Readers queries are answered

No need to get heated over gas bills

Patricia McKenna from Donnybrook rang Bord Gáis Energy to enquire about its various tariffs for domestic consumption, to see if she could save by switching to a different tariff.

“I also mentioned that my two most recent bills were estimates. The friendly person who replied told me that Bord Gáis took four readings per year and used two estimates. End of story? No.”

She refers to our recent item on Bord Gáis Energy charges for gas consumed before September 30th at the new (higher) rate. “I became suspicious. I checked my bills and discovered that I had had only one meter reading in 2011; for my July bill. Since then, my bills were based on estimated readings. Today I went to check my meter for the first time since it was moved outside the house yonks ago. It read 4,895 units more than the last estimate, issued on November 3rd.”

She rang the company and said her bills were mostly based on estimates that did not concur with four readings a year and two estimates. She was told that various factors, including the location of the meter, determined how often they were read.

“I said none of these applied in my case. That, since reading PriceWatch, I was concerned that I would have to pay for gas used pre-October at the higher rate.”

She was advised to read her meter a couple of days before her next bill was issued on January 6th and to phone in the reading. “So, it was up to me, the customer, to become more proactive in monitoring my use of gas. I asked why I hadn’t been made aware of the need to do this.”

She said her real concern is for the past. “Being charged at the higher rate for the gas I had used between June 1st and September. Why weren’t customers advised in advance of the need to read their meters to avoid this?” She was told that nothing can be done about being charged at the higher rate for gas used before October.

“I am appalled by the way Bord Gáis Energy has treated customers, especially those such as myself: who have always paid their bills on time. Are we the customers whose meters are read once a year? Where do I go next? Ombudsman?”

We tried a more direct route and contacted the company, which said new tariffs introduced on October 1st applied only to consumption from that date. Customer’s pay the old tariff on energy consumed before that date. “Because we issue bills on a bi-monthly basis, and because some of the bills can be estimates, we recognise that a tariff change during the billing cycle can be confusing. To address this, we give a clear indication on bills when the new tariff was introduced and we also indicate for what period the new tariff will apply,” a spokeswoman said.

She said in circumstances where customers received an estimate, and there is a difference between the actual reading and the estimate, “we will apply the relevant tariff on a pro-rata basis for the time when the gas was actually consumed. A reconciliation between an estimate and an actual meter reading for consumption before October 1st will be done using the old tariff on a pro-rata basis for the billing cycle involved.”

She also said that Bord Gáis Networks are responsible for meter readings for all suppliers and provide readings six times a year. They are required to do four actual readings and two estimates. She said there was “no set requirement in relation to the number of estimated bills that can be generated in any given year. This is because Bord Gáis Networks might not be able to access the meter – although their read success rate is in the order of 80 per cent. For this reason, we encourage customers to submit their actual reads to us.”

Walking back to happiness

More on our Clickable Christmas shopping websites feature. Marie Higgins “patriotically” went for the site we featured which was run by two sisters from Cork but could not access the payment page.

“Anyway, as I was looking for, what in essence would be gimmicks or gadgets, something unusual but useful, I recognised some items as having been on sale in the local Gadget Shop in Dundrum last year. Sure enough, I checked it out again and made purchases in the store.”

She says the advantages are that you can see the item and there’s no postage.

North is not always lighter

Alan Fairbrother contacted us about the VAT increase due in the Budget. “Already there are headlines like, ‘Shoppers to flock North due to VAT increase’,” he writes. “So I checked the Currys UK and Irish websites for a 42 LG LED TV. The UK price was £499 or €582. The same TV on the Irish website is, wait for it, €569 – €13 cheaper – and even if you add the extra 2 per cent VAT increase it would still be cheaper here, if only by €2. So please don’t give the impression that everything will be really cheap up North.” Okay.