British Gas Misery - Please help me!

joffoconnor

Me and my girlfriend moved into the flat we are currently renting 3 years ago. Recently my girlfriend changed our gas supplier to to eon, in doing so it has come to light that the bills we have been recieving over the past 3 years have been very innacurate and as a result I've recieved a bill from Brittish Gas for £2,227.

The bills british gas had been sending us were calculated on estimated usage.

My girlfriend contacted British Gas and spoke to them and they pretty much tried to bully her into coughing up the huge sum of money we have outstanding. British gas are aslo claiming that the cost of the gas used is being charged at an average cost per unit over the 3 years, however I don't believe them.


I don't know which way to turn and we're both at our wits end. Legally what can I do to resolve this? what are our rights in this situation? who can I turn to for advice?

Any help would be great, thanks so much for reading

SwanJon

I take it your recived bills/statements during the time the balance built up, and each of these should have said that they were estimaies and asked you to check them.
From the company's point of view, if you don't tell them an estimate is wrong, how are they to find out?
From your point of view - did anyone ever come around and read your meters? Were those reads used, or did the company disre4gard them as they didn't fit with the (unchallenged) estimates.
To be honest, the blame lies upon both you and the company. You could ask them to give you as long to pay it off as it took to build up, and you could ask for a reduction as a goodwill gesture, but they are under no legal obligation to redue the bill, or allow you to spread it over a long time - you did after all use the gas.

Cardew

I don't wish to sound unsypathetic but "legally" not a lot; as you have used the gas. You also have a responsibility to check your bills and notify them if they are incorrect - i.e. wrongly estimated readings.

However there are possibly several ways you can reduce the amount owing.

Firstly, the Utility company have a responsibility to actually read your meter every 2 years - was this done?

You should have a detailed breakdown of how they have arrived at the sum.
Estimated readings to date xx and costs per kWh.

Unfortunately having left BG they are unlikely to be too sympathetic to an ex-customer.

You should be able to negotiate a decent reduction in the amount owing, and time to pay. However the bottom line is that you are liable to pay a large proportion of the sum owing.

bill888

Fwiw, it may also be worth you checking the meter readings. Do you have access to your meter?

Do you know your starting reading when you moved in?

Also double check whether the meter reads in metric or imperial units. eg. if u have a gas meter that measures in metric units and you are being mistakenly charged for imperial units, the bill will be about 3 times higher than normal.

To convert metric gas units to kWh, I think you multiply by about 11.
To convert imperial gas units to kWh, I think you multiply by about 30.

Magentasue

I think BG should let you repay the debt over the three years it has built up.

spiro

Cardew is right, as you are no longer their customer they have no insentive not to chase you for the full amount. As I have commented many times before this forum is littered with people in this type of situation because they have never bothered to check their bills and advise the supplier if it is wrong.

1carminestocky

Whilst I accept that the OP should have checked that the estimated bills should have bore some similarity with his actual meter readings, this sort of instance does, again, sort of discredit the 'privatisation leads to greater efficiency' argument. I genuinely don't believe for one minute that we would be paying any more for our fuel if the utility industry had stayed under state control.....and we would have had our meters read a lot more regularly than the current regulations enforce (once every 2 years).

joffoconnor

Thanks so much for all your help guys.

A few more details:

We moved in the flat in Aug 2005
Our last meter reading was december 2006

Despite the meter being read during the time we have been living here BG didnt alter our bills at that point, can they be held responsible for this in any way?


Also how can i find out if we are using imperial or metric units?

Magentasue

joffoconnor wrote: »

Thanks so much for all your help guys.

A few more details:

We moved in the flat in Aug 2005
Our last meter reading was december 2006

Despite the meter being read during the time we have been living here BG didnt alter our bills at that point, can they be held responsible for this in any way?


Also how can i find out if we are using imperial or metric units?

Every estimated bill I've ever received has asked me for a reading so no, I can't see how BG are responsible there.

Have a look at your meter - can you see cubic feet or cubic meters mentined? If not, check your bill. There should be the meter units mentioned and the kwh. Divide kwh by units - if it's about 11, you're metric. If it's about 33, it's imperial.

spiro

joffoconnor wrote: »

Thanks so much for all your help guys.

A few more details:

We moved in the flat in Aug 2005
Our last meter reading was december 2006

As you can see BG are still within the 2 years they had to read the meter. Also the obligation about every 2 years actually has NOTHING to do with getting a reading it is only there so that suppliers inspect the meter every years which they are required to do by the HSE.