7 Year Gas Bill, what do we do?

hushpuppy

My mother in law has been having a running battle with BG for about ten years now, here’s the story, any advice would be appreciated.

She started with BG when the house was built in 1990 who continued to supply until 1/1/1997 when for some reason, and we haven’t been able to get a straight answer from anyone as to why, the supply changed to Eastern Natural Gas. For some reason despite, being with BG no bill was ever received for the period 30/11/1995 – 1/1/1997, until she mysteriously changed to Eastern when she was sent a bill from BG which she paid.

Where it started to get confusing is that in August 1998 she receive a letter from BG saying they were sorry she was leaving them, and from then on wards until 2001 she was getting two bills every quarter, one for British Gas and the other from Eastern. She tried to find out from both Companies why she was getting two bills but getting any sense out of both companies was impossible, as both said neither were supplying the gas. She was driven to tears down the phone as both Companies denied supplying her Gas, yet still sent bills??

She finally contacted Transco who confirmed that the gas was being supplied by British Gas, and again got in contact with BG to tell them, but BG insisted that they were not.

As a result and despite making contact with BG on a number of occasions since 2001 to tell them that she was not getting a bill for her Gas that they were supplying and because she is a pensioner she has been extremely worried about getting a back dated bill and has used her Gas extremely frugally. To give you an example since 2/2/07 22/9/08 she has used only 441 units.

Today she has finally received what she has been dreading for 7 years, the back dated bill demanding £2951.47 for gas used since 1/1/2001 - 19/6/08 a total of 3925 estimated units.

We sought advice from Energy Watch about a year ago who have informed me that BG cannot demand more than 1 years backdated gas supply, (Is this true?)

She is an extremely honest woman, and because of the ethics of her generation she would have felt compelled to find the money to pay back the total amount, I feel the whole episode is unfair and unjust as without BG incompetence she wouldn't be in this situation.

She does not deny that Gas has been used and given the advice from Energy Watch, she doesn’t know what to do and still can’t get any sense out of BG.

Anyone got any ideas?

paulonline123

hushpuppy wrote: »

My mother in law has been having a running battle with BG for about ten years now, here’s the story, any advice would be appreciated.

She started with BG when the house was built in 1990 who continued to supply until 1/1/1997 when for some reason, and we haven’t been able to get a straight answer from anyone as to why, the supply changed to Eastern Natural Gas. For some reason despite, being with BG no bill was ever received for the period 30/11/1995 – 1/1/1997, until she mysteriously changed to Eastern when she was sent a bill from BG which she paid.

Where it started to get confusing is that in August 1998 she receive a letter from BG saying they were sorry she was leaving them, and from then on wards until 2001 she was getting two bills every quarter, one for British Gas and the other from Eastern. She tried to find out from both Companies why she was getting two bills but getting any sense out of both companies was impossible, as both said neither were supplying the gas. She was driven to tears down the phone as both Companies denied supplying her Gas, yet still sent bills??

She finally contacted Transco who confirmed that the gas was being supplied by British Gas, and again got in contact with BG to tell them, but BG insisted that they were not.

As a result and despite making contact with BG on a number of occasions since 2001 to tell them that she was not getting a bill for her Gas that they were supplying and because she is a pensioner she has been extremely worried about getting a back dated bill and has used her Gas extremely frugally. To give you an example since 2/2/07 22/9/08 she has used only 441 units.

Today she has finally received what she has been dreading for 7 years, the back dated bill demanding £2951.47 for gas used since 1/1/2001 - 19/6/08 a total of 3925 estimated units.

We sought advice from Energy Watch about a year ago who have informed me that BG cannot demand more than 1 years backdated gas supply, (Is this true?)

She is an extremely honest woman, and because of the ethics of her generation she would have felt compelled to find the money to pay back the total amount, I feel the whole episode is unfair and unjust as without BG incompetence she wouldn't be in this situation.

She does not deny that Gas has been used and given the advice from Energy Watch, she doesn’t know what to do and still can’t get any sense out of BG.

Anyone got any ideas?

I'm pretty sure I know whats happened here but if you dont work for bg its hard to explain, call bg (use the complaints line on the back of the bill) and they will sort it for you no problems. Mention the ERA billing cose (that stops any supplier from billing for over a year) and make sure that the whole thing is registered as a complaint and this is not the first time you have called about the issue which still isn't resolved.

If you have not called on her behalf before and had your name registered make sure you are with her so that they can get permission to talk to you.

This kind of thing crops up pretty often and its not eastern's or BG's fault realy, its part of the anarchic stupid system all suppliers have to deal with after the breakup of the industry.

I spoke to one poor customer who had a new house built in an area not serviced by transco. How long to get a gas bill? Two years. And that was what he was told at the begining of the account before any problems. Disributers and meter operaters cause 70% of the problems of bills and only nationalisation is ever going to fix it unfortunately.

Rest assured that this is a fixable problem and doesn't take forever. Call with an open mind and a positive attitude and you'll have it done within the month.

45XKM

paulonline123 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure I know whats happened here but if you dont work for bg its hard to explain, call bg (use the complaints line on the back of the bill) and they will sort it for you no problems. Mention the ERA billing cose (that stops any supplier from billing for over a year) and make sure that the whole thing is registered as a complaint and this is not the first time you have called about the issue which still isn't resolved.

If you have not called on her behalf before and had your name registered make sure you are with her so that they can get permission to talk to you.

This kind of thing crops up pretty often and its not eastern's or BG's fault realy, its part of the anarchic stupid system all suppliers have to deal with after the breakup of the industry.

I spoke to one poor customer who had a new house built in an area not serviced by transco. How long to get a gas bill? Two years. And that was what he was told at the begining of the account before any problems. Disributers and meter operaters cause 70% of the problems of bills and only nationalisation is ever going to fix it unfortunately.

Rest assured that this is a fixable problem and doesn't take forever. Call with an open mind and a positive attitude and you'll have it done within the month.

If you still get no joy,:money: then speak to energy watch: http://www.energywatch.org.uk/

paulonline123

45XKM wrote: »

If you still get no joy,:money: then speak to energy watch: http://www.energywatch.org.uk/

who are toothless really atm and are shutting down because of it. If you raise a process with BG and it doesn't get resolved within 12 weeks then it automatically goes to the ombudsman who regardless of who's at fault will fine them 350 pounds. Thats a good incentive for them to sort it and why its so important that its registered as a process - ask fro a process number.

hushpuppy

Well 2 phone calls now to BG complaints line, to try and put into motion what Paul has suggested and after holding for 15 minutes first time around and over twenty second time I got through, explained that this was a bit in depth and 'mysteriously' on both occaisions I was suddenly cut off!

Also last night I sent an email direct to Diane McKain at BG, (as suggested on another thread) but it hasn't been read yet.

So I will try again tomorrow! Very frustrating! (Unless Paul you have a direct number??!!)

paulonline123

hushpuppy wrote: »

Well 2 phone calls now to BG complaints line, to try and put into motion what Paul has suggested and after holding for 15 minutes first time around and over twenty second time I got through, explained that this was a bit in depth and 'mysteriously' on both occaisions I was suddenly cut off!

Also last night I sent an email direct to Diane McKain at BG, (as suggested on another thread) but it hasn't been read yet.

So I will try again tomorrow! Very frustrating! (Unless Paul you have a direct number??!!)

I do but i'm on holiday cant give it out on here anyways as they wouldn't be happy with me on here at all, plus data protection issues.

Not sure who diane mckain is tbh but i dont know everyone

If you have no joy by monday i'll give you my managers email and you can get in touch with me that way.

hushpuppy

Dear All,

Well I received a phone call from the lady at BG, (who I'd emailed) and she was terrific. :T

She had clearly realised that we had done everything correctly, was extremely helpful, (and I think actually went beyond what she was probably supposed to do).

Without any suggesting from me, she said that the bill would be cancelled and they would normally look to take the last 12 months, which as we had always kept meter readings the outstanding bill worked out at about 300 units, BUT as we were entitled to compensation it made sense to clear the bill to ZERO and start fresh as of today.:eek:

So my mum in law is so relived. Thankyou to everyone who gave advice and the biggest thank you has to go to Miss McKain at BG.:A

Poppet81

This must be a one off!!! I was re-directed through the phone system. It actually worked!!! So we have more than one angel. I talk to Pete, he said he was in Leeds, i called a 'FREE' number (about time too...took them long enough to catch up eh?) erm... cant remember which one but it was sorted in a couple of weeks.
It pains me to say but service has improved a bit.
Happier customer of BG :-)

BodyShopBabe_2

Hi I received a gas and electricity bill yesterday from EON for just over £1000. They are charging us for 18 months worth of gas and electricity. We moved into a new property and they say it is the builder's fault that we have not received a bill before now.

Can someone give me more info on the ERA billing case which states that we can't get charged for more than one year's supply?

Thanks

paulonline123

BodyShopBabe wrote: »

Hi I received a gas and electricity bill yesterday from EON for just over £1000. They are charging us for 18 months worth of gas and electricity. We moved into a new property and they say it is the builder's fault that we have not received a bill before now.

Can someone give me more info on the ERA billing case which states that we can't get charged for more than one year's supply?

Thanks

theres not really a lot too it, its quite vague and comes under the heading of your eligabel "if the supplier is at fault" which is very subjective. If they send bills to the plot address or if they sent you occupier bills your going to owe it but are entitled to a 10% reduction on the total bill and a two year payment scheme to pay it off. If you had nothing (and this is based upon their system and not your say so) then you will get the six months after the last year taken off the bill.

A very valid point in all this is that you should have at least attempted to get bills more than once. If you sat there thinking " no bill this is great " then they could argue that you wern't holding up your responsibility to inform them you moved in and try and get a bill and you would be liable for the full bill.