Resident urges community to submit timely gas meter readings after seeing bill double

A MELKSHAM resident has urged the community to submit their gas meter readings on time, after a nine-day late submission, that saw his gas bill more than double.

Julian White lives in Melksham East and was due to submit his three-monthly gas meter reading to OVO Energy, on 28th January. When he submitted the reading nine-days later on 5th February, the bill had increased following a rise in the fixed term energy price from three pence to 10 pence.

Julian said, “I work away a lot and I didn’t manage to do my meter reading until 5th February. The energy company did an estimate of how much gas I would have used in that nine-day period and my bill increased from £243 to £620. OVO Energy said that 40% of that usage was used in the nine-day period. That would mean I used £440 in nine days which is impossible. Submitting the reading late was my own fault and I should have done it earlier but there is absolutely no way I could have used that much gas in nine-days.

“A British Gas person came round to check this out and he said that to use that much gas, I would have to have everything running on maximum for 24 hours seven days a week, with the heating on 30 degrees every single day of the week, all day. It’s just not possible. When I told OVO Energy this, they wouldn’t budge and they said that the system can’t prove that I didn’t use that much gas in nine-days. I have tried to challenge this through many different routes with Ofgem and the Ombudsman. I sat on an online chat for over four hours because I refused for it to end because it just wasn’t possible for me to use this much gas.

“In the end we came to a compromise but I am still paying more than I should be. My message to the community is please give a meter reading on time, I don’t want anyone else to have to go through what I have been through.”

Melksham News contacted OVO Energy for a statement about their policy in regards to submitting late gas meter readings but had not heard back from the company at the time of going to press.