Upset over £520 gas bill, what do I do?

[pinkmagic1]

Last year I was talked into changing my gas and electricity supplier. The first bill from the new supplier arrived in December and was considerably higher than my previous suppliers but still within what I would call a normal amount. I complained as I had been told I would save money by switching but realised prices had gone up and decided to stick with the new company. The December bill was estimated but the meters where only a couple of digits out so I didn't bother supplying the new readings. The next bill popped through the letter box on Saturday and was for over £500 just for the gas element and was not estimated, but based on a proper reading which I of course double checked myself. The only thing in my house that uses gas is my combi boiler which during the winter I set the timer to heat the house for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening, not excessive in my opinion. The supplier is closed until tomorrow morning so I can't speak to anyone but I am besides myself with worry. What the hell could be happening?

Are they using a metric conversion factor for a metric meter? Have a look on the front of your meter and see if it says a 'M' somewhere, then check your bill to see if it has a metric conversion factor, if it has they are overcharging you.
What the sneeky bastards do is add on a calculation to change your bill from imperial to metric when it was metric in the first place so the bills can be 3 times as much.

The meter is definitely a metric meter as it was installed when I moved into the property in 2002 and does have an M on it. I can't see any definite calculations on the bill but there is a figure with the words 'correction factor' next to it so I am praying this is whats happened Fluffybunnygonebad.

There's normally a calorific conversion and sometimes a metric conversion factor, it's the metric one you need to check for. Watchdog did a bit about this last month so if you have a peak at the BBC web site it will give you more info then I can.
Don't forget about the price hikes they had last year aswell.

I have called the company this morning and the bill is correct! Apparantly we are under average usage too! Just can't believe it, I feel sick. I knew prices had gone up but £520 for a quarter! Would be interested if anyone else has received a quarterly bill or statement from NPower recently for gas for a family of 4 and what the amount was for.

We are with Npower and our last bill was £500. We are a family of 4 and heat the louse less than you.

The HOUSE not louse - but probably are heating lice in this place as well!!

Its disgusting, however I have been on the majority of comparison websites and believe it or not NPower are coming out the cheapest. We are going to shiver under blankets next winter and it will be showers all round, no baths!

I'm so glad I'm on card meteres, we pay no where near that and just pay as we go.

Will never switch to bills.

Sorry, but £520 for an entire quarter for a family that size sounds about right.

we're on LPG, so we pay as we use, too! once the tank gets down to 20% we call to have it topped up.

Prices have nearly tripled since my last bill then. Wish my wages had tripled to cover it!

This happened to me last year, at the beginning of April was talked into moving to Npower by someone on my doorstep. Phoned them about 3 weeks after I had signed something to check that it was cheaper. I was told that they weren't cheaper in my area but as it was more than 14 days since I signed an agreement the transfer was going through. I told them to switch me back as soon as possible but it takes at least 28 days to switch in the first place and then 28 days to switch back.

So I was with Npower for about 2 months and my electricity bill was £230 after being £45 a month on DD with EDF, so more than double what I was paying. I told them I wasn't happy and that I thought I had been lied to by their agent in order for him to get the sale. After many phonecalls I refused to pay and eventually was switched back and ended up paying Npower nothing and it was regarded as an erroneous transfer. Did have scary letters in the post saying they were going to take me to court etc. It was very stressful but I stood my ground in a very nice way of course. Hope this helps.

Paying quarterly bills is more expensive than monthly dd. But energy prices have gone up hugely as I found out in Feb. We'd been on a capped price deal since Nov 2007. It ended at the end of last year and our dd went up massively to accomodate the price hike!!! I worked it out and if we used no more electric or gas than last year (trying to use less!!) our dd would need to increase from £89 to £130. That said it's worth arguing with them because they actually wanted to put it up to £150 a month which I argued against and won.
Be very wary of door to door sellers and those folk who accost you in supermarkets. I was stopped by one fron Eon. He said I would save £130 a year with them. I signed up and took the figures home. I compared the prices with what I was currently paying and they were actually more expensive. I was so cross I went back to the supermarket and confronted the salesman in front of all his prospective customers and asked him to explain how I was going to save money. He couldn't. I told him he'd basically lied to me to get me to sign up. He cancelled the contract and couldn't get rid of me fast enough. Now if I'm approached by energy companies either at the door, in shops or over the phone I ask them to leave their prices and if they are indeed cheaper I'll be in touch to swap. I have never found one who is prepared to do this so they are clearly not confident they are going to be cheaper.

We have a larger family than yours, live in a large house and only have a combi boiler on gas but our monthly dd is just £60 a month and I have come out of the last quater in credit so it will be going down this year to £55 pm I think - just to make sure we are covered if there are any price rises this year.

We are with Atlantic Energy, I have been told they are the cheapest (in fact those sales people outside supermarkets always go away if you tell them you are with Atlantic as they know they cannot beat them). I am shocked at how much different they are!

I would recommend you give them Atlantic a ring and ask them how much the same amount would have cost with them IYSWIM.