British Gas new payment plan

Question

You just gotta love the British Gas way to explain things. We have used less energy than expected so they more than double the monthly direct debit??

Message from British Gas

Answer 1

They're not saying what you think.

What they're saying is that because this month you only were billed for 53 pounds' worth of energy, and that's well below what they think you probably should have used, they're billing you 129 pounds in order to prevent you from building up a debt by underpaying what was actually used. Or, another reading of this, you agreed to pay a particular amount across a period of time (a plan), and your actual usage isn't covering that plan - so again, you'll owe big at the end.

This is common with energy companies that don't read the meter every month, and/or that set up monthly plans based on the average usage over a particular time period. Usually perhaps better explained than this, but still. Otherwise people end up owing them thousands of pounds/dollars after a season or two and are both mad and unable to pay. This is how they ensure they get their money...