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2 Questions from a pre payment gas meter customer

Why does it cost more for prepayment - it should cost less since no debt department needed for those customers ?

It seems Gas prepayment device is stoneage compared to new electricity prepayment. I would investigate more how the gas prepayment works but too scared about being blownup :)

I currently work for a large Domestic gas and electricity supplier and will agree that hidden secrets on the meters is a big factor in the billing process. on a daily basis we recieve calls from customers who complain about excessive bills, and they think we are trying to fob them off with the story about a faulty meter whichis ticking over faster than what it should.

In response to Colin's post, yes Pre-payment meters are more expensive than standard meters with no real explanation why... the only thing i would refer to is the similarity between this and pre-pay phones. if you are not guarenteeing a company a set amount of money or any long term loyalty then it seems that the company will look to charge more.

if there are any problems with the meters themselves it is always advisable to contact Transco. if the meter is ticking higher than it should then there may be a risk that there may be some gas escaping. always get this checked.

and finally for Colin, ask your current supplier about the prospect of changing from a PP meter to a standard meter. it shouldn't cost any thing and you get close to half price costs by switching to Direct Debit.

Hello sir,I have a problem with my gas meter,I hope you can help me....

I do not use any gas during the summer,because I use an electric shower,and my hot water from the tap is not working no more..My heating system(gas system is off,off course,during the summer)so,I do not use any gas from May until Octeber,basically,but my gas meter carry on turning,and I get bills like if I was using gas...

How is that possible??

While waiting for your answer,have a very good day.

Bruno

Hello Martin,

An alternative source for meter accuracy data might be National Grid, who procure the majority of meters in the UK gas market and do more statistically robust testing than that in the Ofgem report.

OK, I doubt they would be able to provide you with any more information (especially the juiciest bit) but they - and their competitors - do this testing to help maintain an accurate meter population and/or determine meter replacement policy so there are controls in place.

The main reason for the higher price for pre-payment meters? The meters are more expensive per unit to make and require more visits to service them once installed.

Regards

David

My gas is supplied by Southern Electricity (SE)(Hampshire area) and according to a bill dated 10 November 2006 the calorific value (CV) of the gas is 39.6385 Megajoules per cubic metre.

In 2002 I terminated my agreement with British Gas and their final bill (April) showed the CV as being 39.3.

The CV given in Mj/cubic metre on consecutive statements has varied as below:-
From SEEBOARD

Dated --- CV
09/02 --- 39.4
10/02 --- 39.6
11/02 --- 39.6

1/5/03 --- 39.3
6/5/03 --- 39.3 amended bill
1/9/03 --- 39.3)
1/9/03 --- 39.7)
5/9/03 --- 39.5)
5/9/03 --- 39.6) Bit of a mix-up!

The format of statements changed when Southern Electric submitted them.

27/01/04 --- 39.3256
29/04/04 --- 39.2477
26/07/04 --- 39.3303
28/07/04 --- 39.3314
27/10/04 --- 39.3593

27/01/05 --- 39.3927
25/04/05 --- 39.2910
26/07/05 --- 39.4318
26/10/05 --- 39.4946

26/01/06 --- 39.0336
05/05/06 --- 39.0191
11/05/06 --- 39.0257
26/07/06 --- 39.5447
31/10/06 --- 39.2688 On estimated
10/11/06 --- 39.6385 On amended

So, I have been cheated out of about 18 pence because although the company say the CV is averaged over the period of the statement, the original and amended statements show the same dates of meter reading: ergo, the average CV should be the same.

How many more people are being cheated? It seems that CV's on amended statements (because meter readings had been estimated incorrectly perhaps) might be higher than on originals.

Readers. Get checking

Why should the CV vary so quickly? Is nitrogen added occasionally to lower the CV?

I moved into this house late October 2002 had new boiler fitted Jan2003 had high gas bill question Scottish Power about the gas meter was told Transco would have to check it and they would not pay for the check, so went on to prepayment, only way to get rid of the old meter. Phoned again as I was gaining a lot of credit in my account, they told me it was for my debt I then pointed out I did`nt have any debt so they sent me a cheque, that was fine until the tarrif went sky high again as I pouring money into the gas, so I questioned it, I was told that Transco had made a mistake on the numbers on my meter when they fitted it and they wanted the cheque back, this was after three years, and for good will they would only charge me half I asked for details of the dept of Transco who dealt with my meter but they refused and I got a bill from them yesterday, I rang them and they promised to look into it and ring me back today I did not get a phone call. Could anyone give me a contact number for Transco so I can find out why I am paying my own money back to Scottish Power.

Hi
Customer service no longer counts with either gas or electricity companies
It took over a year to get a correct reading from Yorkshire electric [ had been reading the meters wrongly for over 2 years]
and 8 months from British gas [ promised statement took 8 months to arrive no answer to 24 emails using their House site and their " Award winning customer service " ]
I would advise everybody to take their complaints to ENERGYWATCH as the power companies do not like having their mistakes recognised officialy

I have been having a problem with meters from the electricity suppliers in my area (south-west Durham) for many years now. Back in 1999 or 2000 the then supplier, Northern Electric, told me that it had been misreading a meter in the house we were then living in for the time we had lived there, then about 10 years. They presented me with a bill for over £1000, which they really couldn't justify and which I ignored, and they appear to have ignored. We moved house about three years later, and during that time, Northern Electric were taken over by npower. The new house had a prepayment meter which I had changed to a credit meter. Within about six months npower woke up to the alleged debt from the previous house and said they were transferring us back to a prepayment meter. At the time my 91 year old father-in-law was very ill and my wife and I didn't really have the time to take much notice. The change over took place and we received the key saying we owed over £700 on the credit meter -which had been installed for about 6 months - (for a cottage which is one room downstairs and two tiny bedroom upstairs!) and this would be collected at £7 or £8 a week. For the reasons above we didn't query this at the time. I also began to receive letters from debt-collectors instructed by npower in respect of the money said to be owing from the previous house. Each time I received oneI said I wasn't paying and that they were welcome to sue me and satisfy a District Judge that the money they were claiming was properly due. Nothing was ever heard in response. Then, at the end of last week we received another letter from npower with a new key saying we owe in excess of £500 which will be collected at £10 a week - over 50% of the cost of electricity we use. On querying this, we received, just this morning, a bill which is totally meaningless as npower have regularly told us in circular letters that they don't furnish accounts for prepayment meters. How is it possible for me to find out whether all this bamboozling information I am getting is in anyway correct, or can these companies just dun me for money for ever?

I have been a customer of powergen for over 4 years. when i first moved in they installed a new meter.

in these four years they have estimated my bills for gas. They have read my electricity meter but not my gas meter. after four years of estimations they have now read the actual reading of my gas meter... so now my bill is over £1000.

The first prob...my gas and electricity meters are outside and next to one another shouldnt they read both??
They have been charging me a prepay meter costs.. so I was at a higher rate..!!!
I live in a 1 bed flat and the bills seems excessive..!!
is there no law which requires them to check meters within a certain period ...!!
what shall i do any advice..

i work for national grid (formerly transco)
alot of info here is very wrong!!!!
to collette, there is nothing NG can do about your mtr in question,ur being fobbed off by ya gas supplier. they all do it as we are the only 24/7 365 gas related company that always picks up.
its very frustrating recieving calls on a weekend from desperate cold people who's prepay mtr has broken, there is NOTHING NG can do about it except give u the tel.no 4ya gas supplier who dont even work weekends.
p.s national grid do not hold the recored for meter readings and changed mtr's
always go to your gas supplier for that

My Gas Meter was changed in May 2006 from a Cubic Foot reading to Cubic Meter.

My average daily reading over the winter months have jumped from 3 cu ft peak to 8 cu meters

The boiler is coming up to 14/15 years old.

Should I get the meter checked first or replace boiler?

do you have your boiler serviced regularly e.g every 6/12 months?
normally the corgi installer will do a check on the mtr anyway before he/she would install a new boiler.

Dear Martin

Both my gas and electricity are with Powergen. I also have problems with my gas meter reading. I seem to have high meter reading even in the summer and they estimate my reading everytime and I pay these amount every time. But now I have checked my meter reading and now it looks like my gas maybe over £2000.

What can I do and is there anyway to prove that I haven’t been using that much gas (as they estimate how much gas I used… surely they have an idea that is roughly how much I used rather than over £2000).

I need advice and am afraid that I need to pay this amount even though I feel the gas meter is incorrect.

Hello Martin
I wonder if you can help?.
I have recenly move house, from a large 3 bed end terrace to a smaller 3 bed semi. Within the first three months I move Gas suppliers. I have detailed below the reading that have come from our Gas metre
All the reading are based on Cubic Meters
Move in : 8480 21/10
Change over to new supplier: 8835 12/12
New reading: 9266 24/01
As you can see there are large amounts of gas usage here, however I only use the Central heating for 2 hour in the am, and 4 hours Pm. Cooking every day in the evening on the Gas cooker.
Over the seven day period i measured the meter reading daily with the following results
24/1 9270- 25/1 9280- 26/01 9290- 27/1 9302- 28/1 9313- 29/1 9320- 30/1 9328.
this equates to a usage of average 58m3 per week. This to me is excessive as in my last property I used half this amount. I have sat and watched the gas meter and am amazed at the speed the dials turn, I can sit and watch the meter turn with the eighth digit turning at a ratio of 80 per minute.
I have spoken to the previous gas supplier and current and neither seem to be interested, both say "this is normal usage" in my calculations these figures will equate to a monthly bill of £100 +. I just don't understand how this can be correct. I do not feel I can trust the suppliers.
Are my concerns warranted ?
What do I do ?

I have recently moved into a new house, our old house was still using imperial gas meter and after a month the new house had a cubic metre meter fitted. My bills have gone up to £300 for the last quarter, a massive discrepancy between our old house and the first month in the new one. i am shocked at this rise. Are these metric metres set differently??Are the companies seeking to speed them up because with higher average daily temperatures we would be consuming less gas?

i Live in a tiny 1 bed bungalow, my land lady lives next door in a large 5 bed house. my cooker etc all all electricity as is my shower. the only thing i use gas for is 3 radiators that i only put on a few hours during the winter, the bedroom has no raditors so i use an electric space heater. i only turn the boiler on for 2 mins every day to do the dishs as the water in the kitchen is heated instantly once the bowl is full i switch off the boiler. i dont have a bath only an electric shower so the boiler goes on a total of approx 2 hour a day in the winter and 2mins in the summer. yet my last bill was £260 for 3 months. my landladys bill was less than this and she always has her heating on due to the size of her house and her cooker is gas and she has a bath every night. british gas replaced my meter when my last bill came in at £195 so it has actually increased! plus the landlady has price protection. BG have said the boiler and the meter are fine HOW THE HELL IS MY BILL SO HIGH!!!!!

Hi

I too have had the Gas meter changed recently and yes the meter is displaying far too many numbers. For example: I worked out that one unit on my old meter was equivalent to one pound owed, since the rises. So, as you can imagine? I was shocked at the dramatic increase in cost suggested by the new meter.

I contacted the meter service who told me to contact my supplier.

The person I spoke to on the phone was very aware of this problem. I was told they used different calculations for different meters.

For example: a reading of 130 on a new meter, still equates to - approx - 45 on an old one.

I have also seen on another web site [see below] that the calculation used to convert a cubic meter reading (M3) - a new one - into Kilo Watt Hours (KWH) is to multiply it by 11.2.

For example:

100 units x 11.2 = 1120
1120 x 3 pence a unit (KWH) = 3360 / 100

Which is £36.60

I have had a bill yet but will be keeping a close eye on things.

Hope this helps?

tEg

I moved into my home 6 months ago and unwittingly got stuck with NPower (they used the old 'verbal contract' trick, which I was not wise to at the time) and have put me on a business contract... I have just one room out of 9 which is used for business (a small gift shop which is only open 1 day a week). On receiving the contract I phoned them and explained that I didn't believe I should be a business customer as the contract stated that I could not be a business customer if the premises was also residential - which the majority of the building is. They told me that because I'd already entered into a 'verbal contract' I could not change and was stuck for the next couple of years.
My first question is : are NPower legally allowed to hold me to a contract when their contract states that I can not be a business customer if the majority of the premises is residential?

I have a second question which relates to my meter (electric) - it's a very old meter and I was wondering if, by law, these needed to be checked or updated at any point? Our last bill was extremely high and yet we do not have any heating or the regular mod cons which you'd expect to guzzle electricity and we can not work out why it is so high... we did wonder if the meters were faulty. On suggesting this to NPower they simply said 'that's not our problem' and would offer no help.
Your advice would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time :)

Dear Martin

Lke couple of people who have posted concerns, I have had my meter replaced in November and since then my meter reading has shot up drastically. They have sent me an estimate for £260 based on 250 reading but my reading is over 1300 and I hate to work out how much that will be ( well in excess of £1000 I guess) for Two of us and a todler. I dont think that we have used that amount of Gas- we have heating/use as much as some others we know and they tell me their bill is no way near that much . Can you tell me if the meter can be manipulated by the providers or could be faulty?

We have just moved into a rented 1-bedroom flat and only then found out that we have the prepayment method of payment, which as we heard before, will cost us more. Within one day, we had the heater on for about 6 hours and we just used gas to cook for five minutes and the credit in the card was gone. Normally we will cook more, so we are thinking how much money a day will we use. 10 or 15 pounds? That is from 70 to 100 pounds a week. Is this normal or is there some kind of a fault? How long does it take to change for the standard meter?

I have recently switched my energy supplier'and am required to read my meter for the new supplier'I am uable to do this as I have misplaced the key for the outside meter. Is it possible get a replacement? If so could you tell me where from?
Barbara Roberts

Dealing with customer complaints for a major energy provider, I often come across cases where customers report that their prepayment meter is faulty as they think they are having to purchase too much money. On investigation, the vast majority of these cases are due to the customer being unaware of the amount of energy used by certain appliances, not operating appliances in an energy efficient manner or a faulty appliance within the property. It is extraordinarily rare for a meter (either gas or electric) to be found to be recording inaccurately after a test of the equipment.

In addition, a number of prepayment meters are installed to recover arrears where no payment or very little payment has been made towards previous bills and the only remaining option is to install a prepayment meter with a weekly debt recovery value. Customers who have then not paid for their usage previously are then required to pay for their ongoing usage plus an amount towards their arrears, leading to them incorrectly assuming they are being overcharged.

The misconception that they are being overcharged is more due to misinformation or lack of information provided by customer reps rather than a problem with the meters themselves.

Historically, prepayment meters have been more expensive than standard meters due to the cost of servicing these customers and the extra infrastructure required to service prepayment customers - such as the provision of tokens, gascards and electricity keys along with the large number of emergency callouts arranged for customers who have gone off supply (a number of which, discovered when an engineer attends, are due to failing to purchase credit for their meter). However, although prepayment meters are significantly more expensive for suppliers to provide and operate, a number of suppliers now do not charge an excess for using a prepayment meter.

Geoff Peacey - 30/11/06
I work in the energy industry and just wanted to pick up from this thread...
Firsty, the CV (or Calorific Value) that consumers see on their bill is the energy content of the gas that is being used - this is where the Megajoules per cubic meter comes into it. This figure is provided to the gas supplier by the gas transporter in your area (for example, National Grid - formally Transco). The gas transporter will check the energy content of the gas using a device called a calorimeter, which takes readings every 8 minutes. The number that consumers see on the bill is an average of all these readings for the billing period.
Due to the chemical construction of natural gas, the energy content will fluctuate gradually all the time; this is mainly due to the percentage of Methane within the gas being supplied. The typical make-up of the gas is approximately 93% methane, with the remaining 7% being ethane, propane, butane and other hydrocarbon, not forgetting the added ingredient to give the gas its familiar scent. As this proportion of methane rises, the CV will rise also; in contrast, the physical amount of gas that passes through the meter will decrease. If the constitional percentage of methane decreases, then the CV lowers and the amount of gas you need to use will increase.
I hope that this will help you out - if you have any further questions, please repost and I can try and address concerns.
Ben

I have been having problems with my pre-payment meter for a while now.

Yesterday - EDF arrived to check my meter. They replaced it with a new pre-payment meter and then almost acused me of meter tampering.
They said the seals on the meter weren't theirs and could I explain. The only comment I could make was that I had a load of electrics done at the property almost 3 years ago and that was the last time the electrics had been touched.

Now this morning, 1 day after their visit, I have recieved a bill for:

Adstracted units £600.44
Standing charge £ 53.02
Labour and Administration £158.00
Damaged meter charge £115.15
Initial credit on replacement meter £10.00

Equating to £936.61

This to me seems an absolute con and darn right extortion.

They say that they will be taking this debt out at a rate of £10 per week on top of my electricity usage.

Where do I stand legally and can they actually make these bills up like this?????
This meter at one point read £-47.00 and yet it was still giving my house electricity.
Why should I be paying for their faulty meter and how can they force me to pay this debt????
I am still onpre-payment so at the mo I don't have a say as if I don't buy thier electricity my house will be in total darkness - they have me over a barell.

Following on from a post made by Bruno back in December, is it usual for the meter reading to increase even though all demands for gas from within the house are OFF. Following a recent higher than normal gas bill, I asked the staff at PowerGen how I could have my meter checked or re-calibrated. After being informed that it would cost to carry out such a process I decided to do a basic check myself before committing more money to the PowerGen coffers. Turning OFF the central heating and hot water demands at 2230, I switched them back on the following morning at 0630. The meter reading over that 8hr period had increased by 0.75 units. Doing the maths, over 24hrs this equates to 2.25 units which over a 90 day billing period is just over 200 units. Based on my last bill, this is over 20% of the total. The pilot light for the boiler is electric therefore have I got a leak or am I being ripped off. Thoughts would be appreciated.

Phil

Your bioler pilot light is gas

In response to Paul, from National Grid Gas.

The British Gas emergency call out lines are also open 24/7/365, for customers of ours who have home service contracts.

We also take a large number of misdirected calls out of hours- it's not just you.

Does anyone actually get a reply from Martin Rosenbaum?

I didnt!

Jason -
Sorry about that. I have tried to explain matters in another entry on my blog, here:
/blogs/opensecrets/2007/04/warning_this_is_not_about_gs_m.html

Martin

Hi there, I am a British gas prepayment customer. I have never had a credit meter in any of my properties and therefor never been in debt with BG. I went away for a week recently and left the gas meter on emergency credit, as I had no time to top up my meter. I went away and the meter was on about £4.70 used of the emergency £5 credit. I only have central heating as I use a halogen hob and electric oven. I however turned my boiler off whilst I was away for obvious safety reasons and energy reasons. I returned today to find that the meter was at £8.98 debt. I don't understand why I was being charged when there is no gas usage and the meter has gone into lock out mode due to the fact that it has gone beyond the EM credit barrier. Is it because BG charge a standing charge, or is my meter at fault. I tried ringing BG today but was told by the computer generated voice that there was a 45min response time for customer services. I wasn't going to hang on the phone paying 10 pence per minute just to listen to westlife. I tried investigating the House.co.uk website and found a page which explained my meter and there is no debt from previous tennants. I however cant find any details on if, and how much htey charge for standing charge. I would gratefully ask if anyone can divulge this info, thanks.

I think a bigger rip-off is when the utility companies raise their prices and then send an estimated bill. Who's to say they don't over-estimate the bill to get extra revenue? The answer is simple, utility price rises should only take effect from a bill with *actual* readings (and excluding customer readings as they'll have an incentive to under-quote their 'phoned-in meter readings).

A step I'd like to see is intelligent meters that will be able to act on a usage quota (set by legislation at a level that depends on the size of household) and, after several audible and visible warnings broadcast to an in-house unit, cut off the power if the user exceeds their quota! A less 'nanny' approach would be to introduce Carbon trading at the end-user level with higher prices over the quota and discounts for under-use. What an incentive to be Green!

Before privatisation the Electricity Boards used to run a process of replacing electricity meters at domestic premises and sending the old ones to the 'Meter Proving station' to be tested for accuracy, adjusted or scrapped as appropriate.

Since privatisation it is my understanding that the meter is considered to be the responibility of the consumer. Is this correct? Certainly there appears to be no routine checking of meters by supply companies.

I had a new gas meter installed last week and am alarmed by how quickly it is clocking up gas usage - it is in my living room and is also incredibly noisy. We thought we had a mouse at first but then tracked the noise down to the gas meter. I am trying to get the problem sorted out by ringing my gas company - Scottish Power - but their metering department never rings back and they say they can't put me through directly.

Is this noise normal? My last meter wasn't noisy - does anyone have any suggestions?

Martin

Being suspicious of Service companies and after rview of several entries on your site re - changing of meters, I have just had my meter changed out, by the request of the supplier (its an old type they say ..9 yrs old??)
The first thing I said to my wife was - I bet the meter tarrif and units used go up!!
Why do they do this?? the meter was not that old, is this a way of getting more money by changing the way the meter reads the Gas consumed.

Plaease be so kind as to respond and put my mind at rest or otherwise.
Thank you.
Paul

If you want to post a comment here, please read this first - otherwise you may be wasting your time:
/blogs/opensecrets/2007/04/warning_this_is_not_about_gs_m.html

Please could you tell me who or where i can get help in getting someone to test my gas meter. £463 is a lot for one month.

I moved into my current rented accomadation just over a year ago and since that time the gas meter has not moved a digit. I have notified my housing officier and gas company but nobody seems overly interested. for all i know the meter has not worked for years, so once it is fixed will i get a bill the size of Norways national dedt, or will it get scrubbed and i can buy new tyres for the car?
P.S i agree about that goverment information freedom and stuff, popcorn is cool too.

To D Hodgkinson - If ur sure there's a problem and it's not down to lots of estimates or something, U can request ur gas supplier to get ur meter tested, this would be exchanged for a new one and sent off to an ofgem test centre. They may charge for this cos they get charged, but if the mtr is faulty they don't get charged. Ofgem state the level of inaccuracy where they can establish it. Ur supplier should be able to explain there process to u.

Rod - unless u bought ur mtr it's owned by someone else, most are NGrids but not all. It will be inspected for safety when it's read. This should be not less than every 2 years lots of suppliers attempt it quarterly/ 6 monthly.

Martin - It's probably not the suppliers fault, Some mtr owners list out the older mtr's they have each year and set about changing them for newer models.

A mtr 9yrs old might have been imperial registering in hundreds of cubic feet. All meters installed now are metric registering in metres. It will move faster because every 1 on the imperial is 3 ish on the metric.

Your old bills, if you have them should indicate what it was.

In response to Robbie question as to why his pp meter would have ran up a debt even tho he was on holiday is due to the fact that pp meter charges standing charge. Credit meters also have standing charge applied to them however this is not out rightly charged. It is placed in the elec and gas unit price. If your supplier applies a primary and second rate. What you are in fact paying in the primary rate is the unit price and also the standing charge. The secondary rate just charges you the unit price

i changed gas supplier, not long after,i got a letter from ng,wanting to change my meter,me and my husband do not use a lot of gas and our bills are quite low could you tell me if i have to have the meter changed.there is only our house,out of 25 houses on the close being done.ng said ours was old but they are all the same age.thankyou.

I have been in this three bedroomed house for six years and have been paying for gas and electricity from British Gas @ £100 per month even though I live on my own and am out of the house for 8 hours a day. This month they wrote me a letter to say that owing to the amount of electricity I am using my direct debit will increase from this month to £235 per month for electricity alone and I will still be paying £35 per month for gas. My previous amountfor electricity was £70 per month which I thought was too much looking at my neighbours bills. Can anyone explain how one person who uses one oil filled radiator and the normal eletrical aplliances, TV Computer and electric lights be using that amount of energy?
Thanks
Maureen

please could you help,
I have a gas meter in my kitchen which is 4.5 m - 2.0 m which is very much in need of renovation. I have asked my supplier if it would be possible to relocate the meter outside, they said yes at a cost of £708.00 + vat, I can not afford that amount and it seems expencive to move a meter 4.0 metres.
ps. the meter is on the ground floor of my house

Hi Can anyone help please

Our prepayment meter ran out of credit last night. I put £20 on card and expected to be able to use it - it says £15.74 avaliable for gas now but none of my gas fire, central heating boiler nor gas cooker will work now - should I be switching some valve or other on somewhere else?

Please help, I'm freezing!

We have received a notification from dataserve UK, that they will be coming to replace our electricity meter, something they say they must do by law. The meter is less that 5 years old. What is the reason for the change of meter? and how often should this legally be done?
Can anyone please
help?

I have a Quantum meter to pay for my gas. It was set at £10 per week to recover a debt. Each week I have been loading the meter to cover the debt and leave enough for the gas. I noticed however that the meter has been taking approx £2 every night for using nothing. I thought I would check what was happening, so switched off the supply. (believing that no gas was being consumed therefore no charge) Another £2 was taken by next morning. This kept happening. I queried this with BG who basically tried and failed to browbeat me into saying I was in the wrong and that I'd got it all worked out incorrectly. She even said that it was probably charging me for what was left in the pipe. The assistant did offer to get the meter checked for £140 (refundable if found faulty). I declined her offer. In the end I told them that I would just load the meter with what I needed each day, let it run dry and self disconnect. The meter can't take what isn't there and doesn't. I told her I know how the meter works..with that she tied off the call 'with thanks for calling British Gas'. I know I am not the only person who had this problem and the other person's account stinks gassier than mine. I think that British Gas know more than they let on about their prepayment charges.
Anybody else trying to stealthily take money from people would be charged with embezzlement. Who else has been charged this way?

cheryl:

it cannot charge you for what is in the pipe because it charges you for what pass through the governor (the big bit top left of the meter) so if it charges you for what remains in the pipes it is double charging you as you have already paid for it because it has already passed the meter.

i work for national grid and take the gas emergency calls. you wouldnt believe the amount of calls i get about pre-payment meters. before we would come out if the credit is going down too high incase of an escape but we dont no more unless the customer states that they suspect a gas leak because 9 out of 10 times it is down to extra usage or a fault with the pre-payment side. did you know the pre-payment side of things is actually down to your supplier ?
Worst of all with pre-payment meters... if you get an error on the display only your supplier can help you and most of them dont have out of hours you have to wait. i took a call recently who had an error and about 9pm fri evening and had to wait till monday working hours to get his supplier who was a large supplier. which means no gas untill then either. pre-payment is far greater problems than problem solver. i did hear that they do also take about £1 a week just for being a pre-payment meter although i never did confirm it

I had my meter changed because I asumed I must have a leak when my monthly gas bill from British Gas was £157.00, and at the same time changed to Powergen because I was fed up with no customer service at all from british Gas.
Now I know the meter was faulty because I kept it and it's still clocking up units even though it,s not connected to anything, and my new monthly bill is £11.00.
Where can I get the meter tested because as I changed supplier at the same time as replacing the meter both Powergen and British Gas refuse to do it, both saying it's the others responibility.

hi,
i had a prepayment gas meter fitted about 6 weeks ago. i have noticed that my gas is going very quickly. on monday afternooni put £10 on my card, by wed morning it was gone so really that is £10 worth of gas in 1 and a half days. this cant be right can it?

Can anyone help we have a pre payment gas meter local supplier is edf energy we want to know how much rental is per day when we are away the meter still uses money as if we were here even when we turn off gas at meter for example if there is £10 on the meter and we are away for 5 days and it has taken approx £6 to £7 pounds to these meters take money as and when they feel like it .if no gas being used why such a big charge. many thanks .

Tony, I am in the process of complaining to my supplier regarding the amount I am being charged for my gas supply. I have recieved an email back stating that I am being charged 38p a day for the privilege of using a prepayment meter not that I was given a choice in how I pay for my gas. 38p per day may not sound a huge amount but if you do the maths this equals over £138 a year (just for using the meter). I also have a prepayment electricity meter with Scottish Power they only charge 19p a day which is (a bit) more realistic. I have just sent the following email to Npower, so I will reply & let everyone know what response I get....

In my response to my previous communication (Reference Number: 95227149). Regarding the 38p a day or £138 per year standing charge being levied on my account for the privilege of using one of your prepayment meters. Before I consider changing supplier & complaining to Ofgem. I would like to know what options are available to me. Would it be possible for me to have a standard meter installed as I am on a low income and I have never been given a choice in how I pay for my gas supply. I find the standing charge alone equates to roughly 30% of the total cost of heating my apartment and having compared the charge of my prepayment electricity meter I find that your charge is double that of Scottish Power (my electricity supplier). While 38p a day may not sound a great amount, I'm sure you are aware that you entice new customers in with an offer of saving upto £80 a year in gas charges. How then do you justify charging such a high rate for the standing charge on the prepayment tarrif?.

For the last 12 months or so i have had no joy in getting my prepayment meter changed for a standard meter; British Gas now want to exchange my prepayment meter for a 'like-for-like' meter stateing that my present meter is old (for safety reasons) I am thinking of refusing this request/exchange unless they (BG) fit me a standard meter as requested.......would I be in my rights to do this?

no gas used between december & january 08 still received a bill for £30 meter still turning very slow even though not using gas, is this normal, regards steve.

hi there, im concerned about my electric usage...all of a sudden from Nov last yeas my usage has shot right up, yet nothing has changed reguarding my apliances. In nov i got a bill for £298, this was on top of the monthly dd i was paying. So i switched of my 3 storage heaters thinking this would save me money ....but no i increased my dd by £15 per month yet still my next bill was £298 above my dd. So i rang to pay it, and then mentioned my reading was estimated ....soon as i gave the reading i was informed i then owed another £301.48 ? how can this have gone up i asked. in reply they said i'd used it - pay it . i then took another reading to see how much i used in a typical week. which is £46 !!!! this is with no heating on ...im sat here cold and am still paying this massive amount, i live alone in a 2 bed terrace. they wont do anything to help me find a solution without me having to pay yet again .....i really cant afford this at all yet no one seem to care at British Gas ....do you have any advice for me of where to go from here ? it feel like im paying for the whole streets electric !!