Energy prices update
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We've taken them to task over their prices, their billing, their meters and even their door-to-door salesmen. This series it seems the energy companies have given us more to investigate than ever before and most of the time it's your bill that's been the problem. They're either too high or just plain wrong.
In January, we revealed how some of you were being charged almost three times too much for your gas because the energy companies were getting their imperial meters confused with their metric ones. That's why Tony and Donna Merrick received a gas bill for £1,800 when it should have been closer to £600.
Their energy supplier told them that there wasn't a problem with the meter reading. It was only when Tony saw Watchdog that he realised their massive bill was down to that simple mix-up between imperial and metric. Donna put the solution to their energy company - and they owned up. Not only that, it turned out they'd been overcharged for more than they thought and they got a cheque back for £2,500.
"Obviously we're really pleased and just really thankful we saw the programme. Otherwise we'd still have that debt," said Donna.
Dozens more of you say you've now had massive refunds from your energy company too. So if you haven't already, it's worth checking your meter. If it says 'ft cubed' on the front it's imperial and that means the company has to multiply the reading by just under three to work out how much you owe. But if your meter says 'm squared' on the front, it's metric and they don't need to. So if your bill still shows a metric conversion factor, they've got it wrong.
You can view all this series' Watchdog reports on utilities here.
For months the big story has been what the energy companies pay for gas and electricity and what they charge us for it. Since September wholesale prices have halved so why haven't our bills?
In October 2008, Garry Felgate the head of the Energy Retail Association came on Watchdog with a clear promise:
"When wholesale prices come down, the competitive market will get lower gas prices," he said.
42 per cent rise in bills
But when the wholesale price plummeted, our bills didn't come down by anything like as much. The biggest cut was just 10 per cent compared with the average of 42 per cent that they went up last year.
The energy companies say it's not that simple. They say they buy energy months in advance and it takes time to pass savings on to customers. According to them they're acting in our best interests protecting you from what they call the volatile energy market. But are they really just protecting their profits? To find out, we assembled a crack team of some of the energy industry's most respected names.
John Hall runs his own energy consultancy and knows the top people at the big six energy companies, Andrew Horstead has been researching industry trends for ten years and Dr Craig Lowrey has worked for some of the biggest energy consultancies in Europe. They've done some sums especially for us, to tell us, once and for all, whether the energy companies should be charging us less.
Craig believes that somewhere between 10 per cent and 15 per cent could be cut from domestic energy bills. John believes up to 30 per cent could be cut from gas and 15 to 20 per cent from electricity, while Andrew believes that 20 to 25 per cent could be shaved off both.
It's a damning verdict and for John, it's a huge turnaround. When we first interviewed him in October, he sympathised with the energy companies but now he's completely changed his mind.
"I defended them last year because the price was rising," he said.
Drops should be passed to customers
"As the price has come down I'm not defending them. They should pass that decrease back onto the customers, which they are not doing."
Our experts have taken into account all the energy companies' arguments but still believe they should bring down bills more. And they're disappointed no one's making them do it.
"There's no pressure for these guys - you know, they don't need to do it," said Andrew.
"The regulator's not strong enough, Government's not strong enough in addressing this issue, and so the consumer loses out."
When an average of their percentages is translated into real money, our electricity bills could come down by around £60 a year and our gas bills by an average of a £110.
Those figures were arrived at by subtracting the average percentage reduction suggested by our experts from the part of our average energy bill that goes towards the actual wholesale energy cost. Up to two-thirds of a total energy bill goes on the wholesale cost with the remainder paying for things such as distribution and staffing.
Energy company responses
Meter Mix Up:
EDF Energy
"We would like to apologise once more on behalf of EDF Energy to Mrs Merrick for the inconvenience she experienced with the handling of her gas account over a period of time.
At the beginning of March 2009, we received correspondence from Mrs Merrick and it was established that the meter was in fact a 5 dial metric meter as opposed to a 4 dial imperial meter.
As a result, the customer was refunded fully to cover the money owed for the period from 24 June 2003 and 30 April 2008 while she was an EDF Energy customer. We spoke with Mrs Merrick at the end of March 2009 who confirmed she was satisfied with the actions we have taken to rectify her account. We have received no further contact since from Mrs Merrick.
For every complaint we receive, an internal investigation is carried out and a report produced by the senior manager of the area of our business where the complaint occurred."
Energy Prices:
The Energy Retail Association
"Our Chief Executive took part in a live interview on Watchdog at the end of March to explain the issue of energy prices to your viewers. We have real concerns about the accuracy, partiality and fairness of your reporting of the issue and have been in contact with the BBC to voice our concerns. It is for this reason that we feel it would be inappropriate to take part in Watchdog until the matter has been resolved."
EDF Energy
"EDF Energy's effective purchasing of energy has helped provide security of supply for all of its customers and ensured they have remained competitive during this period of unpredictable wholesale costs.
EDF Energy continues to provide competitive prices, deliver excellent service and first-class choice for our customers. EDF Energy is cheapest overall for prepayment dual fuel in 9 of the 14 regions across the UK. We continue to lead the industry with our special help for our most vulnerable customers, notably through our Energy Assist social tariff and the EDF Energy Trust Fund.
Our hedging strategy for both gas and electricity means we try to limit the impact of market volatility on the price for all our customers. We do not buy all our energy in one go. Instead, we buy it over a period of time. In this way we can protect customers to a greater extent from volatility in the wholesale market.
During these difficult economic times, those working at EDF Energy appreciate the financial difficulties many people are experiencing. We are monitoring the wholesale market and we are committed to providing genuinely competitive prices, delivering excellent service and first-class choice for all our customers across the UK. We continue to lead the industry with our special help for our most vulnerable customers, notably through our Energy Assist social tariff and the EDF Energy Trust Fund."
Centrica (British Gas)
British Gas referred Watchdog to The Energy Retail Association and to British Gas's previous comments.
EON
"At E.ON, we're committed to ensuring that we offer competitive prices, excellent service and value for money. Like other suppliers we are impacted by the wholesale cost of electricity and gas which over the past two years (Feb 2007 to May 2009) has risen considerably. Prices still remain around 60% higher today (May 2009) than in February 2007 yet, for the same period our average dual fuel bill has only increased by around 23 per cent. We have offered one of the lowest prices for gas throughout the winter months when our customers have needed to use more gas to heat their homes. In March we announced a decrease of 9 per cent for our electricity customers and we are still one of the cheapest gas suppliers. We continue to monitor wholesale prices and are committed to remaining competitive for our customers."
Npower
"We keep our costs and prices under constant review to ensure we remain competitive and give our customers value for money. We are always keen to bring down prices when we can so we hope for a sustained downward movement in wholesale costs to allow us to do so."
ScottishPower
"ScottishPower has lowered prices for both gas and electricity this year. We protected our customers by being the last to increase tariffs towards the end of 2008 and, at the time of our reductions in March, ScottishPower was one of only two suppliers to implement cuts for both gas and electricity customers. We continually monitor and review our retail prices, based on the long-term costs of wholesale energy and in relation to the competitive market in which we operate.
"The issue relating to Mrs Wiseman's meter, as featured in January, was caused by a manual administrative error whereby the model of the gas meter was incorrectly logged when the Wiseman's moved house and transferred their account. As well as a full apology, we refunded all overpayments and agreed to pay further compensation. This case involved a rare manual error, however, as always, we would ask our customers to contact us if they have any concerns."
Scottish & Southern Energy
Scottish & Southern Energy asked Watchdog to accept the response of The Energy Retail Association.
Take a look at the figures for the actual reductions in bills this year.
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can anyone please help, my grand mother has just recieved a bill from her gas supplier for £2000. she pays every 3 quater and is very distressed at the moment because they are requesteing payment by 21.5.9, 3 days time, yet she only got the letter today. she has the "ft cubed meter", would this be the reason why? need your suggestions please.
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why don't the consumers put one of the energy companies out of business by all switching away from the highest charging company leaving it with no customers???? Then threaten the other companies that if they don't reduce their prices that they could be next.It5 doesn't make sense having more than 2 companies anyway.We are paying too much in management overheads for every energy company.I have only one pair of wires coming to my house so I only need one company
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I emailed npower two days ago and put to them that wholesale price of a barrel of oil is below $50. Whilst other energy providers are reducing their charges and offering at least 10% discount, what is npower going to do with it's customers?
The reply was surprising . . .
'npower have no plans to reduce nor discount energy prices . . .'
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I am with swelec on the easywarm tariff, joint gas and electric, unlimited use. The price has doubled since I have been on this but never reduced. My house has not got any bigger, still only me in it so not using any more gas or electricity. In fact still very careful from an environmental point of view.
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This looks like the energy companies took out forward contracts to buy gas when prices were high last summer, and now consumers are having to pay for bad bets made by these companies, just like the tax payer is having to pay for bad bets by the banks.
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Dont even get me started about British Gas! They sent me my bill (£362 for a quarter Dec - march)last month. I am a single person, work 9-6 every day and travel with work. Granted I have Gas Central heating however no way would I use £100 + per month. When checking my bill I noticed that apparenty this was not an estimate but an actual reading. Whats more the reading was taken when I was in America on 17th December. I called Customer Services to query and was told someone had read my meter in my property!!! I assured the girl that I had not let anyone in my property and had infact been at the other side of the world! Her response "Well someone let us in" "A ghost?!!" I replied as I was so annoyed with her matter of fact attitue!
I ended up giving a "proper" reading and got a new bill - for £107. It infuriates me that these companies get away with this. If that bill had went to my granny she would have just paid it, not knowing any better!
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I have just had my direct debit update from british gas electricity what a shock from £31 per month to £130 per month. I have spoken to friends about it and they say they have had the same thing happen to them
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Annoyed with NPower! I had one of those door to door people come and set up an account in 2008, a combined energy account, 1 month later, I get a bill saying that I have not paid my gas bill, I call Npower and they say that it was a mistake to ignore it. May 2009, I get a bill for nearly £700 and Npower say that I have not paid the bill and that I had not set up a combined account, and all the money I had been paying had gone to the electric account. I'm now on a payment plan but the sticker shock of the bill really has upset me!
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Can someone please explain to me why gas supplied and metered in cubic feet, should be converted to metres squared? If it were to be converted to cubic metres I could understand the logic, but it would be a factor of 0.02 not 3. There are 35 cu.ft in 1 cu.m
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i am with npower and am bemused about my electricity bill the first bill was quartely from 10th jul 2008 - 8th oct 2008 was £257.57 i pay by direct debit every month £105 per month and to my suprise i received the winter bill oct 2008 - april 2009 and the bill has risen to £1321.42 and now npower have raise the direct debit to £279.00 PER MONTH big difference, i live in a 1 bedroom cottage my house hasnt got any bigger so why has the bill now, 6 times more than the original bill, npowers response was" well we did have a cold winter" please can anybody help i cannot afford for the direct debit to rise so much i am at the point of desperation
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Similar story to Maggy_b, with British Gas for my electric only (I don't have gas).
6 months ago I received a letter informing me that my direct debit was going from £35 to £136. I called to complain and they changed the way they read my meter to "a 'single reading' which should help". Last week I received another update, my Direct Debit is now supposed to be going up to £299 A MONTH. I live in a 2 bedroom maisonette and there is no way I can be using that much, is it possible that electric meters can have similar issues to the gas one in tonights episode?
What if the meter has neither 'ft cubed' or 'm squared' on it??
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I saw your programme last night, then this morning got a shock of my own. I got a gas bill from EDF of £891.84! The date was April 2007 - March 2009. I phoned them up to see if there was a computer billing error only to be told EDF had thought I had a metric metre, now they think I have an imperial metre so had undercharged me and now want their money.
I am shocked, angry and upset.
I paid the bills on time in good faith.
It is up to EDF to bill correctly.
If they make a mistake they should not be able to demand back payments for the last year. What other industry is allowed to go back 12 months? The law needs to be changed. In the last 12 months I have lost my job, I can't afford to pay.
Surely their systems and management need changing, not my bill retrospectively.
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I watched yesterday evenings Watchdog and heard mentioned that meters should be 4 dial imperial and not 5 dial metric. I have a pre-paid meter does anyone know if it is the same for these as my meter is metric?
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My Boss told me about the watch dog programme on Energy prices. Npower say we owe them £1000 aswell as paying our Monthly bills. We paid £19 a month 3 years ago in our old house for two years, moved into a smaller house same Electrical items and after 2 years in this house Npower said we were £1000 in debit!!! I compared my parents bill as they have a bigger house more lights, Tvs and everything. They are home alday and night and we are out alday.
Npower have been no help and told me not to use our dishwasher? Haven't got one, don't use our tumble dyer?? Don't have one!!!
I was getting in a panic so went to Citizen Advise and they told me to have kids and live off the state!!! I am sick of this and I am going to go home and check my bills. Any help would be a weight off my shoulders
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Something I'd like to know about all of the people here commenting on high bills - are they to an actual read after previous estimates? If you haven't submitted an actual read for a long period of time and an actual read is obtained then your account will be brought into line and if the actual read is higher than the estimate then that's what you owe. Take some responsibility and then you won't find a huge balance to contend with and suffer a big hike in your bills!
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I too have had many problems with my gas and electricity supplier. Southern Electric seem to have doubled my bills over the past year or two and I do not use any more than before, in fact mu usage is less! Im a single mum with two boys who are at school all day and most days im out the house so use very little. I have checked my metre and it says M3 (metres cubed) so not sure if they are calculating usage correctly, also I have a digital meter and wondered if it needed calibrating so work accuratley. I have complained endless times about my bills but keep being told that I am only billed for mu usage. I am currently paying £61 a month for gas and £71 for electric and they want to put it up to nearly £200 a month for both! I refused as I do not work and cannot afford those extortionate prices! I have gas central heating (which is rarely used) and a cooker which is used reasonably for an adult and two kids so cannot see where my high usage comes in! I really wished I could get an independent person to view my bills and tell me im being charged correctly but dont know where to go to.
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"The regulator's not strong enough, Government's not strong enough in addressing this issue, and so the consumer loses out."
If the regulator can't regulate the industry, what the heck are they there for? It seems to me that the "regulators" in the UK are in the pockets of the industries they are there to regulate. It's all part of a pattern of systemic corruption on the part of those who are supposed to run the country on behalf of the public - instead they run it to benefit themselves.
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Randomcontribution is correct, if you do not check that your bills and you are being billed on estimated readings, then you probably will be over-charged, but it is the customers responsibilty to check the bills when they come in, and provide actual readings if the bill is incorrect. Also, if the supplier cannot access your meters to take readings, they may automatically generate an estimated bill.
Electricity meters are not metric or imperial, so don't start on that, this ONLY applies to gas meters, and in my experience this is very rare for gas meters to be billed as imperial when should be metric.
Electricity meters can have more than one rate, depending on your heating system. I live in a 2 bedroom flat by myself, I am a work 8-5, have a part time job at the weekends and I pay £60 per month.
Some people amy be horrified at this, but this is what I use, so I have to pay for it! Also I would like to point out that when monthly payments are changed, if you have a balance on your account the payments will need to be increased as clearly you are not paying is not covering what you are using every month!
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@randomcontribution
Thank you for talking sense! It seems that a lot of people seem to shift the responsibility of taking meter readings onto their suppliers - in actual fact, it is the individual's responsibility to ensure they take readings where a meter reader has been unable to, for whatever reason. The supplier only has to read your gas and electricity meter every 2 years by law, in order to ensure your meters are safe.
Anyway, with regards the issue at hand: I am disappointed to see Watchdog are re-hashing an old problem when there are surely far more important things happening in the consumer world that need to be documented. Yes, people have experienced mix-ups in terms of their meter details but no, this is not the supplier's fault. If a meter exchange is not updated this is actually National Grid's responsibility (or your Independent Gas Transporter, depending on the area in which you live) to provide your supplier with the correct information.
Plus, I would really like to emphasise that this issue only relates to GAS meters, not ELECTRICITY meters - there is no conversion for electricity, 1 unit = 1 kilowatt hour (kWh). I haven't got time to chastise the rest of you for obviously not reading your bills properly, but here's an idea - read your meter, take ownership of your own supply and pay for what you use!!
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After having been told by British Gas that my bill was so high (£741.31 for the quarter) due to them having the incorrect serial number on the meter they installed and that I should not pay this until they had sorted the problem, have just sent me another bill this time for £1,723.10. After numerous conversations with them I have now been told that even though the serial number was wrong the bill is correct and the reason for it being so high is due to inflation. I have since had a quote from Southern Electric for a years supply of gas totaling £650.
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I work for npower. If your meter is hcf or ft3 it's an imperial, if its m3 its a metric. The error exists when your imperial meter is changed to metric but its very rare that a supplier misses this. If people took reads everytime they received a bill then most problems would be resolved. I agree billing should be more transparent. Ask suppliers for energy efficiency advice, you may not think you need it but it could open your eyes to what things use and how to save money. Better in your pockets! Estimated readings are the biggest cause of complaints, put a stop to them!
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to brianfollett.
on metric meters, one unit is one meter squared but on an imperial meter each unit is 100 square feet.
also (and this goes out to very one, it is not a requierment that every meter be changed to metric, imperial meters are being phased out but they still work fien and as long as the bill is being calculated corectly there is no promlem.
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