"The big shake-up from British Gas has started". "We're axing the standing charge". "You pay nothing when you're away from home". "We've cut the price of your gas". Most of these quotations from a recent British Gas leaflet won't offend the Advertising Standards Authority - but what is the reality?
Instead of a standing charge British Gas will have a higher price for the first 1143 kWh of gas used in a quarter. But surprise, surprise - the present standing charge is equal to the price difference for those first 1143 kWh!
This means 
that if you use gas only for cooking (say 400 kWh a quarter)
you'll save about £18 a year if you pay by direct debit, or £35 if you pay
quarterly. If you normally use more than 1143 kWh, but turn off your gas for a
complete billing quarter, you could save about a third of these amounts.
Above the 1143 kWh level, the unit price for direct debit payers, and therefore the total cost, is virtually unchanged. The most you will save as a direct debit payer would be around £5 as a heavy user.
The price for quarterly payers has been reduced by a penny for every 15 kWh of gas. You'll save around £10 a year as an average level user (say 4000 kWh a quarter) and more if you're a heavy user. These are worthwhile (nearly 4%) but not gastronomic as the BG leaflet would imply. There is a rebate for prompt payment but Direct Debit is still a better bet for all but the lowest-level users.
Many electricity charges will be changed and Energy perhaps some other gas prices. NfCG's comparative cost tables have being updated, so you can check our web site (http://www.ncf.info) to see who is trying hardest.
A member of Birmingham Consumer Group, Helen Kardar, had an unsettling experience which she related in the Group's February Newsletter. She pointed out that when one uses the telephone services of BT one enters into an agreement with BT and OFTEL together. Under its terms BT may end an agreement with a subscriber by giving a month's notice. A subscriber may do the same but need only give seven days notice. In practice, she says, BT only gives seven days notice at best.
However she received just three and a half days notice, on a Friday, that her phone would be cut off on Monday and her number given to someone else of whom she had never heard. The notice also said that, as the phone was still in her name, she would be responsible for the charges! Naturally she protested at once, by phone, but once started, BT could not reverse the process.
On Monday her phone was cut off and on Tuesday BT thanked her for an order (never placed) for a new phone and she received two final bills, both for the same period, but one twice as big as the other. She was able to have her phone and number restored but it took three calls to have the family and friends discount reinstated. Then there were the bills. She phoned daily but was connected to call centres all over the country and never reached the same person twice. She told the story to nine different people, pressed endless buttons and listened to a symphony of music.
Having been passed all over the country she demanded compensation from the tenth operator, in Lancaster, for breach of the BT agreement. This actually got results and she spoke to someone in authority called Helen who seemed to sort the matter out in a few minutes and offered reasonable compensation. - When Mrs Kardar said that she would never be able to find her again, Helen gave her surname to make this possible.
When a third incorrect bill arrived Mrs Kardar decided to call Helen. She rang BT and asked Trish to put her through to Helen in Lancaster. She gave Helen's full name but declined to explain her story an eleventh time. When the phone was answered, it was Scott in Cornwall!
She is horrified that BT could, in contravention of its own agreement, cut off a subscriber on the say-so of a third person. She is even more horrified at the prospect of all banks, building societies and other organisations where it is important to have continuity of contact, operating through call centres.
The compensation promised by Helen was given and a very polite, but standard, letter of apology received, and the bills are now correct (so far). However a letter written by Mrs Kardar asking what BT was going to do about ensuring that such a disturbing occurrence never happened to anyone else has remained unanswered.
Fuel Poverty Relief is one of those projects that is easier to talk about than to implement. Too many properties in our existing housing stock are energy inefficient and in the hands of landlords with little incentive to upgrade or of the elderly with limited funds.
There are various Government schemes to counter this, but progress is slow. Each year the Department of Trade & Industry issues The Energy Report, priced currently at £39.50. However an interesting summary is issued free as the pocket size booklet UK Energy in Brief and available on. 020 7215 2697.
It includes a graph showing the comparative heating costs of different fuels in 1998. Surprisingly coal and coke were dearest, with gas and electricity close behind but little to choose between them. Cheapest by a third compared with the dearest was oil. Comparisons may well be different for 1999.
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