sloppy joe:

Hi sj

I think your dead right to be suspicious of the calaculation though even by BGs admission of £145 average savings it doesn't seem to have been a stonking good tariff.

Since the PP tariff doesn't change and you have start and finish readings its easy to work out what the PP tariff cost should have been over the period. If the BG charge over the period (including the extracted surplus!) is different then their calculation can't be right. That's all you need to challenge the calculation.

This has all the hallmarks of a manually adjusted bill and therefore quite possibly wrong.

Many thanks for your response Jalexa,

I should clarify that it was my Gas Account (which I pay into by direct debit) that was in credit by £226.90 (not my bank account.) So they had access to that credit as soon as they issued the revised bill, and used it accordingly.

Our meter readings were regularly read by both myself and BG personnel during March 2006 and Nov 2008, so we were not in a situation where we were working on estimated readings.

After payment of my normal bill in November 2008 which was based on an actual meter reading (of 31445) my gas account was still in credit by £226.90

They then re-calculated my bill using the same actual meter reading (of 31445) to administer the Price Protection 2006 to 2009 tariff.

I am now noticing on the re-calculation, that they have used the correct (actual) meter reading from March 2006 (of 21346) and the correct (actual) meter reading in Nov 2008 (of 31445) ..to work out the bill, but they have estimated our usage through 2006, 2007 and only adhered to actual meter readings in 2008...

I have all the original bills from 2006 and 2007, and almost all of them were charged on actual meter readings... would the fact that they have used estimates to re-calculate the bill instead of the actual readings influence the overall charge ?

sloppy joe:

Beware the Price Protection promises....

For many people a fixed tariff provides comfort of protection against price rises over the period. It is not a secret that there is usually a tie-in and/or a cancellation fee.

Whether the deal is cheaper or not over several years depends on the product tariff that you signed up to and the standard tariff price movements ...... but you signed up to be insulated from standard tariff price movements. That's what a Price Protection tariff does.

Its not even certain from your post that that you paid more because actual meter reading could have resulted in the actual cost being greater when recalculated. In fact I am fairly certain that the particular Price Protection tariff over 3 years would not be £406 more than the standard tariff for the same consumption. Maybe there is an issue with the recalculation you could dispute.

Such handling of the billing and Direct Debits is inexcusable but sadly not unusual. The customer protection is that there must be notice given for a changed Direct Debit. No notice - demand your bank implements the Direct Debit Guarantee and returns the money immediately.

BG discovered in December 2008 that despite us signing up for price protection in 2006, they had been charging us at standard rates .

We thought we might be in for a pleasant wee windfall, and looked forward to them sorting it all out.

So they worked out our usage from March 2006 until Nov 2008, then applied the price protection tariff.... end result we were due them £406 !!! I was furious as it was their mistake..... they were very sorry, but still took the £406...

So by protecting my prices since 2006 it actually cost me £406 MORE than if I had left them at standard rates !!!

And apparantly the only way they could get their system to get the money from me, was to first empty my direct debit account of my credit balance of £226.90 then create a bogus account showing me as a "pay as you go" customer, and billing me for the rest ...this however caused yet more problems as it then resulted in their system cancelling my direct debit... it was a total fiasco that cost me no end of stress and £406.....

My Gas Price Protection contract finally finished 30 April 2009.....I was most interested to read in their reminder letter to me ...I quote ...

"In April 2006, you chose to fix your prices with our Price Protection April 2009 tariff. This was a great decision because over the last 3 years, customers on this tariff have saved an average £154"

Errrrrr....I don't think so.... !!!!!

Beware the Price Protection promises....they can cost you a fortune in the long run, tie you in as a customer for another term...and they will charge you a fee if you cancel.

Never ever go to BG for a new boiler!! Waaaaay too expensive.

Cat

I would be interested if other people feel that they have been "conned" by BG over a fixed price deal which I signed up to, when BG must have known that the wholesale price of gas was coming down.
I don't feel bound by this agreement and will look around for a better deal.
I would also warn people who are signed up to a maintenance deal with BG to get an alternative quote from a local Corgi registered tradesman if you need a new boiler.
I was quoted over £3000, which supposedly included a discount, and I ended up paying less tha £1500