Getting bills from 2 gas companies

MilkyJoe

When I first moved in I didn't know which gas company supplied the gas so I thought phone around to see who did. When I phoned British Gas they took my details and said they'd check. I then found out NPower supplied it so I sorted everything with them. Then I started to get bills from British Gas so I phoned them to say I was with NPower, so they said they'd look into it. A year or so passed without anything from them but now I've just got a bill from them. I'm obviously going to phone them again but I just wondered if it was going to be as easy as them deleting my account or will they be persistent and/or demand money? Any info or advice would be appreciated.

brysiewysie

check your meter serial number and mprn number on both BG and Npower bills to see if they match. If they don't that's where the problem comes from. Also check the meter serial number actually matches your metrer too.

MilkyJoe

Just checked, the numbers are different. BG have the same number as the meter, but when Npower come to read it they read the same one (I live in a flat with 4 meters in total). That's just made things more complicated. If I've been paying Npower when I should have been paying BG would I be entitled to that back?
Maybe I should tell them both I'm with the other and they both might leave me alone. (Wishful thinking...).

brysiewysie

MilkyJoe wrote: »

Just checked, the numbers are different. BG have the same number as the meter, but when Npower come to read it they read the same one (I live in a flat with 4 meters in total). That's just made things more complicated. If I've been paying Npower when I should have been paying BG would I be entitled to that back?
Maybe I should tell them both I'm with the other and they both might leave me alone. (Wishful thinking...).

No chance, you'll get chased by each as if you had 2 separate supplies!

You need to call both companies and tell them the correct details. Make sure the one who is quoting the wrong details realise you are disputing the debt so that they can stop any chase-ups. If Npower aren't the supplier they will refund you but be warned, this type of error takes a long time to get corrected!

lemontart

1. contact national grid to check who is the registered supplier and get metre point reference number
2. check this number not the serial number against the bill
as the meter may have been changed at some point where as the mprn is unique to the property as opposed to the meter
3 once you have done this speak to both companies and ask when they registered the supply
4 then you have more info to decide what to do next and contact energywatch or ofgem with.

MilkyJoe

lemontart wrote: »

1. contact national grid to check who is the registered supplier and get metre point reference number
2. check this number not the serial number against the bill
as the meter may have been changed at some point where as the mprn is unique to the property as opposed to the meter
3 once you have done this speak to both companies and ask when they registered the supply
4 then you have more info to decide what to do next and contact energywatch or ofgem with.

The meter hasn't been changed recently (I've had letters saying it's a very old one and needs replacing).

Also, I'm quite certain that BG wasn't the supplier because they didn't have the address on their system when I originally phoned to find out who was. I think when they took my details to "check it out" they actually created an account.

Would the National Grid know who actually does supply it?

lemontart

MilkyJoe wrote: »

The meter hasn't been changed recently (I've had letters saying it's a very old one and needs replacing).

Also, I'm quite certain that BG wasn't the supplier because they didn't have the address on their system when I originally phoned to find out who was. I think when they took my details to "check it out" they actually created an account.

Would the National Grid know who actually does supply it?

The meter may not have been changed recently but as there are two different serial numbers it may have been changed in the past which could give a clue to the correct supplier at time of your move or if that company supplied gas to that address in the pass. This where the mprn is of more relavance as that is how suppliers id the property they are suppliying where as the serial number is merely the id for the meter it;s self.

National grid will confirm who is the current registered supplier and your mprn number if they do not hold those details they may be able to direct you to who would hold those details, however they do not hold dates etc so you would then need to get those details from the companies and as you say you spoke to one of them informing them you had located supplier you would need to speak to energywatch regarding an eronious transfer.

Also do not rely on bg saying they could not find your address on their system, trust me I hear this a lot with all gas suppliers telling custs such things ..........it could be as simple as a typo errror when they entered the address I work for ng dealing with such like all the time.

Liz

brysiewysie

lemontart wrote: »

......... you would need to speak to energywatch regarding an eronious transfer.

I'm sure the individual companies will be able to sort it out without having to resort to going to energywatch, if it's an ET. Energywatch are unlikley to do anything if you haven't raised it as a compliant with the 2 companies already.

I think it's 'just' a crossed meter issue which the 2 companies will be able to resolve.

lemontart

brysiewysie wrote: »

I'm sure the individual companies will be able to sort it out without having to resort to going to energywatch, if it's an ET. Energywatch are unlikley to do anything if you haven't raised it as a compliant with the 2 companies already.

I think it's 'just' a crossed meter issue which the 2 companies will be able to resolve.

the op has already spoken the bg with out joy so speaking to ew would at this stage be for appropiate advise on the next step

brysiewysie

lemontart wrote: »

the op has already spoken the bg with out joy so speaking to ew would at this stage be for appropiate advise on the next step

But BG don't know it's a crossed meter issue, only that the OP disputes they supply. It's a different issue and BG and Npower should now be able to resolve it when the OP contacts them with this info.

charlie555

I had a similar situation when we changed from BG to Powergen.

BG and Transco had the meter of another property recorded as if it was at our address which caused confusion. BG were hopeless at sorting it out. It got to the point where neither BG nor Powergen would do anything until the other company did something first! Very frustrating.

I told Powergen what our meter number was but they needed a computer record from BG (or was it Transco?) to confirm this before they could update their records. But BG could not or would not get their computer to do this.

In the end I had to get the person I had been speaking to at Powergen to ring the person I had been speaking to at BG and agree with each other that Powergen was now my supplier and what my meter number was.

I got £20 compensation from BG which hardly covered the months of hassle they caused. I will never ever go back to BG - their customer service is useless.