credit sorted out.

I got so fed up with their generic replies & calls that I logged into my online BG account & sorted it out myself & reset up my DD to suit me.

 

I also input my meter readings as & when so I can keep an eye on my usage & get proper bills instead of estimated ones.

Id suggest to any BG customers to sign up & get their online accounts up & running as its so simple to use & you can keep track of your accounts.

[bloodline67]

I did try and do it online after the phone call but it wouldn't accept any lower D/D than £198. I had 3 D/D that were cancelled for some reason and as i said the other two companies were fine about setting them back up again.

 

I agree that sending a meter reading every month should make things much easier but other things sometimes get in the way and I can be quite forgetful, but still I wasn't expecting such a huge difference. I appreciate that we probably may use more electric than average as we have no mains gas and so have one oil filled electric heater in the front room and an immersion heater for water but over £600 more!

 

I was just surprised at how much more we have apparently used but also the BG stance of either pay it all or have a key meter fitted, no middle ground.

 

As I said in my previous post I was willing to stretch, and it would have been a stretch, to £120 a month,

£40 extra than what I had been paying but that still wasn't good enough.

 

Like many people I'm on minimum wage and things like this worry me sick,

if they keep increasing the price but my wages don't increase

then I'm never going to be able to pay it off and I will be in debt to BG for ever

[dx100uk]

you must send or give a eter reading every month

 

that's the way to do it.

 

i'd question how you've used an extra 10kW every 24hrs if the 3700 extra is correct

 

that's like leaving a 500W heater on full blast all the time

 

dx

[bloodline67]

you must send or give a eter reading every month

 

that's the way to do it.

 

i'd question how you've used an extra 10kW every 24hrs if the 3700 extra is correct

 

that's like leaving a 500W heater on full blast all the time

 

dx

 

I agree it does seem like a lot, I'm going to get all the readings for the last two years and see what they look like.

[bloodline67]

Ok I've done some number crunching and this is how my usage looks from April 2012. mr =meter reader, cr = customer reading and e = estimated

 

date reading usage

23/04/2012 mr 0

17/05/2012 mr 270 270

17/08/2012 e 1124 854

12/10/2012 cr 2274 1150

12/11/2012 mr 3039 765

31/01/2013 e 4458 1419

12/02/2013 mr 4672 214

31/05/2013 e 6150 1478

29/08/2013 e 7300 1150

10/12/2013 e 9120 1820

08/01/2014 cr 12865 3745

 

So the last proper reading was Feb 13, is there anyway I could have possibly used that much more extra electricity in 11 months?

[nottslad]

Is this a 2 rate meter or 1 rate? Trying to work out your average consumption between confirmed reads

[bloodline67]

As far as I'm aware its just a normal 1 rate meter

[nottslad]

ok, how many dials is your meter? If you look at the screen it will have a certain number of larger digits (probably five or six) the others will be in smaller print or red - these don't count as they're parts of a kWh

[bloodline67]

Its just a simple little white box with a grey LCD screen which only has one set of numbers on it.

[woad]

Your electric bill should state which tariff you are one, what does it say? Does it state Economy 7?

[bloodline67]

We're just on the standard tariff.

[topcat1802]

Bear in mind the weather in 2013

1. 4th Coldest March since 1910

2. Easter Sunday, March 31 was confirmed by the Met Office as the coldest Easter day on record

3. cold east wind continuous from February to early April

 

 

If you used electric heating during this period then your usage would have been a great deal higher than the previous year!

[bloodline67]

I'm pretty sure, though I might be wrong, that we were still using calor gas for the heating at the beginning of the year but at £130 for two bottles that only last 3 weeks we stopped using them. You could be right though and thats whats bumped the bill up, still surprised by how much though.

 

Ok its looking more and more that the bill may be correct and if so I do owe BG that amount which I have no problem with. My concern is that I can't afford to pay it back in one lump sum and also can't afford the DD payments they've asked for as mentioned in my first post. If I am paying them what I can afford i.e.£120 a month can they still force a pay meter on me?