Huge Bord Gais Bill

ShelTomato

About a month after we moved in to our new house we called up Bord Gais to sign up for a Level Pay plan, this level pay is €65.65 pm, which is great. However, I just checked my online bill and it says between the day we moved in to the day we switched (18 Jan 2013 to 06 Feb 2013) our bill is €152.36?! For 20 days? This is just for our gas, not our electricity! I've since been paying them the €65.65 pm and they haven't mentioned the outstanding bill yet and I'm afraid to. Anyone have any idea why it would be this high? I mean, it was cold and the heating was on a lot but not any more than normal!

RangeR

Stop burying your head in the sand. Ring them and discuss. They are VERY approachable. Much more so than most other service providers.

198321

ShelTomato wrote: »

About a month after we moved in to our new house we called up Bord Gais to sign up for a Level Pay plan, this level pay is €65.65 pm, which is great. However, I just checked my online bill and it says between the day we moved in to the day we switched (18 Jan 2013 to 06 Feb 2013) our bill is €152.36?! For 20 days? This is just for our gas, not our electricity! I've since been paying them the €65.65 pm and they haven't mentioned the outstanding bill yet and I'm afraid to. Anyone have any idea why it would be this high? I mean, it was cold and the heating was on a lot but not any more than normal!

I switched to BG too, in December 2012 as I get a lot of tesco clubcard vouchers. First I thought level pay is great, but I started getting bills .. Tesco vouchers aren't mentioned, just final amount is lower, I pay 38 euro a month direct debit for electricity, but I got around 150 euro off from Tesco vouchers, yet they still take those 38 euro a month .. so seems to me like at the and of a year I will pay twice as much for electricity as I used ..

I think level pay is good idea, but not done well ... Only have it for discount, but once discount is gone (1 year) I will switch to normal 2-monthly bill ..

ShelTomato

Just a little update on this in case anyone else is searching for the same problem.

So it's a few months later, and our bill has been creeping up every month while we are still on the level pay scheme. Being the silly billy that I am I chose to ignore it and just continue paying the €65.65, thinking maybe it's just a way they tot up the bill that I didn't understand (I suck at this kind of thing)

Anyways, turns out I have to move house again so called them up to let them know that I would be closing the account next month. The lovely lady on the phone informed me that when I close the account my final bill will be €211. Turns out the way the level pay works is, you pay the agreed amount each month, then anything over that price is added onto a running bill, so it collects up and gets bigger and bigger. Then months where you use less than the agreed amount the remainder gets credited towards the running bill. If I had have know this (i.e if it was explained to me when I opened the account) then I would have paid off the running bill bit by bit when I had spare cash.

Sigh. My own fault, just watch out for it, peeps.

RangeR

ShelTomato wrote: »

Just a little update on this in case anyone else is searching for the same problem.

So it's a few months later, and our bill has been creeping up every month while we are still on the level pay scheme. Being the silly billy that I am I chose to ignore it and just continue paying the €65.65, thinking maybe it's just a way they tot up the bill that I didn't understand (I suck at this kind of thing)

Anyways, turns out I have to move house again so called them up to let them know that I would be closing the account next month. The lovely lady on the phone informed me that when I close the account my final bill will be €211. Turns out the way the level pay works is, you pay the agreed amount each month, then anything over that price is added onto a running bill, so it collects up and gets bigger and bigger. Then months where you use less than the agreed amount the remainder gets credited towards the running bill. If I had have know this (i.e if it was explained to me when I opened the account) then I would have paid off the running bill bit by bit when I had spare cash.

Sigh. My own fault, just watch out for it, peeps.

I'm almost sure that BG only re-adjust your monthly payments, every 12 months. As you say, your own fault

ShelTomato

RangeR wrote: »

I'm almost sure that BG only re-adjust your monthly payments, every 12 months. As you say, your own fault

After reading other similar threads on boards just there it seems I'm not the only one who was told on the phone they'd be paying X amount each month, with no mention of a running bill or other costs! We were told our usage would be recalculated every 3 months, it was €56 when we first signed up then readjusted to €65 back in March I think.

RangeR

The Level Pay FAQ [which I'm sure you read before signing up ] are at odds with some of the things you are saying. You may have recourse, to some degree. However, you still owe the money.

Your monthly payment amount is based on your most recent consumption, your previous year's consumption and energy prices. An initial tolerance (typically 20%) is added for variations in your usage. This allowance is made to ensure you do not get into debt and your bills are always covered so no lump sum is required to be paid by you. If the calculated monthly payment varies by €20 we will adjust your monthly payment amount. We carry out reconciliation once per year. If you are in credit by more than €200 then you can claim a refund. If the amount is smaller than this then we will carry the amount forward to reduce your monthly payments for the next year. You don't pay anything extra for your gas by using this payment method.

We won't change the payment amount for small differences in your annual gas bill. But if your usage or the price rises or drops significantly, we'll increase or decrease your monthly payment amount accordingly, so no big amounts are owed or owing at any time.

In the unlikely case that there is no consumption history the monthly payment amount is set at €61

ShelTomato

RangeR wrote: »

The Level Pay FAQ [which I'm sure you read before signing up ] are at odds with some of the things you are saying. You may have recourse, to some degree. However, you still owe the money.

I really dunno what to say here, cos we were told differently on the phone! We called and asked for level pay having moved into the house in January. We were given the level pay of €56pm based on the usage of the last tenant in the house, we were told it would be recalculated every 3 months and it was recalculated in or around March, it was put up to €65.65. There was no mention of a running bill or, well, pretty much nothing else was mentioned. I'm not trying to get out of paying the bill. The lady on the phone when we rang to close the account explained to me about the running bill, that was the first it had ever been mentioned to us.

EDIT: Oh and forgot to mention we had been on a level pay on a different account in our last apartment which was €65pm for gas and electricity, when we closed that account there was no mention of a running bill or an amount owed. Completely forgot about that, the OH just reminded me. :cool:

RangeR

ShelTomato wrote: »

I really dunno what to say here, cos we were told differently on the phone! We called and asked for level pay having moved into the house in January. We were given the level pay of €56pm based on the usage of the last tenant in the house, we were told it would be recalculated every 3 months and it was recalculated in or around March, it was put up to €65.65. There was no mention of a running bill or, well, pretty much nothing else was mentioned. I'm not trying to get out of paying the bill. The lady on the phone when we rang to close the account explained to me about the running bill, that was the first it had ever been mentioned to us.

Unfortunately, it's a hard lesson learned. Don't listen to the sales speak. Research everything.

In this case, I believe it's just down to lack of agent training as there was nothing for BG to gain as the only benefit of Level Pay is to reduce Bill Shock. You pay the same as the regular bill type.

You may have grounds for a formal complaint, if you want. Unlikely to reduce your debt.

ShaShaBear

RangeR wrote: »

Unfortunately, it's a hard lesson learned. Don't listen to the sales speak. Research everything.

In this case, I believe it's just down to lack of agent training as there was nothing for BG to gain as the only benefit of Level Pay is to reduce Bill Shock. You pay the same as the regular bill type.

You may have grounds for a formal complaint, if you want. Unlikely to reduce your debt.

Just to clarify, we were on the same scheme in our last house and they did in fact reconciliate every three months.