I posted this in Ask the Expert...its a reflection of BG's way of making extra money out of us, not necessarily becuase of underpaying.....read on...see what others make of it...

I have been paying my gas by monthly direct debit for years, however in May this year at the 12 monthly review of the monthly amount, BG said I was in arrears as gas used was more than the payments being made and they needed to increase my monthly amount, from £60 per month to £150.00...after some negotiation I got it down to £135.00 p/mth....now the cruncher...they have written to me again saying that due to the recent price increases in fuel costs etc they need to revise my monthly figure to £249.00 per month!!!!!!!!!

Now...I use on average through the year £165.00 of gas per quarter, I am now in credit....so work this out if you will with me.............

£135 p/mth = £405 per Quarter - Only use £165.00 of gas per quarter.....hmmm....so paying £240 per quarter too much!!!!

and British Gas want to increase my monthly payment to £249.00 per month!!!!!!!!! hang on that's £747.00 per quarter....SO I WILL BE PAYING £582.00 TOO MUCH PER QUARTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OR....£2,328.00 TOO MUCH PER YEAR.....lost for words here......

The best bit is that when I rang British gas they couldn't understand the numbers and why I considered it to be unreasonable!! saying that it was due to the recent price increases in Gas.

Now...a very nice lady who I eventually got to speak to, fully understood and agreed, that it is as though British Gas is trying to raise funds through its customers...cheaper than borrowing from the Banks....oh hang on...the banks have run out of money...ahhh that's why they are doing it....hmmm...we pay the government to invest in the banks, and also pay more to British Gas to help fund them....am i missing something or are we all being taken for a ride by the big bonus guzzling bosses...again

The lady at BG suggested I do what she did, because she also cannot afford to pay her gas to BG by direct debit any more, cancel the direct debit and go back to paying the bill quarterly for the gas used...remembering of course to put to one side an amount each month to cover the bill when it arrives...exactly my thoughts...so standing order set up for £62 per month into my bills account ready for the bill...direct debit cancelled...and up yours BG and off to see where i can get a better deal from another provider...using the site to get accurate information of course.

So back to the questions -

1. How many others have experienced the same...and maybe accepted it?????

2. Should British Gas be exposed and embarrassed for this move???

A well and truly gassed of future EX British Gas customer.............

That's more than an increase based on prices alone.. you must have been either in arrears or your usage indicated your payments needed to rise anyway.

Otherwise, that would be a 154% increase, which their prices haven't gone up by. Either you weren't paying enough or they have reviewed your payments incorrectly..

You need to look further than your payments alone as an indication of price I'm afraid.

there are no words i am allowed to use that are strong enough to say how i feel about british gas's price hike, i am paying £11.00 per week for gas and have just had a letter to say it's going up to £28.00 it is xxxxxxx day light robbery they should be shot for what they are allowed to do to the public, i am changing suppliers after 30 years with british gas.