Are you paying too much for gas?
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We're sorry to say that since the making of this film Brian Green has passed away. When Nicky and the Watchdog team met him, at his house they noted that he was a real gentleman. The main reason he'd wanted to talk to us was to make sure that what happened to him wouldn't happen to anyone else. Hopefully, it's some comfort to his family to know that this is very much the case.
For some parts of Britain, it's been the coldest winter for 17 years, with temperatures plummeting to as low as -12 Celsius. That, coupled with record gas and electricity bills, means plenty of people are paying more for their energy than they can afford.
There is information about how to check your meter at the bottom of this page.
Some people's bills have been going up more than most. In one case, by an incredible 548 per cent, but no one could say why.
Into the red
When pensioners Vivienne and Brian Green's monthly direct debit payments to British Gas reached £311, they decided to turn off the boiler, because their bank balance was going into the red for the first time in their lives.
Vivienne told us: "I was worried about my husband being poorly as well, lying in bed in a cold room." (Brian had been suffering from bouts of pneumonia.)
"We thought we were paying for the street. So I rang them and told them I can't afford to pay it. It didn't seem to bother them. They don't realise how much it hurts."
It took ten months for British Gas to come up with an explanation for the problem. The Greens were being charged as if they had an old imperial gas meter, when in fact they'd been changed to a metric one when they were with another supplier several years earlier. Because of this error, British Gas was mistakenly converting the readings from the new meter, meaning the Green's were being charged roughly three times what they should've been paying.
"Totally unrealistic"
Energy expert John Hall was surprised the error hadn't been spotted earlier: "It's incredible that a new meter is installed and the supplier doesn't know about it." Hall said their unusually high energy usage should have rung alarm bells. "That's comparable to an office building of about 6,500 square feet, housing 50 to 60 people, working five days a week, with the heating left on at the weekend, so it's totally unrealistic to expect a domestic building to consume that level of gas."
British Gas issued a refund of £2,768 to the Greens just before Christmas, along with a £200 gesture of goodwill. The energy company said the couple was affected by an industry-wide data problem: "This began with a meter exchange which took place when they were with another supplier. The exchange wasn't recorded on the industry database, making all subsequent bills incorrect for any supplier. While rare, we acknowledge these cases are distressing. We're sorry that we did not rectify the problem sooner."
Watchdog has heard from customers of other energy companies who've had similar problems. Dave and Annette Rushworth's gas bills with Npower became so high, they couldn't afford to run their central heating either, and again, it was because the company hadn't realised they now had a metric meter.
Switching suppliers
Dave and Annette switched to another supplier, Utility Warehouse, hoping for lower bills, but they encountered the same problem. This time the company did spot that something wasn't quite right and wrote to the couple, but it was a casual chat with a delivery man from the Post Office that gave Dave the answer. The postman had heard of the problem and got Dave to check his meter and bills. They soon saw that they'd been charged as if the meter was imperial when it was metric.
Annette is angry that it wasn't sorted out sooner: "It's extremely annoying because we've had this problem for over three years. There was no need for it."
Npower says it is going to recalculate Dave and Annette's bills and send them £50 as a gesture of good will. However, it says that the error lies with their previous supplier.
Utility Warehouse, their current supplier, has offered a full refund for any overpayment that occurred since Dave and Annette switched to them. However, it insists that it wasn't actually at fault because it wasn't given the correct meter details from the gas industry database.
How to check your meter
We've heard of dozens of similar cases involving almost all of the big energy companies, and there could be plenty more, because one million meters are changed from imperial to metric every year.
If yours is one of them, here's how you can check you're being billed correctly:
If your gas meter has the letters fton the front, it's one of the old imperial ones. That means your reading needs to be converted, and the small print of your bill should show this. It'll probably be called a metric conversion factor. But if your meter has the letter M, it's a new metric meter, and your bill shouldn't have a metric conversion factor on it. If it does, you too could be paying too much.
Imperial meter
Metric meter
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~30~RS~)
Comments
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We moved house in 2007 and paid a final bill in the september when we left.
3 months later we received a final bill for £700 plus which they demanded straight away. we queried this but were then told that the new people in our old hause had given them a reading but beween times had had the meter replaced so how can they prove what we owed....damned british gas..
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When gas companies ask for a meter reading - why don't they simply provide a tick box for m3 or ft3?
Simple!
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There are usually about 10 cubic feet in a cubic metre so are these people not being overcharged by a factor of 10 not 3? Just a thought!
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I have my gas supply with Swalec and my meter is imperial and my bills are metric. On the bills it has "correction factor 1.02264 calorific value 39.5" does this mean It is being converted from imperial to metric or am I being over charged. Any help would be appreciated.
Gareth.
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Hi, just wondered where on your bill it say's if it's been converted, as my bill has risen substantially in the last year.
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My gas bill quotes a 'Volume Conversion factor'on it, my meter is a Metric meter. This is nothing to do with a 'Metric Conversion Factor is it?
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Having previously fell behind in gas payments i had a meter installed.
Since May 2008, I have spent over £750 on gas topups
however my recent bill i recieved showed that I had used £53.10 worth of gas
this is for myself and flatmate, both whom struggle with mental health problems. needless to say we had a cold few weeks, so much so our toothpaste was frozen into the tube.
The only help i was given for 'priority services' was that i could ask for my bill in braile. I am insulted that npower feel they have covered 'disabled and chronically sick' customers by offering a bill in braile.
npower argue that they will always leave me with 30% of my topups. This is true, until midnight when they take any remaining credit.
The debt was repaid in full over 3 weeks ago, but they are still charging me, and won't send an engineer, because these are 'meter charges'.
I ask how much these meter charges are, and they say they dont know, but the meter will correct itself when i have paid what i owe.
but because we are not elderly, we are ignored.
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Your TV report on old Imperial and new Metric Gas Meters.
You stated that Br. Gas were overcharging some customers by a factor of three times when the Metric/Imperial error went unnoticed.
We assume the new Metric Meter records gas in cubic metres and the old Imperial Meter records gas in cubic feet.
There are nine cubic feet in a cubic yard, and a cubic yard is less volume than a cubic metre.
Isn't it right to assume that customers were being overcharged by a factor of more than nine times rather than the three times you reported?
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Dear Watch Dog
I am so glad that this issue has been brought up by someone as we are the victom of the same. We got stuck up between two suppliers EDF Energy and British gas and been taken over twice by Both of the copies since August 2007 and everytime ended by both the companies by direct debits.Though it was fought and been taken care of after spening horendous amounts of time by talking to the suppliers however quite recently we are billed BY BRITICH GAS for 295 Pounds for last three months though we are on dual energy and paying 31 Pounds on direct debit for gas everymonth. Its just a three bedroom house and use gas sparely everyday. Now we are using Blanckets in our Front room to get our selves comfy. After watching your programme , i checked I got an old meter with FT written ( Old Meter)
Just wanted to ask a few things
A) What is the procedure to claim the money from Britsh Gas or to raise reservations of the bill as most of their customer services Rep only take the meter readings into accoutns and are not equipped to deal anything like these.
B) Would they change our meter (free of charge) with the new one.
I shall awiat your answer and Keep up the good work. GOOD PROGRAMME
[Personal details removed by Moderator]
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Can you tell me I have a card meter how would I know if I am paying to much money? my meter is the M3 meter.
As your details tells me what to look for on bill...I do not receive a bill I am paying via the card.
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Found the item on British Gas meters very interesting.
I have a metric meter and was interested to see 'that I might still be overcharged'. Is it possible that this could be enlarged on?
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Mine has recently been changed to metric. But, my bill has a'volume conversion factor' with numbers in the fine print. Can someone please tell me if this means I am being charged wrongly? Please post a reply, British Gas refused to answer me when i phoned my bills are running into the hundreds and I only keep thermostat on 14 celcius. It is like the north pole here.
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I have been a meter reader for the last 26 years and all the domestic 5 dial meters are metric meters. As a meter reader when we visit a meter if the meter number or the number of dials are differant then we must do a meter exchange on our hand held computers giving all the meter details and one of the mandatory fields is to ident a metric or imperial meter, so BG or any of the other supplyer companys saying that they dont have the information on meter exchanges is wrong. The gas supply companys have meters read either 3/6 monthly so they should all have the information, if they then ident a poss query with the meter reading then they send a special call out to the reading company to check all the meter details, so this should be sorted in a short space of time.
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[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]
1 cubic meter = 35.314 cubic feet
I have no idea where the "incredible 548 per cent" number comes from.
SAL
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My Electric meter is Imperial and my gas meter is metric. My bills only mention the conversion to KWh. Do you think this is correct or not?
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Hi. I work in the energy efficiency dept for one of the big four supplyers. Yes I agree these faults in billing should be picked up before it gets to the situation seen on the show. However as stated it is usually an external company that changes the meters and some time's don't notify the supplyer. If you recive notification of bills going up and it appears out of sorts what they are asking for then speak to the supplyer.
Double check all details when moving supplyer also. I truely feel that alot of billing problems are down to the meter reads being wrong or estimated. Ofgem regulation states that a meter only has to be read once in 18 months to 2 years. The other times a meter can be estimated. This I feel NEEDS to be changed, as to many peoples bills and payments are based on estimated accounts.
Can I also please take this opertunity to say that the elderly couple on the show should contact there supplyer. As the supplyer should have some form of social tariff of form of priority service that will offer them help with ther bills and mtr reads etc. No one should be affraid to be warm!
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my meter has not got ft or m3 on it but has cubic feet wrote on it is this the same
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I've just checked our gas meter and see that it has m3 on. Our bills show units converted to kilowatt hours. Is this where we are being over charged
The meter seems to have been changed in 2001
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Having looked at my bill it states "M" Number Correction Factor is this the conversion charge? Well done watch dog
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I have been on the case helping Mr & Mrs Green with this problem and wanted to add that British gas knew of the difference in the serial number way back in March 2007 when the Greens explained that they couldn't afford the gas bill. British gas asked them to look at the serial number on the meter and at this point discovered that the serial number on their meter was different to the one on their bill.
They did nothing about it so to offer the Greens £200 as a gesture or goodwill is an insult. It is their fault and passing the buck and blaming a National Data base is rubbish. Their December bank charges were £229 alone because of the debt British gas created, let alone the previous months bank charges.
Great report guys made me cry!
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I have a metric meter,my bill has (volume conversion factor)on it is this ok or am i being over charged?
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The gas suppliers rely on 3 industry databases, Xoserve, Rainbow and SGN records in the Scotia gas area's. These databses are updated by the meter Asset Managers who fit and remove the meters. OAMI meter installers and The Gas Suppliers. The industry leaves the responsibilities for the accuracy of the records with the gas suppliers.
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I have very large gas bills also and was very keen to check my meter and recent bill from British Gas. The meter is metric but I can't see where on the detailed bill it will show that they beleive I have a imperial meter and are applying this metric conversion factor.
Can any body help me. The phone lines are closed tonight and can't wait to find out if they are at fault.
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My bill also seems to have calorific value then cubic metres in brackets, then an equals sign and a number followed by kWh? I have been threated with debt collectors and already being in finacial difficulties this has been very stressful. I feel great sympathy for the couples on the show.
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after watching the program on 12/01/09 i checked my meter and noticed mine did have a m on it, however when i have checked my statements they are being converted, i have payment meters. will i still be paying too much. i seem to be putting a awful lot of money on per week.
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My bill explains who it works out the bill for both metric and imperial but i cant see where it states which one i am being charged for. Its an npower bill...any help? thanks ix
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y meter isprobably quite old and has neither an M or FT on it but my bill has metric conversion factor on it and the October one seemed normal
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after watching the program on 12/01/09. i checked my gas meter and found that it does have a 'm' on it, however my statements show that it is in fact being converted. i have payment meters, am i paying too much for my gas on the meter as i do seem to be putting an awful lot of money on it per week?
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I am no expert on working out from Imperial to Metric but a simple way to check is to go to your meter and look at the serial number then compare this number with the one on your bill. This is how I discovered the Greens problem as the numbers did not tally, British Gas had the serial number for the old imperial meter but it had been changed to metric and the paper work not carried out.
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My bill is also from Npower and I have a very good feeling that they are going to deny that they are converting my bill even if they are, I'm sure like most of you, you would like to find out if they are or not over charging before you speak to them. If any one can help us please...?
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my meter isprobably quite old and has neither an M or FT on it but my bill has metric conversion factor on it and the October one seemed normal
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The program didn't spend enough time to explain what factors may be on Metric bills legitimately. I believe that "Volume Conversion Factor" is OK on a M meter bill from Brit Gas, but "Metric Conversion Factor" should not show on a M meter bill. Can someone update the site to confirm? This question has been asked several times already. You may have worried a lot of people needlessly.
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My suppliers are Npower, I got old meter Ft3. I couldn't find out the "metric conversion factor" on my bill. Where it will be? On my bill i got
'M' Number:
Calorific Value:
Correction Factor:
is it ok or am i being over charged?
Many Thanks in advance.
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Just watched this story, I’m so angry and upset... this is happening to me (over 2 years), I also have been relying on electric heaters, I even sledge hammered my chimney breast and made a make shift fire, to try and keep warm. I rang my gas supplier when the bills increased so drastically, who performed a test, I took a meter reading everyday for a week. Worst to come I have just spent £2000 replacing my boiler because I was told by my energy supplier that my high gas bills where due to inefficient heating system. What can I do?
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my meter is metric ive checked my bill from e-on all that it says is converted into kwh am i paying to much my april says 805 estimated and my jan bill says 520 estimated but is right im paying more jan when i used more april
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Since watching tonights programme I checked my meter and its an ft on it, I then checked my bills and there are no conversion charges, statements etc. Can you please clarify that this should be converted. I so hope that I am being overcharged as we pay a ridiculous amount each month and my husband is always turning off our heating and we are freezing!!!
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I have just found a decent site reference Under OfGas rules...[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]
If your meter has "M" the bill should have three factors:-
x volume conversion factor (1.022640)
x calorific value (39.3803)
divided by kilowatt hour conversion factor (3.6)
If your meter has "Ft" the bill should have four factors:-
x imperial to metric conversion factor (2.83)
x volume conversion factor (1.022640)
x calorific value (39.3803)
divided by kilowatt hour conversion factor (3.6)
Thus an imperial bill on a new metric meter will be 2.83 times too much.
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Further to my previous blog I seem to be suffering from British Gas's problem. There are in fact about 35 cubic feet in a cubic metre so these people are being overcharged by a factor of 35, not 10 as I said before, and not 3 as suggested in the programme. (Its been a long time since I was at school)
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No one seems to be allowing new comments, been waiting to view for over 20 minutes, come on beeb.
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Fantastic! Thanks Watchdog for highlighting this! I've just had my monthly direct debit increased yet again and like most people i am not impressed considering I am on a 'capped' deal till 2012??? Anyway, I have checked my meter and noticed I have one of the old 'Imperial' ones with the ft3 on it. I have looked on my bill and cannot find anywhere to say what (E.oN) are going by??? Apart from alot of figures the only wording I can see that maybe to do with it is 'kWh kilowatt-hours used'??? Please help before I phone EoN up to check if I maybe paying the wrong rates and see about having the Metric meter fitted (I don't want somebody at the other end to try and baffle me with things I don't understand and talk me into them being right if they are not)! Many thanks.......!!!!!
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I moved to a new house in sept 2000 and was shocked by the size of the bills. I had the gas meter, gas supply, windows, loft and wall insulation all checked - all passed. But still horrific bills.
We do not use the heating and I am extremely tight about lights, tv, electricity being left on.
For the last 8 yrs we have lived, during the winter, wrapped in blankets and many layers of clothing! I am a single, disabled mum with a son who has finally reached 18 and will be leaving home soon to join the services.
For the past 3 yrs I have fought with british gas for them to even send me bills - they finally accepted it was an eroniuos (sorry not sure about spelling) transfer and it still took them another yr to finally get that sorted. I have, after watching your report, been out to check my meter and find the reason for my huge bills is that I am being charged incorrectly with a conversion factor of 3.6!!!!
We have gone without many things, over the last eight years, just to be able to cook and have hot water - this is not acceptable!!! Especially as I have paid to have appliances checked by british gas and they still havent found the problem. This was a brand new house being charged as if it had an old meter!!!!
Thank God for watchdog - the British Gas phone line opens at 8am tomorrow and I will be queing to talk to them no matter how long it takes me...............
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is metric conversion factor the same as volume conversion factor and kilawatt hour conversion factor
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We have just checked our meter to find that it is the old imperial type. Our gas bill states that the values are converted into kwh, does this mean we are paying too much or is this normal for an imperial gas meter as our bills have astronomical for about 3 years now?
If this is incorrect, is it possible to claim back overcharging from previous suppliers as we are now on our 3rd gas supplier in 4 years!
Many thanks.
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Hi Im new to this posting messages stuff, my meter has M on it but my bill has a volume conversion factor x 1.0226 a calorific value x 39.2971 and a kilowatt hour conversion factor :- 3.6 is this right Im not sure where to find the answers as no other comments have the answers with them, so im hoping that someone can help
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Hi after watching your programme i have also checked my meter along with others and found it has f3 on it.i have two children under 8yrs and my wife was diagnosed last year for ill health at which time i was having problems with gas payments,which rose very quickly and was unable to resolve this.i have spoken to various members who are unhelpfull in what i had to say.They fix me on payment plans of over £100pm and then cancel.which they reactivate me on another plan they advise me to pay more to keep in line with usage.they are still stating i owe them £483pds which i think i dont owe.please, please can some one advise me on what to do.thanks vip
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I've just looked at my meter and bill properly for the first time since I moved into my property 8 years ago.
I'm confused. I've got a degree in maths and I'm a member of MENSA, so I don't know how many people are expected to understand this.
My meter is imperial, and this has just been confirmed by British Gas. The readings on my bill are correct, but then it works out the gas I've used by subracting and tells me that's the number of METRIC units I've used!!!
The poor girl on the heldesk tried her best to explain this to me, but to no avail. She understood the confusion.
I'm none the wiser really. My bills haven't shot up recently, but there's no way that I know whether I've been overcharged since the day I moved in and switched to British Gas.
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Hi,
Could this also refer to the electric metres I wonder?
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I have just checked my meter and its M3 we are with n power and since we moved in 2 years ago I have been querying why our bills seem to be so high. On 2 occassions last year they told us that we were in debt by nearly £300 which we had apparantley been for 6 months in 1 case and 1 year in another without even being made aware of this. I have just checked my bills and it says 'M' number and then underneath it says correction factor can anyone reply to tell me if this means we have been paying too much? Thanks.
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I Changed my gas supply from british gas to scottishpower on the 3/11/08 as myself and my husband was told scottishpower were cheeper then british gas as in the 2 years i was with them my weekly payment went from ten pound to 60 pound.
as i phoned scottishpower up to go with them i told them i was on a weekly payment plan and could i stay on the same payment metherd i was told YES you can all you need to do is once you receive our letter with the date you change to us(scottishpower)you must give us a meter reading so we can send you your payment card out .
whitch i did in oct 2008 i did not receive my payment card so on the 3rd january 2009 i phoned them again to say i had not received my payment card yet.
just to be told sorry mrs jewell we do not do that payment metherd anymore.i told them that my father is on that payment metherd all they kept saying is that we DO NOT do that payment metherd the only one we do is monthly payments now. so i asked them how much my monthly paymants would be just to be told i would have to pay 104 pounds a month as that how much gas i used .when asked how they have worked that out as i had only been with them since 3/11/08.i was told it was not there problem it was mine and told the gas had been used so there for i had to pay for it and if i could not afford the 104 pounds a month they would have to come in and put me in a prepayment meter in on the 23/1/09.
but since seeing watchdog about the meters we looked at are meter and we have the m3 meter in but scottishpower says since the 3/11/08-29/12/08 we have used 248pound and 99pence of gas.but surely i have not used that much gas in two months.if anyone could help us please send me a reply i would be greatful for any help over this as i think these companys charge what they want to
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Following your superb programme, I have checked our gasmeter and found it is calibrated in FT. We live in an old cottage in the lakes so upgrading is still something for the future. I have checked my recent Gas bills and from the details you have given, I am now confused. My gas bill shows units which are the difference between the last two meter readings. The units are then converted into KWh by multiplying by 2.83(metric conversion factor) then multiplied by 1.0226400(Volume conversation factor) and then multiplied by 38.9738(calorific value) and divided by 3.6(kilowatt hour conversation factor). I then pay 6.065 pence for the first 617KWh and 2.544 pence for the remainder. Do you think I am getting a fair deal?
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Do people completely ignore their bills or what? To be fair, it is very clear whether an energy company are billing your gas meter as metric or imperial; if you have an imperial meter, you will see meter readings consisting of only four numbers on your bill, wheras metric meter readings have five numbers.
It's not difficult. Also, if you saw your direct debit amounts had gone up to £300+ per month, common sense dictates that you would check everything on your bill diligently - meter exchanges are not carried out by energy companies, but by meter operators, and you can't always rely on the meter operators to communicate information either in a timely or accurate manner.
I sympathise with the fact that this couple did not understand their bills but, in all fairness, this is not British Gas' fault. It is up to customers to query strange things going on with their accounts - a company with over 15 million customers cannot be expected to HAVE to constantly monitor people's accounts without provocation. Some people, I imagine, WILL use £300+ gas per month - it's up to the individual to make a company aware of a potential problem of this nature, not the other way round.
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on my meter it has M on it. my bill says units . total meric unints used cu mtrs than it has units converted to kilowatt hours.
is this right
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I am not with British Gas. I left them last November because their charges were high. I have old meter FT.
Will I get any refund back?
Greenchitra
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I have just researched it
info follows:
metric meters will not need to be converted to cubic feet but will still need converting to Kwh. This appears on my bill as smallprint;
x1.022640
x39.0919(calorific value)
/(divided) 3.6(kilowathour conv factor
This is perfectly correct as it has not been multiplied by 2.83 to convert from cubic ft to cubic metres.
I have a metric metre marked m3
The gas units i use are the amount of gas that fits into 1 metre cubed (metric) (as opposed to 1 foot cubed - imperial)
If you have a metric meter, you do not need to use the imperial to metric conversion factor (2.83). In this case, the rough estimate is to multiply the metric units by 11 instead of 31.3.
[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]
FAQ's about Meters and Numbers
Converting Units to Kilowatt Hours
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Im with edf my meter is a ft3 my bills are measured in cubic feet there is no convertion on the main billing it just say units used previous n lastest in the small print says explaining your bill tell you how to convert cubic feet into cubic meters so does these mean my bill is already converted as it says how to convert ur self shouldnt it of been done already for you
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I am more confused now, than I was when I was only half as confused as I am now...
Could you show how both types of meters are calculated.
Are all units converted into kilawatt hours?
My old bills were in cubic metres & new ones in gas units so confused anyway.
There is a conversion table on the bill though so do both use a conversion type? This one sais volume conversion.
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Why is the metric conversion factor from 100s of cubic feet to cubic metres x2.83?
100 cubic feet = 2.831 cubic metres.
Shouldn't hundreds of cubic feet (which is what the imperial meter records) be DIVIDED by 2.83 to get the volume in cubic metres?
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Withdraw previous posting
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British Gas could clarify their explaination of gas used as follows:
"Imperial units used" are 100 cubic feet units = 2.83166 cubic metres of gas which expands by a factor of 1.0226400 when the pressure at which it is measured drops to atmospheric pressure.
The Heat of combustion [not"calorific value"] of natural gas is 39324 kJ/m3 (kilojoules per cubic metre).
1W = 1J/s (1 watt = 1 joule per second). There are 3600 seconds in 1 hour.
1 kWh = 1000 W for 3600 seconds = 3600 kJ (kilojoules)
So, 1 imperial unit of gas
= 100 ft3 = 2.83166 m3 = 2.89577 m3 = 113872 kJ = 31.6312 kWh
(ft3*100) (/35.315) (*1.02264) (*39323.7) (/3600)
(ft3/m3) (expansion) (kJ/m3) (kJ/kWh)
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I am also on pre payment card meters.I also do not receive bills,but will most certainly be checking what kind of meter iv got tomorrow.I used 2 be with British gas 4 my gas,and norweb 4 my electric pre payment meter.I have a different sort of query,i don't get bills,just the odd statement.I own my property and go to the property every day and spend a bit of time there,im staying at my parents at the moment as unfortunately my partner passed away and i couldn't cope with staying in the house on my own.Its a 3 bed semi, (2 big for just 1 person)
To try and keep my bills down, i had all the radiators turned off at the front part of the house,as i was basically just using the back of the house,some1 told me by doing that it should keep my gas payments down.Yet its so,so cold,its warmer outside than it is in the house,iv had a few problems with my boiler (its a combi boiler,). but i do have a gas fire.My query is the meter man kept calling from Npower and i kept missing him,totally unintentionally.On xmas eve i received a hand delivered letter stating that there was going to be a warrant out on my property,so they could read the meter.A mobile number was left,i called it and the guy said not to worry,those letters are just scare tactics,so you will get in touch.I explained my situation and he said,dont worry ill call you in the new year 2 arrange a convenient time.I never heard anything,until a friend of mine who was painting my front door,told me the gas man had been 2 read the meter.I kept putting money on the meter and noticed that for every £10.00 i paid,i was actually only receiving £2.00!!!!!!! and i had also lost the use of my emergency credit!! I phoned Npower and they xplained that when you dont top up your meter you receive a standing charge of 48pence a day!!!I did xplain that it was summer,and thats why iv probably not topped it up. iv managed to get the debt down to nearly £18.00,im not sure what it was to start with,as i just thought the price of gas was high because of me being on a card meter.But this was ridiculous!! Im in receipt of benefits,hence the pre payment meter,but i must be paying well over the odds.I was told by Npower that i had to pay the debt off 1st and an xtra £7.00 wud make sure the debt was clear???? and once i'd done that i would then receive the full amount I.E.if i put £10.00 on i would get £10.00 worth of gas plus the use of my emergency back.This week iv paid £45.00 on my gas meter and received only £9.00 worth of gas, as they take a huge proportion to pay the debt back, and as i previosly said
"NO EMERGENCY"!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is this right? can they do this?Iv ended up paying nearly half of my benefit money on my gas meter this week alone.Is there anything i can do? PLEASE CAN YOU HELP ME? OR AT LEAST DIRECT ME TO SOMEONE WHO COULD HELP ME.
Many Thanks.
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As far as I am aware, I am paying for the correct units. However I use pre-payment meter and the cost has gone from 8 per week to heat a small flat (for 6 hours or so a a day) to £15 per week over the past 12 months, which I think is ridiculous for a young person living alone.
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I have exactly the same problem with my gas account with Southern Electric. It was only last week that one of their Call Centre Operators reduced me to tears through shear frustration and suggested that I applied for a hardship account, when all I was doing was trying to convince them that they were charging me incorrectly. This has been ongoing for over 3 months. Eventually after 5 phone calls, I spoke to a helpful operator who could see exactly what the problem was.
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There are about 35.3 cubic feet in a cubic meter. These people are paying 35 times too much and not 3 times. I think somebody is confusing length with capacity.
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After watching the programme I checked my meter and it has M3 on it. Then the bill has a box saying 'M' number correction factor but this is below the meter readings and to the left of the total cost of gas used. Am I being overcharged, as it is not clear whether the conversion is in place?
Many thanks
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I'll try to dumb this down so I can try to understand it while I am writing:
1. The Imperial Metres record cubic ft - OK
2. so the dial moves faster and records more units used..
3. The Imperial metre has four digits rather than just the 3 digit on the metric metre. (see below).
4. There are around 2.83 x 10 cubic ft per cubic metre.
Question: then why are they converting i.e multiplying the imperial figure when it is already recording too many digits.
It seems to me that this figure should be divided to be converted to metric...
Haven't British Gas got it the wrong way round? If you would want to convert Cubic metres to Cubic Ft it would warrant a multiplication of 2.83 - bearing in mind the metric metre has 1 digit less on the Cubic Ft dial
In short how can anyone be charged more if BG thinks a customer is on Cubic Ft and a reading is sent in to them for Cubic Metres?
Regarding cases such as the one recorded on your programme - The only explanation(s) I can think of is that the gas metres are read and recorded incorrectly - the new metric metres do have two dials (1 x 4 figs and 1 x 3 figs)..
Yours confusingly
Mike Kelley
Whitley Bay
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My gas bill was £239.66 (£228.25 gas used). I have a metric meter but my bill shows "Gas units are converted to Kilowat hours using the following formular..." This bill seems very high and the time between the last reading and this latest one is only 6 weeks, not even 3 months. Can anyone say if I might be being overcharged? Great programme.
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there are usually 10 cubic feet in a cubic meter? Does it vary? When I went to school many years ago these things were fixed. There are in fact over 35 cubic feet in a cubic meter.If you use 100 cubic feet of gas this is approx 2.83 cubic meters.In other words if your monthly bill was £100 per month and a metric meter was installed without them knowing your bill would be £2.83.If they thought your imperial meter was a metric one then your bill would be£3529. Where do they get the 3 times from?
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Does this apply to electricity meters also? I had a new meter fitted and the bill rose by a third in one month despite no difference in the usage from previous quarters.
How can I check this? I am in the middle of disputing this with npower but it's slow and stressful
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I work for an energy company. In the whole time I have worked here I have come across this problem ONCE. Although there is some issues with imperial and metric meters, this isn't an issue that arises a lot. Out of our hundreds of thousands of customers, about 99% of customers are being billed correctly. I appreciate for that one percent it is a big issue but it can be easily rectified and it is not done purposely.
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The metric conversion figures used in the news item must be calculated differently from 'real'conversion ones. why? Because there are 35.313 ft3 in a m3. Think of a foot and the fact that there are over 3ft in a metre.
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Hello
Just spoken to British Gas on this issue. Firstly They say I am being charged on a Metric Meter and secondly all their bills contain a conversion factor to show what it would be if charged under the imperial method.
Checking my bill I see that a conversion factor has been applied to arrive at the total owed.
The Program appears to imply that a conversion factor should not be showing if a Metric meter has been installed.
I have been a customer of British Gas since August 2006 so in theory I have been overcharged since then.
Regards
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Is the same thing applical to eletricity meters? My mother in law has been having the same type of problem with NPower and her electricity bill, she had a new meter fitted a year and a half ago and ever since her bills have been very high
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I to as number 17
my meter has not got ft or m3 on it but has cubic feet wrote on it is this the same
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I work for an energy company and would like to show everyone the formula for converting from units to kwhs to avoid further confusion.....
We take the difference between the present and previous readings and multiply it by 2.83 to convert it from cubic feet to cubic meters (this step is the only step not needed if you have a metric meter). Then you multiply the cubic meters by the volume conversion factor (which will always be 1.02264) then by the calorific value which will be printed on your bill (you can take 39.5 as a rough guidline). Finally we devide the answer by 3.6 to give kilowatt-hrs consumed. Multiply this by the unit rate to give amount in monetary terms. I hope this helps clear up the other figures appearing on your bills.
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I know for a fact that British Gas do not believe even their own Meter Readers.
I have never switched supplier { electricity and gas supplied by British Gas } but five years ago I got them to remove my Prepayment meter and fit a credit meter for my electricity supply and that was the biggest mistake of my life.
Even although British Gas own Meter Readers were sending in the correct readings for the new Meter British Gas did not adjust their records and they transferred the old meter reading as if it was still in place.
Some Months my account was adjusted ten times in one day even although the adjustments never corrected the situation.
Hundreds of calls and e-mails later they sent out a inspector and he had the cheek to claim I had changed the meter myself but that still did not solve the problem.
It ran on for four and a half years before the penny dropped that the guy who changed the meter did not ' register ' the new meter even although I had warned them that is what I think did happen.
I had sent them a video showing the meter and clearly showing the meter number.
Two inspectors later nothing was changing so I complained to OFGEM and The Energy Ombudsman it was only when I had made a official Complaint did British Gas stand up and take notice.
At first they claimed their Meter Readers were unable to gain access to read the meter so they blamed me for the problem although they quickly had to withdraw that allegation when I pointed out that both meters were outside on the wall .
They then blamed a new Computer system even although the problem first started two years before they switched Computers.
All of a sudden they found all the old meter readings and they worked out I had been overcharged by twelve hundred Pounds.
They failed to pay any interest on the money.
British Gas is a joke but better the devil you know.
If the Government brought in a fine system - lets say ten pounds for every Month they did not sort out the problem that would soon get their act sorted out.
I was never compensated for all the years of wasted phone calls and no one took action on the Employees who did not sort the problem out.
Its not right and its such a stressful situation that sadly during all of this I had a stroke which I firmly believe was brought on because of this situation.
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We had the opposite problem when we switched suppliers. Are meter is in cu ft and were charged as if the readings were in cu meter. A lot of effort to persuade the supply company that the meter was in cu ft.
They were only interested in the number of digits on the meter rather than the units label.
Persumably some organisation holds a database with the meter number and the address. Is this info incorrect?
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1 cubic meter = 35.3146667 cubic foot
How on earth does the conversion factor work based on the above conversion (wikepedia)
It does add up me -
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I also have had problems with British Gas. In May I received an electricity bill for £428. When I disputed this - oops they made a mistake it should have been £70. The next bill was for £412, oops they made a mistake should have been £50. November I received a bill for £385 with pages of explanation going back to May 2005, which was before I moved into my house. I paid £150 but - Oops they made another mistake as on 8 January I was told that now I am now in credit for £79 and they should not have calculated my bill going back BEFORE I started using British Gas. On 13 January, just 5 days later, I received a letter stating that if I didn't pay £212 immediately, my electricity would be cut off. I called British Gas and was told I owed £80. When I asked for an explanation of why five days earlier I had been told that I was in credit, I was asked for a meter reading. Needless to say, I am am extremely annoyed at this company and am disputing their billing. British Gas shows that it does not pay any attention to the accuracy of their billing system or care about the stress they cause their customers.
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We are with npower our units are converted to kilowatt hours. In the box below the charges it has an M number and Correction Factor of 1.022640 - which appears to be normal and right. I am assuming volume conversion factor and correction factor mean the same thing. (This might help others). Also we find that with both gas and electric bills they are difficult to follow and understand (eg. first 6 at 5.268p and next 62 at 2.294p) How are you supposed to be able to compare prices with other suppliers.
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By the way, i would also recommend ensuring that the meter serial number on your bill matches that on your meter (you will find it on the front by a barcode) and that you supply your energy provider with meter reads regularly to ensure you aren't being overcharged or worse still undercharged and ending up with a large deficit. If you do end up underpaying and have a deficit on your account the company should be helpful in splitting the deficit over a reasonable period of time. My company will either split it over number of months cust has been in property if less than a yr or 12months.
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My gas supplier is EON (elect too)-The BBC Watchdog article on line mentions the conversion factor on bills (usually 1.02264)-even for meters reading directly in cubic metres but does not say what it actually is.When I phoned EON, they could not tell me immediately either what this is.However they came back to me and it transpires it's a "volume conversion factor" -an industry standard-since 1997-used because gas volume changes due to ambient temperature and pressure-ideally our meters would like to be at 15C but of course ambient temperature outside varies
daily.Hope this clears up this anomaly which is quite seperate from the cu ft to cubic meters correction factor raised my Watchdog.
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My bill got rather excessive and Npower wished to increase my direct debit from £42 per month to £169 per month
I phoned them and said "Why haven't they taken any note of 3 phoned in readings?" -"Oh" They replied "We don't bother with those. We wait untill with get a reading from the meter reading company! Then overcharge you." "Meanwhile we do the bill using meaningless estimates". So I now have the situation where they are trying to quadruple my monthly direct debit!!
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There is already a system in-place to solve this problem.
The people who come around to take meter readings use a hand-held computer which will show the meter serial number. Its their job to check this number and make sure the main records are correct.
They are obviously not doing this part of their job because it will slow them down.
As a handheld software developer I have seen this before and is a fairly common problem for data which cannot be validated. The software on the hand held should be changed to force them to enter say the last 5 digits each time. If no match then they should then be asked to enter all the new meter details including the units and full serial number.
I am sure the energy companies will just say all thats needed is some new training for the operators, which solves nothing really.
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I have been argueing with Scottish Gas for years about the extreme monthly payments towards my Bill, my heating is off all day and on for couple of hours a night!!! and i can never afford to switch supplier as i am always in debit??!!
I am unsure as a lot of people, my meter is M3 but my bill is in kilowatts, but mentions the 2.83 conversions etc at the bottom...do I have a claim??
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jjwcook:
Is it by 1.02264? If so that is fine. If you read your invoice, it has a section to cal your bill.
Oh and as a energy advisor, your supplier cannot refuse to tell you.
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I am on a card meter and have been for 20 odd years and never had a problem.
Last summer i had my meter changed and i have been spending a fortune ever since.
Just last month i put £60.00 on my meter, so far this month i have put on over £30.
I have checked my meter and is M3.
Can anyone advise if this is for all meters or just for the people that get bills.
Trying to speak to some one at British Gas that is prefered to listen and understand is no mean feat.
At 2.00am every morning i am having as much as 42p taken off my credit for not useing enough gas. So i am getting done all ways.
Can someone please help and advice.
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Can someone explain why with an imperial meter the number of units used must be multiplied by 2.83? Surely as cubic feet are smaller than cubic meters the number of units should be divided by whatever the right figure is?
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There appears to be a lot of confusion between the Metric Conversion and Volume conversion!
A Volume conversion factor of around 1.0226400" is completely normal and RIGHT regardless of your meter, but a 'metric conversion factor of around 2.83' is not, if you ALREADY have a METRIC meter.
However, a metric conversion factor of 2.83 will be required IF you have an IMPERIAL meter.
Basically-if you have a metric meter with "volume conversion" on your bill-youre probably being charged correctly, however if you have a metric metre and have "metric conversion" on your bill-youre probably being over charged
Hope this helps
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We had mains gas installed in our house in October, then received a "final gas bill" in December,for gas used in September, before the meter or the gas supply had been installed. Apparently the amount for £32 was from a meter reading, tho the meter was non-existent! After a phone call we were told the bill had been cancelled, but received another letter, threatening to take action if we didn't pay up, this month. After another phone call, explaining once again that there had been no gas supply to the house at all until Oct, the bill has apparently been cancelled. We are waiting to see what happens next month...
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I have checked my meter and it does have ft on the meter, but on my bills I do not have metric conversion.
My bills have been very high. We are in a 3 bed house. Could we have been paying more than we should have? We are with E-on. GLGreen
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I had received ridiculous gas bills (£279 for 3 months in May 07) when I was with npower, which made me switch to British Gas prepayment meter ( I live in a small 2 bedroom flat)! I reported an over expenditure on my gas and BG changed my meter (into the new meters) because there seemed to be a gas leek. Last week I put £20 on my card and this morning i had no gas again! Is this normal do you think?
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littlun22:
"My bill also seems to have calorific value then cubic metres in brackets, then an equals sign and a number followed by kWh?"
Industry standard formula:
Take the difference between the present and previous readings.
Multiply by 2.83 to convert it from cubic feet to cubic meters (this step is not needed if you have a metric meter.
Then we multiply by the volume conversion factor (1.02264).
Then we multiply by the Calorific Value (e.g. 38.100).
Finally we divide the answer by 3.6 to give the number of kilowatt hours.
Then times by unit cost equals your total.
For all thoses questions about if your being billed right. Just check the meter to see if m3 or ft3 is on there to see if imperial or metric.
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As someone who until last november had never had gas, watched the show with great interest, my supplier had merged my electric and gas together on the one bill and explained to me that although my meter was metric there was a formula for calculating units actually used which is:units x1.022640 x calorific value eg:40.5 divided by 3.6 this will give you your exact units used which when multiplied by unit price will give you your charge.
So if my monthly meter reading said that I had used 149 units, therefore 149 x 1.022640 x 40.5 then divided by 3.6 =1714 units KWH @ 3.811p = £65.32 bill before std charge and vat are added.
After watching last nights show I felt somewhat confused so today I rang my supplier who said that the Volume correction was their way of accurately calculating customers gas useage.
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re queries on the error factor.
Imperial meters do not actually measure cubic ft(ft3)as stated on the program, but 100s of cubic ft. One cubic metre (m3) is 35.314ft3 so 100ft3 is 100/35.314 = 2.832m3. To convert an Imperial meter reading (in 100sft3) to metric m3 you therefore multiply by 2.832. As a result if your meter is metric and the supplier thinks your meter is imperial your bill will be 2.832 times too large.
Rather worringly the reverse can, in theory, occur. If you have an imperial meter and the supplier thinks you have a metric meter you will be UNDERCHARGED by a factor of 2.832.
Overcharging should only occur with metric(m3)meters
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Huddsjo:
Have you checked the unit amount you've been charged for?
It maybe that the that your new to that supplier and that the opening read is out (or your estimate is quite high), or that you've had a reading that has caught up with you because of many months of estimated billing. Could be a couple of things, if your not sure, contact your supplier and they can look at it for you.
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This is a bit technical, but may help people to understand how you get from a meter reading to a bill
A gas-meter measures VOLUME of gas, but you pay for the ENERGY you use. Energy is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). The gas supplier therefore has to convert the volume of gas to kWh
The term advance is used by suppliers. This is simply the difference between the old reading and the new reading, so if your last reading was 5342 and the new reading is 5525 the advance is 183 VOLUME units (either 100sft3 or m3 depending on whether it is an imperial or metric meter).
Normally suppliers do the calculation in m3 so an imperial advance is multiplied by 2.832 to convert 100sft3 to m3
Next a small correction factor is applied to convert the measured volume to a standardised condition. This is called the correction factor and is typically around 1.023. The effect of this is small (around 2%)
The supplier now knows the true volume of gas delivered. It is now converted into energy. To do this, the volume is multiplied by the calorific value, typically 38.9, and divided by 3.6. This converts from m3 to KWh.
183 m3 is thus 183x1.023x38.9/3.6
= 2022kWh
Your supplier charges you by the kWh, so if they charge 3.1p per kWh the bill will be:
2022x0.031=62.68GBP
In practice things like standing charge will also come into the bill.
If the supplier thinks there is an imperial meter they will convert the 100sft3 to m3 by multiplying the advance by the 2.832 conversion factor. An advance of 183 units on an imperial meter would thus be:
183x2.832x1.023x38.9/3.6
= 5729kWh
which would cost
5729x0.031 = 177.60GBP
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Post 74 is very accurate imo. It ties in with my post 54.
If you have a m3 meter, there should not be the x2.83 conversion.
There still will be a conversion to show the amount of gas in KwH, so you can compare it to electrical appliance usage. i.e a gas fire compared to an electric fire etc.
This conversion is fine and relies of the physics of volume and calorific heat value etc.
I read some stuff on a website called ukpower, it has a faq page. there is also a site under ukenergy. Both are dot co dot uk sites.
IF you have a m3 meter and the conversion is being multiplied by 2.83 as well as the other factors you need to query it as it shouldn't be.
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I have a metric meter and have checked with British Gas today and they assure me all is OK re billing. I asked what did the term 'volume conversion factor mean?' This was stated to mean - part of the formula to convert gas units used to kilowatt hours. Perhaps you could make this point crystal clear to viewers/consumers who may also be uncertain? I am of course assuming that BG are right!
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hi , can someone please help me . i have been having problems with my electric bills for the last 2 years and just wondered if this problem is the same with electric meters, my meter is imperial. two of us live in a 4 bedroom house, we dont use the cooker or immersion heater, we have also stopped using the storage heaters for the last 2 years. i just recieved a quaterly bill for £575 . for 3 weeks of that we were on holiday, what? . last year i was paying £110pm and at the end of the year had to pay a extra £650. dont know what is going on but the supplier is giving no help at all. does anyone have the same problem? thankyou .
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I too am a Utility Warehouse customer since 13th October 2008 and moved from Swalec. I read my meter on 03/01/09 and gave my reading to Utility Warehouse and was very concerned when they advise my gas bill was over £500 for 3 months. I told them this couldn't be correct and they advised that meters are rarely faulty but to read my meter everyday for 7 days. I rung them back a week later to advise of reading and it worked out I had used approx £60 in one week. I was told again by the advisor that the mtr couldn't be faulty and it was down to my usage but both my husband and I work during the week and the children are in school so heating only on for 1 hour in the morning and from 4pm to 10pm in the evening. It was only when watching Watchdog on Monday evening and checking my gas bill did I realise that Utility Warehouse were calculating my bill on an Imperial meter when I have a metric meter which had been changed in June 2007. I rung them on Tuesday and they were apologetic but advised they have their information from the national database but as I pointed out Swalec were calculating my bills correctly so how could they get this information incorrect. I am just so glad that I seen the programme or otherwise I wuld be none the wiser and would be continuing to worry on how on earth I would be able to afford my next gas bill.
[Personal details removed by Moderator]
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We were being charged for an imperial meter rather than metric for 18months. The ironic thing is our house is a new build and ONLY 18 MONTHS OLD. I queried our bills and was fobbed off like your featured couple. We in the end spent hours comparing bills with our neighbours and worked it out ourselves. We were not the only ones on our estate being over charged. We have received a refund of £837 and associated interest - only £20 goodwill gesture though. We are with Scottish Power.
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I work for one of the big 6, but please don't just disregard this comment! I have taken many calls today regarding this issue and to be quite frank I am fed up about media scare mongering! Yes, the couple featured did have a valid issue with their account, however it is not teh gas companies at fault! Yes the issue could have been dealt with sooner, but the meter details they held for the couple would have been given to British Gas by the INDEPENDENT meter operators.
The energy companies do not own the meters, they are just updated by the meter operators as to what meter the customer has. If an energy company is told by the meter operators that a customer has one type of meter, we do have to go by this unless we are updated of that specific issue by the customer or the meter operator. This is the way the industry works and is regulated by independent bodies- not the gas companies!
The callers I have spoken to today have all been unaafected by this issue, as have all my team's callers! It really is an isolated case-I have never seen this issue myself and I have been working in the industry for some time now.
The conversion that is stated on ANY bill will be to convert the units used into kilowatt hours (kWh, I think this is where the confusion is coming in for many customers when they check their bills. To double check that we are billing you for the correct meter check the serial number on the bill against the meter. If you have a 5 rate metric meter, you will be unaffected by this issue. That is not to say all with imperial meters are automatically affected.
If we have correct, accurate meter readings then this is the amount of gas you have used, and the amount of gas that we will charge you for. Check energy efficeincy to cut your bills- I have spoken to many today who are uninterested in exploring this, and this is where we will hit a brick wall!
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My meter dates 1981 and is in none metric. 1 Bedroom flat has been estimated at
£143 a month. Following
your programm phoned British
Gas and was told yes we know your reading are none
metric. How can I check this from my bills ?
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I am on a pay as you go gas card, I currently am topping my card up approx £10.00 every 2 days averaging £35.00 a week.
I have telephoned British Gas on 2 occasions this week, as I am struggling to keep putting this amount of money on the card, they confrimed my meter is metric and not imperial, would this affect the price of my gas? As British gas informed me it wouldnt make a difference whether it is imperial or metric.
I advised them that I live in a very small 2 bedrooom house, I don't have a gas cooker and only put the heating on for approximately 2 hrs max a day... is this price high?
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thanks for your comment Laulau85 i agree completely!!!
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I have a gas meter and i am putting in between £30 and £40 pounds a week, I am a single mum with two children im also a student and the amount of money im on is just not covering it. If it wasnt for family members i dont doubt that we would be sat in the house freezing as yet agin the gas has run out i dont really understand how im using so much as most of the time im at university and the children are at school, what i also dont understand is my sister in law is on a plan were she only pays £32 pound a month for both her gas and elec and her house is larger than mine and also has central heating. Ive asked my gas supplier to remove my meters and they said they have to do a credit check and i would also have to pay £50 to have them removed is there any way of getting some help im constantly in debt. Im with British Gas now.
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beckymarsh: the company i work for do charge to get the meter exchanged but they dont do any credit checks. the plan that your friend is on is probably called a 'budget plan'. this is good for people who cant afford to pay high bills in the winter and low bills in the summer. this is the best option for most people but you can still get into debt if you arent paying enough.
if you are earning under £13,500 you should ask your supplier if they do a social tariff, which you would get cash back of upto £250 per year which should help. you should also speak to your local council to see if they can help.
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my Daughers meter is an M,but it is a prepaid meter with a card that she tops every week(about £30.00) and we think is over the top for a 2 bedroom house is there anythink she can do to have this reduced,she lives there with a 14 month old baby
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I think this post may help.
To work out if your paying too much, for your gas. simply divide your m3 units by 2.2 and you will get your approximate yearly bill, then divide the amount by 12 for your monthly bill.
ie, a gas meter with M3 stamped on it reading 02650 units will cost (approx)£1200 per year, £100 per month.
This is only an approximate formula so please dont scream at me if its not exact. It may help if other people can check this for me. Hope it helped. B.
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Since the old couple on the show were charged by there BANK more that £282.00 in bank charges surely the bank code of conduct regarding Direct Debit’s should come into play, and the couple should be able to get all there bank chargers, BACK, because the charges were due to an Over Demand on Direct Debit, and surely if it’s true that the couple had never gone into the red before, it’s about time the BANK played ball, after all they are the only companies that are making money at this time, and we can see why ?
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My bills were astronomical so I contacted British Gas to try to sort out the mistake. I made many calls to them, provided them with a meter reading each time, and told them that I would not pay their quarterly bill of £258.28. Importantly, when I told them the serial no. on my meter they would not believe me, insisting that my meter had been upgraded several years before (it hadn't). They told me that they would freeze my account until they could get to the bottom of the problem. After several reminders to pay the bill on my "frozen" account, I got a stream of alarming letters threatening me with legal action. Unaccustomed to this, I became very worried and unsettled. I suspected that they were actually reading my neighbour's meter and I managed to get a look at it. Sure enough, the serial no. matched the one on my account. After each letter I called BG and eventually one of the people I spoke to actually believed me!!!
The letters stopped coming and I heard nothing from them for about six months (!) so I got in touch with them again. In the end, after they re-calculated my bills, they found I was over £1,400 in credit!
There must be thousands of people in the UK who are not so lucky...GOOD LUCK WATCHDOG - keep up the good work!
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In response to Laulau85 it is commendable you standing by your company and I am sorry it has caused you extra volume of work, I appreciate people do over react but common sense should really come into it too. It got to £311 per month because BG customer service were not resolving the Greens problem. Thankfully we managed to eventually get involved with the right person at British Gas who couldn't have been more helpful but it took 22 months to get that far and a 3 page letter to the 'big boss' in order to achieve a result. I tried to post some information on this blog to help people understand what actually happened with Mr & Mrs Greens case, but it wouldn't post. While you are correct the problem was not created by British Gas, the installer of the new meter was at fault initially. But surely it is the suppliers duty to investigate a customers complaint until it is properly resolved. British Gas were told of the problem in March 2007 when they discovered that the meter at the property had a different serial number to the one used on their bills, nothing was ever done about it.
This is the part that British Gas is responsible for. The lack of assistance from customer services at British Gas created a huge issue that should have been easily resolved nearly 2 years ago. The programme said this issue began 10 months ago, which is not actually correct, the meter was changed October 06 and due to the bills becoming un managable they asked for help 2 years ago in March 2007 which British Gas neglected to do.
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Ooops, just noticed a typo on my behalf, just substitute metric for where I have typed imperial (just so you dont get confused). I'd had a looong day discussing the above issue with many, many people who are unaffected by it.
A further comment...
If your energy company has a website, have a look at it- there may be cheaper tariffs! Also they should have a system where you can enter meter readings in online or over an automated phone number, try to do this every month to 6 weeks- we cannot bill accurately if we dont have these. The customer is just as responsible as the company as the company legally only have to read the meter every two years- be a bit proactive people! Have your boiler and radiators checked once a year and serviced- this can potentially cut your bills by 35% a year!
Just some more hints- we really are here to help if we can, its being sworn at when you are trying to do your job that will make us switch off!
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Another problem that I have experienced recently is that you can have an imperial meter that looks similar to a metric meter -and a careless meter reader will not notice. When we moved into our house 11 years ago our first supplier charged us correctly. But in 2001 we changed supplier to Powergen (now Eon) who in 2005 decided that we had been overcharged and insisted on refunding us. We queried this many times, but Powergen were adament that we should be refunded. Since that time we have continually queried the low direct debit payments that Eon have requested. This all came to a head in December when our meter 'turned the clock' and Eon realised that they had made a mistake. They then sent us a bill of £2600 two days before Christmas. They have acknowledged that the fault is theirs and reduced this amount to one year's payment of £750 but nevertheless it's a nasty shock when you have to pay increased energy prices combined with a backlog payment. I'm quite sure I'm not the only person that will be affected by this and it's quite avoidable. Our meter is outside and all the meter readers have to do is tick a box to say what type of meter they're reading.
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I am so relieved i watched your program as I have finally gotten to the bottom as to why my bills are so high. I moved into my current property in 2005 and had a new meter installed shortly afterwards. I have been with 4 different providers, each time switching to try and get cheaper bills but to no avail. I was lead to believe by my previous provider that my bills were pretty average for a family of 4 living in a 3 bed semi and assured me that my bills were caluculated correctly, I was offered a payment plan in order to pay off the supposed amounts I owed, (to be honest I was made to feel like a stupid women who just needs to turn the heating down.) I spoke to friends and compared bills and I was paying at least double the amount they were. In the end I thought that as my boiler was 30 years old that maybe this was the problem. So last summer I had a new boiler fitted & again switched provider only to find my bills if anything were higher than before. After watching your programe I checked my bills and found that all 4 providers were converting the units into metric when they shouldn't of been. I have contacted all the providers and with no arguments (so far) I am awaiting refunds off them all.
I found that not all the providers mentioned anything about metric conversion on the bills, it was only by doing the calculations mentioned that I found I was being overcharged. I would recommend everyone to question their bills with their providers, WHY NOT! It only seams to be people working for energy companies that seem to be annoyed by this. I understand that it is'nt entirely the providers faults, but maybe customers should be listened to when they complain their bills are too high instead of being fobbed off. Also my meter was always read by a meter operator, I'm amazed they did'nt pick up on this, im sure it was noticed but was chosen to be ignored maybe to save them putting it right. Well done and thanks again to Watchdog
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I have noticed a few people have asked the same question, my gas metre has M on the front but how do I know if my bill is shown in metric? It just shows KWh. I live alone, rarely have my heating on because of the charges of over £360 for one quarter in 2007 had a monthly DD to pay this off plus what I used in 2008 and that still came to over £300. I only use gas to heat up water now. My electric has also increased and yet my local council have fitted a so called energy saving electric fire which should only use 12p per hour peak rate, this is the only extra thing I use on electric.
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this is easier, divide the m3 units by 2.2 and you will get your approximate bill,
ie, if you have used 600 units of M3 the cost will be approx £270.00 depending on how much your supplier charges and primary/secondary units etc.. this may help you to work out whether your bill is 'way out' or not.
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Mr & Mrs Green's ordeal with British Gas was both moving and disturbing. I have had the same problem with being over-charged by hundreds of pounds for gas supplied by them. I made them aware that they were charging me too much for the occasional use of ONE GAS FIRE as long ago as last January (2008). They sent an inspector to my house same month and they FAILED to note the problem and continued to bill me. Even when I did not use this fire at all they still sent me extortianate bills - and when I refused to continue paying they sent countless threatening letters to me (I have a whole file of these). They ignored all my correspondence and then sent officers to my house to cut off my gas - which they did not need to do because I had already got my own technician to do this for me long before!Finally last November they told me I had been billed wrong because I had a metric meter and they promised to refund the hundreds of pounds owed to me. After watching the excellent report on WDog I rang them this morning to ask where my refund was and was astonished to hear them say (after ONE HOUR on the 'phone), that my case was 'COMPLICATED' and still being looked at! It beggars belief! However, as if this is not bad enough - I learned also last November from them that they have ALSO being overcharging me for ELECTRIC too! I was not suspicious about this acount so it was a bonus that they told me this. I do not believe they are going to refund my money neither do I believe my case is 'COMPLICATED'. I wish WDog would get in touch with me and them but there is probably more out there like the Greens who are more desperate than myself.
Keep up the good work Wdog you give the little people a voice over these mighty robbing monsters.
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i have a top up meter
a m3 and put about £20-£25 pound a week is this right or is this too much because the heating is only on a few hours a day
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I cant believe how much these big companies get away with.. if it is the other way round they would be sending us threats and threatening to turn our gas or electric off.. I think if we all get together and turn them off for 2days as a starter then they would start to think a little and hear what we have to say.. we our the payers who pay for there luxury life styles it's time they gave it a peace of it back to the hand that has fed the mouth for so many years.. all it takes is everybody to spread the word and feel the strength within your hearts and be strong... there are countries out there that live in colder climates and survive lets give them a taste of what credit crunch will be like if people turn there meters off for two days a week.. it really can be done.. lets do what the French would do and speak up a little...
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I just caught the end of Watchdog this week and I'm lucky I did.
I switched to British Gas when I moved house in May 2007. I was advised that I should set up my direct debit for £40.00 a month for gas but at the end of the first quarter a meter reading was taken and I was tolod that I needed to pay another £360 to cover the gas used. I have queried my bill a couple of times. The meter reader pointed out that the meter I had was not the one on their records - however I now know that this was not updated even though it was noted. I also telephoned British Gas to query my bills, although they went through all the meter details with me I was told that there was no problem with my gas supply and my bills were correct. I left British Gas in August in the hope of cheapening my bills and after seeing watchdog last week I now know the real reason for the excessive cost. I have spoken to someone at British Gas who has confirmed that the meter details were wrong and I have been charged on the imperial basis rather than the metric metre which I actually have - lets hope I get a refund from them soon
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A friend at work told me about the programme and I have just viewed it online. I checked my meter which has M3 on it and my bills through EDF are in cubic feet! I have had sleepless nights over the cost of my gas and use it very sparingly now. I felt I was paying for my neighbours gas aswell. The meter number on the meter is different from the one on my bill, I had not even noticed this up until now.
my new meter number has 2006 on it so presume that it was changed then.
I shall certainly get onto the company tomorrow.
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could you please let me know if this is posable on a card payment meter which has the M3 on it, only we had the battery pack on it changed and they said something about up dating it and ever since that it has been eating the money on the card much to fast,this is also with BR GAS!!!
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Thank you Watchdog,
I have been wondering how my gas bill is over £400 a quarter, when with 2 people living in a 2 bed semi both working full time. I got my latest bill from Eon this week and contacted them and they do have my meter down as Imperial when it is an a metric meter. Iam hoping to receive a refund/
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Would this also include pay as you go meters? My mother is currently on £50+ a month just for her gas, she can turn on her heating for an hour most in her house or if she wants a shower she has to do without heat. While we are on quarterly billing, paying around the same as her and our heating is on nonstop as well as cooking constantly.
surely there has to be a problem there.
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We moved into this rental house we are in in September. I was presented with an unbelievable bill by the landlord, £4000 for a quarter. He insisted it was correct. I didn't know what to do. I gave him a cheque and just thought, we are going to have to find somewhere else to live. It is a large house, but it is actually smaller than the house we sold which also was on gas. The bill there for the same quarter last year was £680. Thank God for Watchdog. I have worked out that the bill should actually have been £1243, which is still a lot, but a darn sight less than £4000! What I find most upsetting is the landlord's willingness to accept the amount was right. Clearly the gas company have charged us on an imperial meter when we have a metric one. I wouldn't have known this without Watchdog and a friend who had seen it.
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The programme about the utility was really great. It should have been a little more explicit on how to read our bill.
What is the difference between the FT3 meter and a new one ?
Is it true that the FT3 meter is faster and less economical than a metric meter ?
My bill read as followed:
Meter number......0000
Measured in cubic feet
units used is 214 and Kwh split 6727
First 676 is at 7p
Remainder 6051 at 3.05p.
Am I being overcharged ?
Please reply before I call the supplier again, as I tried to call them but it was no help.
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We have just received a bill for over £1400 from British Gas from an apparently wrong reported gas bill from Aug 2007. It is now 2009. They need to sort their systems out before we give them a penny. They changed our system last year and obviously didn't update their records. They are useless.
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Don't forget the useless agency Ofgem in all of this. It's Ofgem design that is at fault here. The gas suppliers do nothing except send out bills and have no involvement in how to run an efficient gas industry. The Networks run the industry but are forbidden by Ofgem to have customer details. Becuase a third party Xoserve hold the missing link of customers, meters and addresses then mistakes are bound to happen. Get Ofgem in to the show and nail them down for once.
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i have just moved into a new home on the 28th of nover i had my gas bill in today that covered from 28th of november to 8th jan and it came in as 256.76 i will be phoning them tomorrow thank you
zoe from telford
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Dear Watch dog thank you so much for bringing this to my attention i have been complaining to British Gas and the energy watch dog with regard to my inflated gas bills since Oct 2006 and i finally have the answer to my issues initially i was falsley sold a price freeze till 2010 contract which i was later informed did not exist even though i had a contract in hand to prove what i had signed up for, i still complained about my inflated costs amounting to 171 pounds per month and thanks to your show last week i am pleased to state that British Gas are refunding me the 1,300 pounds owed to me due to me having a metric meter and having it converted to imperial. although they have apologised i feel that i have been trapped in a no win situation for two years as i could not leave whilst i owed money and could never seem to get on top so many thanks indeed.
Amanda
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FOR LOVENA2009
I reckon your bill should be £254.04 or something like that! You don't say what it is. I've used the calculations I have found on the web for this.
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I changed my meter to a pre payment metric gas meter in August 2008 with SWALEC my bills have more than doubled since then and Im using half the gas! Like many other people I sit in the cold. If I used the same amount of gas as last year I would be paying £60 per week!! I only use the gas for hot water and a couple of hours heating in the evening Ive paid £20 since friday 16th its only monday! I tried to contact them 2 weeks ago the didnt want to know. I very rarely get bills because im on the meter. Would this over payment apply to a pre payment meters too? Or are the gas companies just exploiting consumers with ridiculously high prices and the government does NOTHING !!!
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If like me you are paying monthly for your gas and the gas supplier does not listen to your reasoned complaints, change your payments to "standing order" instead of "direct debit". This way YOU decide how much you pay NOT THEM. It's easy to do, just arrange it with your bank using the same payment reference number that was used by the direct debit system. I've used this for years.. They don't like it and they send me demanding letters every anniversary, but as long as I pay enough each month (or very rarely a one off payment to clear any underpayments) there's no problem. The only down side to this method is that you must be able to work out your bill and make a judgement of future gas usage. My results have always been a lot closer to the mark than their plucked from thin air figures.
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I have pay as you go meters for electric and gas which is being supplied by southen electric in october my electric went up from £20 aweek to £50 aweek and my gas went up from £10 aweek to £35 aweek please could you tell me if there could be anything wrong with my meters
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I pay my gas to edf energy by DDmonthly. we had had a meter change and after quite some time I had a letter from edf to say instead of paying £40 a month I had to start paying £310 a month. I phoned them immediately to ask what was going on and informed them there was no way I was going to pay this amount and to get it sorted!! I can't understand anyone being stupid enough to pay these amounts as shown on your programme..the man had pnumonia not dementia!! eventually edf realized that they were billing us in ft + not meters but I did not pay any extra to them.
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Hi my meter is cubic feet no mention of metric or imperial.
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I have EDF as my supplier - my meter was changed recently to a new cubic meter one. My new bill correctly showed this and still they used the old cubic feet conversion!!!! I ended up with a bill 3 times too big and all they wanted to do was triple my standing order. Why did they now spot that my bill had tripled? Also they say on the back fo the bill that the data needed to perform the calculation from cubic meters to kwh is on the front of the bill - it is not. I have phoned their help desk and they agree the data is missing & that my bill is wrong and pormsie to fix bill in 3 days.
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I moved into a 3 bed property in November 2005 and swapped from the previous supplier to Briish Gas in January 2006. We had a brand new combi boiler fitted during this month and new radiators which have their own seperate thermostats on.In February 2006, the gas meter was changed to a B gas one
I then had no contact from British Gas (except for to take my direct debit payments of £15 per month, this was transferred from our old property and would have been amended upon receipt of the first statement according to what it said)I also have electricity through them and as i was getting statements through that, I did not notice that we were not receiving gas statements although i was duly sending back the meter readings on the cards which were sent to me. First thing i had from British Gas was a letter in October 2007 talking about my direct debit, this prompted me to call and i was told at that point that it would not make much difference as i already owed you £1600!! several phone calls and sleepless nights followed and i was then told that whoever fitted the meter had now advised yourselves and that the meter readings i was providing did not tie in with your system and this therefore resulted in my statements not being sent to me. I was therefore not aware of this situation until it was far too late!!!
After 18 months of worry and several phonecalls during which many different B Gas representatives basically said the bill was right and that i was using £100 per month of gas (even over the summer months if averaged!)and it was basically tough i should be paying more than £250 per month to catch up-they finally realised that it was calculated incorrectly and i was infact in credit after paying £80 per month for a while by £35!!!
At the time i was just relieved and elated that i would not have to go through Xmas period worrying about it but now i am just very angry at their incompitence and failure to see what i was pointing out which was blindingly obvious. Is it too late to claim for some compensation for the phone calls and sleepless nights that i endured during the 18 months of argument??!
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We experienced a subtly different version of this problem.
Our property had a digital meter before we moved in, but the supplier (eon)refused to accept any readings from it, even when read by their own engineers. For 3 years I dutifully telephoned with readings and submitted them online, but my bill was always estimated.
Even after several calls to query the problem nothing changed, until eventually someone spotted that according to their records we still had an analogue meter. Instead of flagging this up or sending someone to check, they'd simply ignored every reading.
We were then presented with a bill for 4 years back fuel (£1200!) - the difference between our regular Direct debit and the fuel they claim we'd used. It took nearly 3 months of constant pressure to get a 50% reduction in these charges, but 18 months later we are still trying to clear the arrears.
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Does anyone know the status of a gas meter with the letters BKG4? This is my elderly Father's which was replaced just over 2 years ago so I assume its metric. The reason I'm checking is that he switched to N Power in Sept 07 and ever since then his charges for his gas have soared. I know that there was an increase in Jan 07 but the cost seemed to be way out of proportion for one gas fire and one(seldom used) gas cooker when his March 08 6 months statement arrived - £238.25 (a total that was more than he's paid for the previous 18 months! He's a man of regular habits so the consumption would have been about the same).
I queried this at the time with N Power but they assured me everything was correct. I was convinced that there was an error and still am. I checked the meter for weeks to see if the usage was reasonable which it was. After seeing last night's Watchdog prog I have checked his first statement's 'Correction Factor' which was 1.022640. Reading all the above comments, this seems to be right so I'm no wiser .... Can anyone out there shed some light on this?
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Watchdog reports many stories of people saddled with large bills but fails to offer a simple solution - advise everyone who has a telephone or computer to read their electricity and gas meters on the last day of each month and submit them to their supplier - that way they can never be overcharged - very simple and it has worked for me for years. Send off readings again the minute you hear of increases or reduction in prices
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Hi there, i've just checked my gas metre and i have an M3 metre. I don't really understand weather or not i'm paying too much, i'm on a pre-payment metre so therefore don't recieve a bill as such, i'm having to put £80 a month on, i only have gas central heating which is on a timer. Can u tell me if this is about right or if i need to look into this. Many thanks.
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I have been converting cubic feet to cubic metres for years. There are 35.31466 cubic feet in a cubic metre.So to convert say 311 cubic feet in to cubic metres you can simply divide 311 by 35.31466. The 2.83 multiplyer that the utilities use does the same thing.
I do not understand what the 1.02264 conversion is. We now have a metric meter which is recording what we use in cubic metres. So what am I converting the metres to before I convert them into calorific value?
Before our meter was changed from imperial to metric our gas/use was costing us £6.57 per day now it is £11.40 and we havn't changed any of our boiler settings.How do we know our meter is working correctly?
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My dad and I are with NPower and our meter is the old version ft. My dad who is 84 years old, has rung Npower up numerous times, telling them that it is imperial and their sums do not add up right.
Please watchdog, could you draft an example letter on this subject, so people like us can write a proper letter to the energy companies. Thank You
Miss YMBoddy
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Thanks Watchdog, but people seem so confused about their utility bills could you give more information please? Two years ago when i was with B Gas i too had an unusually huge bill. I just knew it wasn't right at the time but after contacting them loads of times i could get no explanation. They said i could have the meter checked but i would have to pay Approx £90!! The meter had been changed for a new metric one and now i know why my bill was so huge, if only i had known about this then!! Any how i had no choice but to pay the bill and then i switched to a new supplier.
It is disgusting that all these people are suffering when things are already so difficult and large companies must be making a fortune on top of their millions of profits. Can't something be done to reclaim this money like they did with the banks?
It's just not good enough.
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The same thing happened to me few years ago. When I moved into a 1-bed flat in Ilford, my gas bill (with Southern Electric) was more than what my Uncle was paying for his 3-bed house. After numerous calls to Southern Electric, one operator figured out what the problem was and I was promptly given a refund of the extra amount they had charged me. Since then I have been careful to check the meter and the bill. Advised my friends to do the same in future.
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Important Maybe
UNITS TO CUBIC METERS
On the meter shown and on the meter where I live 1 revolution of the mechanical dial is 0.071 cubic Feet. Now 100 revolutions of this dial is 1 unit, therefore one unit is 7.1 cubic feet. Now to helping the next calculations we use the following facts;
1 cubic foot =1728 cubic inches
&
1 cubic Meter = 61163 cubic inches
SO
1 unit = 1728 cubic inches x 7.1 (the number of cubic feet per unit) = 12268.8 cubic inches
THEN
Dived (1 cubic meter) 61163 cubic inches by 12268.8 cubic inches (1 unit)
=4.985 units per cubic meter
THEREFORE
IS IT ME OR IS THE 2.83 UNITS TO CUBIC METER CONVERTION FACTOR SOME WHAT OUT !
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My meter has neither an m3 OR f3, but it does have a dial? Can I assume that it is imperial? My quarterly bills are huge and my usuage is 4.5 units a day apparently?! for Gas Central Heating only run 8 hours a day. This is not comparable to any of my neighbours, but British Gas won't check the meter.
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Strange things afoot here. We moved here in Nov 2005, checking my bills Utilities Warehouse were charging us for ft3. I changed supplier to British Gas who also charged us for ft3, I changed to EDF, who appear to be charging in m3. The meter number is the same on all bills, it is not the same number as my meter. My meter was changed in 2004, the old meter number does not match the number on my bills!
Anyhow is there a time limit on claiming back over charging? Also how does one go about claiming back from previous suppliers?
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Oh I meant to include in the last post. When I switched to EDF, they sent someone to check the meter, he commented and asked when it had been changed. So really there is no excuse for the meter serial number to be wrong now. Although it does explain why EDF are charging me in m3, where the others haven't.
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Like a few of your commentators, I cannot understand why you have to multiply cubic feet figures to convert to cubic metres. Logic says Divide!
However if a 1 unit reading from an imperial gas meter is 100 cuft or 2.832 cu metres, then it is clear why you have to multiply the imperial meter reading by 2.83!!
My gas meter is imperial, but does not say that it is recording anything else but cubic feet consumed.I assume it records by 100s of cubic feet and it would have cost too much to print that on the meter.
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Sorry to hear of peoples' woes. I saw this happening in London when I did my gas quals a few years back. I am now having to explain it again to customers as it appears the problem continues.
Metric meters have 5 dials in the black section on the front of the meter, imperial meters have four in the black section. Do not count those with a red border around them. There is no reason why there should be a billing mistake as it is quite obvious!
Imperial meters charge in 100s of cubic feet, whereas metric metres bill in single cubic metres, and therefore they run approx 2.83 times faster than the imperial meters for the same volume of gas running through.
If you have a meter changed from imperial to metric and your bill comes through excessivley high as shown in the programme, then phone your supplier and tell them your meter was changed from an imperial to a metric meter. Give them your final read from your imperial meter (this should have been wrote on the yellow index plate on the front of the meter along with your old meter serial number) and give them the start read from your new metric meter, again on the index plate.
The start read does not have to be the same as your old number, nor does it have to start on 99999 or 00000, it just shows a start read so that the gas company can work out how much gas you've used.
Above all, don't be scared to use your gas. Would you rather have difficulties for a while due to their mistake or die from the cold? I hope everybody can get their problems resolved quickly, it annoys me that this error is being made and customers are suffering as a consequence.
If Watchdog need any more info from me, they can contact me at my email address which I assume they will have access to.
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Just got final bill from edf 757GBP for just under 3 months.Had a look on bill and it actually states charged per cubic ft.Checked meter and it is cubic metres needless to say on phone to edf who to their credit will issue a new bill at correct rate.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Yes, the imperial meter readings are in hundreds of cubic feet. If you look at Watchdog's picture of the imperial meter, you will see that there are in fact six digits on the meter, the first four white digits are the actual meter reading used on your bill, then there is a further red digit which is tenths of a unit (or tens of cubic feet) and a red zero at the end. So post 94 is spot on and the 2.83 conversion factor to convert from imperial units to metric units is correct.
My point relates to the clarity of the bill, which has taken me an hour or two to understand, and I think I have a good aptitude for maths. We all know there are lots of people out there who are not good at understanding calculations, and who have no chance at all of understanding these bills.
My most recent bill actually states that I have used 166 metric units and I have confirmed that my meter is imperial. So fearing that I was actually being undercharged, I thought I had better check the calculations. My bill says 166 metric units used x calorific value 40.4413 x volume correction 1.02264 / kWh conversion factor 3.6 = 5396.84 kWh. When you do this sum, the answer is 1907.01, not 5396.84. The difference of course is the 2.83 conversion factor which is not shown in the actual calculation, but has in fact been included in the calculation.
So why is my bill telling me I have used 166 metric units when I haven't? I have in fact used 166 imperial units (and by the way I'm now satisfied that my bill is correct).
So what chance does the average person have of understanding all this. Come on British Gas, let's have a bit of clarity!
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Does this problem affect pre paid card gas meters? My daughter appears to pay stupid amounts of money i.e £10 of gas on the card last for two days only using the heating twice a day and showers etc for two.
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HELP!!!
Since moving to my current home nine years ago i have used a pre-payment meter. Back then i would possibly go through £20 per month max in Gas. I thought that the metre being here was a great idea as being only 17 at the time i could learn to budget better. Throughout the years I have gradually paid more over the years and until around september i paid £30 per month. Now i am paying so much i can barely heat my home! Over 2 days i have used £7.70 when my heating is only timed to be on for 5hrs a day! I know they gas prices are up but not this much, is there anything i can do as im sitting here freezing too worried i run out of gas again! :(
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As a previous comment on this blog I also work for one of the big 4 companies please call your supplier if you worried about your bills. We are here to help. Also if your struggling with your current supplier call another one.If you do this please be aware they will not have your infomation on their system but they can answer most across the board questions you have. Also as previously stated if you are having troubling paying your bills contact your supplier you may be eligible for a social tariff and if they dont offer one try a supplier that does. PLEASE DO NOT BE AFFRAID TO HEAT YOUR HOME IT IS NOT WORTH YOUR HEALTH!!!!!!!!!
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please could you help as i don't understand the conversion factors on the imperial meter i am so sure we have been overcharged every month but when we phone the gas company they tell us its because the gas that is provided is more purer gas than standard which i couldn't understand i would appriciate it if someone could respond asap thankyou
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I work for United Utillities on behalf of Brittish Gas,Powergen,N-Power,Eon etc.I have had major concerns over quite a number of gas-meter exchanges that I have carried out over the last few years.The problem arises when there is an interim meter exchange because the existing meter becomes faulty.This could be anything from a failed battery in a ETM(Electronic Token Meter)to a credit meter that starts making noises(whistling)or that the meter has stoped registering.Quite often the new meter is not recorded on the database.To make matters worse a lot of the meters that have been or not been recorded have not had the previous meter details recorded on the yellow label on the front of the meter.This can be compounded by the fact that on quite a lot of occasions the so called new meter is infact a so called reconditioned meter that has a meter reading already.Say a recon meter is fitted into a property because the battery failed and neither the meter or the existing reading has not been correctly documented,this meter could have a start reading of for example 04358(this would be a metric reading)if this information is not on the label then we are informed to put on our notes that the start read is 00000.If that occupant then has there meter changed say 2 years later then they could be charged for a lot of gas that they did not use.I useually come across this problem 2 or 3 times a week.
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Hi My gas bill is a little confusing, one part says 'Correction factor of 1.02264, but on a another part is says and i quote 'To work out your gas bill we convert units used to kilowatt hours in the following way : gas units used x imperial to metric conversion factor of 2.83 x correction factor x calorific value, divided by he kilowatt hour conversion factor of 3.6
Am i being charged correctly, any help would be nice.
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Hi I have checked my bill since seeing your programme. I have a metric meter which was installed 4 years ago. My calculatons show I was billed for an imperial meter. Do I have the right to have back dated bills to see how long this has been going on for.
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I spoke to my energy supplier and advised that the way they calculate my Gas is incorrect, but the advisor there said the Watch Dog is wrong and is misleading you. Can some one please help?
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Looks like I am in a similar situation.
Has anyone asked the gas companies how they get a conversion of x 2.83 for cubic feet to cubic metres?
The x 1.02264 will be a conversion for a change in temperature or pressure between the meter and the appliances I suspect, but clarification from someone in the billing organisation should have been forthcoming long before 164 posts!!! Unless they don't, or have been told not to, watch "Watchdog"!!
The calorific value will vary depending on the delivered pressure of gas and the energy composition and, again, it should be explained by someone in authority or it could be a nice follow up for the media.
I would be surprised if it is calculated in favour of the consumer or if it is calculated when the gas changes for the worse.
Kilowatt hours are just a measure of energy and I am sure this isn't added ro make it totally confusing for most of the posters here, er, well I am not so totally sure, thinking about it.
Come on, suppliers, a reasoned or scientific or arithmetical comment and explanation is well overdue.
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Oh dear, just read an earlier explanation!
Imperial "gas units" are apparently units of 100 cubic feet NOT 1 [one] cubic foot making the multiplication by 2.83 necessary and probably correct!!!
All they had to do was put that on the bill too avoid all this anguish!!
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Hi.
Iv just checked my meter and its metric.
Could be please advise me if my bill is correct:
KWh used:
x 1.0226400 (volume conversion factor)
x 39.2853 (calorific value)
divided by 3.6 (kilowatt hour conversion factor)
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Many thanks to davidwainson (post 156) for his explanation.
Even as a software developer I was struggling to figure things out and was concerned that I too was underpaying for gas as our bill shows the units as "metric units" whilst we have an imperial meter.
The text "If your meter is imperial, we multiply your units by 2.83 to convert to metric." on the bill (British Gas) is completely misleading as the units are not converted anywhere on the bill. The multiplication by 2.83 is just done invisibly as part of the calculation to get the KWH value.
Thankfully I now won't be expecting a request for a huge backpayment from them. Phew!
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ive just checked my meter and it got FT on it could you please advise me if it is correct
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I work for British Gas, I'm not ashamed to say that, i enjoy it, but i hate all this hysteria and bandwagon jumping not just to the company that i work for but to the "competition" aswell, all these people thinking they've been billed wrong when they've not, everyone thinking their direct debits are incorrect when 90%+ are correct, lower your usuage and you lower your payments, dont sit watching the tv all day in the snug warmth and complain your bill's high, and fix/cap is exactly what it says a fix/cap on your unit rate and only this,
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I have a new ASHP boiler from 7 Nov 08 to 25 Jan 09 my total electric bill is £343. thats for heating 4 bed house, hot water, cooking everyday 3 tellys computer fridge freezer etc 2 adults 3 teens,from ACS in Towcester its great to Know i can just check my electric meter and count how many units i have used and multiply by 0.09p, I had used 3788 very cold winter but warm and toasty all over house.
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i have just checked my mothers bill,and she has a imperial meter.the only item that works on gas is the combi boiler for the central heating.the settings never change,she doesnt know how,its set at the same temperature all the time.and on constant.her las 90 day bill was 130 pounds .but for this bill its 370,how can this be.now between the bill coming in and being read.there were 5 days,in which time she used 12 units of gas,surely if the ammount asked for per day doesnt chang the 90 bill of units used would be 180,so how come she has used 373 units.it is impossible.she is dissabled,suffers from ocpd,astma,arthritis,and needs a consgtant heat,can you tell me how she``s supposed to do this with the bill 2 and a half times the cost of the last 90 bill? please help
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hi there,
well i'hv just received a letter from BRITISH GAS stating that my direct debit will increase from £136 to £370!! which is more than twice...i'hv call them fews weeks ago asking them why my direct debit have increased??
they goes we have just change ur meter on 12 Dec 2008 and the contractor have give them a new meter reading...(WHICH IS COMPLETLY FALSE... METER HAVE NOT BEEN CHANGE)
1st thing is no one came to change my meter on 12 Dec 2008..i still have an OLD IMPERIAL METER which have been fitted on 14 NOVEMBER 1988...!!!
SO HELP ME PLZ.
WAT SHALL I DO?
I DONT HAVE MONEY TO PAY £370 PER MONTH.
AM A STUDENT.
THANKS IN ADVANCE
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I cannot believe this, didn`t realise the programme had already covered this matter. I moved into this house almost 4 years ago and switched Gas/Electric to British Gas. When my bill first came I queried it as I thought it was way too high. They couldn`t find a problem and me just thinking because I`d moved into a slightly bigger home that was the reason the bills were high. In April 08 I used a comparison website which said by switching to another supplier, this being EDF I would be saving quite a bit of money. So I switched, only to find my bills increasing more. After each bill I have phoned EDF due to the bills being high and in November 08 I was told I was only using 2 units of gas a week. Yet my bill was still £238 a quarter. The man I spoke to said it was just because gas had gone up. I have just received my next quarterly bill which is £532 and nearly fell through the floor as I only have minimum heating on etc and am very energy aware. I have phoned EDF to query this and have been told I have been charged wrongly from day one. They are looking into it and at the moment I am £454 in credit but now I am also wondering if I was also being charged wrong by British Gas?
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My father recently received a bill from British Gas for £428. He lives in a small 1 bedroom flat owned by a housing association. He isn't that old so is out a lot and doesn't have heating on all day. I realised on looking at his bill that they had the meter down as an Imperial. I contacted British Gas, provided them with the meters serial number, which they had correctly? In doing this we discovered that the meter was fitted in 1997, not only did British Gas have it listed incorrectly so did Transco and apparently the National Grid. British Gas are now investigating and hav said they will get back to us. I am planning to speak to the warden of the estate as many of the tennants are elderly and not in good health, how many others are getting ridiculous bills. My father has only been in his flat a year, the previous tennant who is in her 80's now lives downstairs. I will be investigating myself to find out if she was being overcharged for the last 10 years!?!!? It's disgusting!!
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I discovered gas overcharges 2 years after I moved from a four-bedroomed house to a two-bedroomed bungalow. My gas bills were bigger in the bungalow than they had been inthe house. I changed supplier from Powergen to EDF with no saving. I then noticed my meter was metric not imperial. The date the meter had been changed and the initial reading was noted on a label on the meter. When I contacted EDF they immediately recognised that the meter number was metric and made a refund of £460 covering the overpayment between June 2005 and March 2006. Powergen initially refused to consider the matter as "you are no longer a Customer"! Eventually they made a "goodwill" payment of £69 for 11 weeks to June 2005 which coincided with the overcharge but would not admit any error on their part. I wonder how much they had overcharged the previous resident between April 2004 and March 2005!
A phone call to offgem produced the answer that this was a matter between th gas supplier and the customer and did not fall within their remit!
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Re: Gas meters
Blog 8 glasgort says that 'there are nine cubic feet in a cubic yard'. Surely a cube is 3x3x3 so that there are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard. How then can a conversion factor from cubic feet to cubic metre be 2.83 as I am informed by Scottish and Southern Electric (gas).
bbrighton
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I have been with suppliers Scottish Power for the majority of the seven years living in my current residence, providing both gas and electricity supplies. Last year they had to repay me a total of £1400 due to overpayment. My direct debits had risen very steadily which I had thought was mainly in line with the prolific increases we had seen recently. It was only when I decided to look around at other providers I realised how grossly overcharged I had been for just over a year. To the tune of £225 per month for a semi detached house with three bedrooms.
Last September 2008 I commenced paying a total package of £120 per month, I have very recently received a letter from Scottish Power stating that they will as from the beginning of March be charging me £176.50 per month. There is a small part in the letter which states that this increase will make sure that over the summer months monies have accrued to cover my winter bills??? I do not need Scotttish Power to act as my banker. I have contacted them,in the processs waited a whole 14 minutes to be put through to an adviser, stating my displeasure with their handling of my account, they subsequently asked me for my meter readings stating they would contact me in again in an hour's time for confirmation of same. They never called back. I am in the process of emailing them but will cancel my direct debit so they will not be able to take the inflated monthly amount from account if I am not in receipt of an acceptable communication from the company. Has anyone else had this problem recently?
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Hi. I need some help. I have just received my bill from 11/08/08 to 26/02/09. It is with npower i don't think i'm being overcharged in the way above (ie wrong meter) but i think i'm being overcharged someway and I don't know how to sort it out! Ive just been charged for this period £1037.60 for combined (595.21 gas) (442.39 Elec) I already pay £105 per month and now they want to increase this to £146.00 per month. This is obsurd. We live in a 3 bed semi and 2 adults and 2 children and we work full time (so no need for heating or lectric on in day during the week. What is going on and how can I recify this. Its not a meter problem with the gas. Help Please
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I've passed this information to me best friend as she has discovered that this has happened to her.
Thanks Watchdog! :D
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i would like to complain about the service received from British Gas, I have a prepayment meter which British Gas informed me they wont change as my credit rating is not good enough although i don’t owe them any money and never have. The on-stream meter they supply is difficult to use, it takes several attempts each time before it allows gas use and once it does allow a gas supply and stops showing the sign ‘Please wait’ press button A, hold button a, Please try again etc, I have to take up to an hour to reset the boiler.
I have been paying approximately £30 per week for gas sometimes £40 during the cold months, while my next door neighbour whose house is always warmer than mine even though less well insulated pays £47 per month standing order. I work with vulnerable young adults providing tenancy support and know they also experience similar discrepancies in payment. It is wrong that the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society are penalised like this.
All of the above is not why I am complaining, tonight i find myself without heating and hot water because the meter is not happy that i went out without recharging it and now will not accept my payment. When i call for help as requested by the meter i am told i will have to take a day off work as there is nobody available to fix the meter. I am also warned that i will be charged £93 if i don’t make myself available for a gas engineer when he calls even though they can not give me a time besides the next day afternoon or the following morning.
I have three young children in the house, four months old, 5 and 7, they have to be washed and kept warm, there is no other heating besides the central heating. This is totally unacceptable and offering £20 compensation does not cover this inconvenience at all.
On stream meters are horrible to use, pre payment meter prices are extortionate, and the service is appalling, who is regulating this service? Why is it so bad, Please is there anything that you can do to improve it?
Well i am freezing, i need a shower and don’t have an electric one, I have to take the children to school dirty, and then myself go to work dirty. I have paid for the gas i can not use. I am not a moaner but feel that by any standard you can expect to get what you pay for and work hard for, but not with energy anymore apparently. Privatisation not only hasn’t worked it’s created a mess.
The people of Britain have for a long time now resigned themselves to lower standards, lowered expectations of public services like utilities while the rake in profits for the benefit of a few. The British people paid for the foundations of these services that now are so expensive and confusing, these services do not compete with each other as we were lead to believe they would but manipulate and maximise profits for natural commodities like gas that comes out of the earth at minimum of expense and they sell it for massive profit like it was theirs to own in the first place. What a vile world we live
I asked British gas customer service for their complaints procedure and they said i could find it on www.Britishgas.co.uk/codeofpractice which sounded reasonable, however there is no complaints procedure on their site at all or if there is I wasn’t able to find it. the email sent to 'enquiries@energywatch.org.uk' was returned undeliverable, who can you go to to complain?
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I work on the Prepayment department for an energy supplier. Just to make clear- the number of units you use, whether metric or imperial, always need to be converted into Kilowatt hours (KWH). If you have a metric meter there will be 5 numbers on your meter (usually on the front in black) and if you have imperial mtr there will be 4 numbers.
The conversion factor is to change the number of units used into KWH. for metric it will be no of units used x 1.02264 x 39.5(this no can vary slightly) divided by 3.6, if it's imperial it will be the same calculation but you multiply the number of units used by 2.83 first in order to convert it into metres. To find your meter serial number it usually can be found near the barcode on the meter and will start with a letter- probably a letter G if it is a credit meter and a letter L if it's prepayment. In regards to the prepayment questions, the charge the meter takes each week is standing charge (rental of meter) and this has to be paid regardless of how much gas you are using or if you not even using any gas. Some companies say they don't charge standing charge but they in fact hide the standing charge cost in their unit/kwh prices and you will often find that you are paying 2 different prices for your gas/elec- a higher rate for the first x amount of kwh used per year or quarter and then once this x amount of kwh have been used they start charging you a lower rate.
I hope this helps
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