Had free Gas for nearly 2 years, but now have to pay

chrisalford

Hi all,

I moved into a new 3 bedroom flat back in June 2007. For the following months after moving in, I phoned British Gas to set up an account with them, each time they said they did not have have any details of our meter or account. After several phone calls later it was escalated (I gave them a meter reading and they would contact me) and I did not hear anything until November last year.

Each bill they now send has completely the incorrect meter readings. They have no reference of what it was when I moved in and are calculating it based on the current reading and a prediction of what it might be when I moved in. According to them we owe over £2000 which equates to £120 a month!!

Where do I stand with this? I tried alot to get them to agree they were supplying us gas in 2007/8 and supplied them with all the correct details. But now they are demanding their money based on predictions?

Please help me! It has been a long 2 years!:mad:

Thanks
Chris

scotty1971

no such thing as FREE gas!

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

What was the meter reading you gave them? and on what date? You state you gave them a meter reading and supplied them with the correct details.

Was your flat vacant for a long while before you moved in?

How did you know that BG supplied your gas?

What date did your first bill arrive?

We need some answers before we can help.

FeelingSkint_2

NOT true, we had a similor problem a while back and recieved no bill for almost a year and bit. Then we got a bill for nearly a 1000 and i rang up and kicked off big style....there was no way i could afford to pay that.......and they reduced it by almost 80%...

I would kick up a big stink and say you can't affor to pay that. and see if they will come to a settlement figure.

chrisalford

Hi Cardew,

Thanks for the quick reply, heres the answers to your questions-

What was the meter reading you gave them? and on what date? You state you gave them a meter reading and supplied them with the correct details.

I gave them a meter reading on the day we moved in (around the 11th of May), I can not find that initial meter reading in any of my paperwork. I know I gave them several different readings during the first 4 months of being there.

Was your flat vacant for a long while before you moved in?
The flat was newly refurbished so nobody had moved in before hand. The gas meter was not at 00000 though as the previous owner who was refurbishing it had used the gas.

How did you know that BG supplied your gas?
After the first call BG did not say they supplied us. After phoning transco, they told us the I was free to go with any gas supplier. The previous owner and the other flats were supplied by BG so I continued to phone them.

What date did your first bill arrive?
The first set of bills started to arrive in November last year. The last 3 were all based on estimates. The £2000 bill arrived after they finally added the latest meter reading to the system.

Thanks again!

Cardew

chrisalford wrote: »

Hi Cardew,

Thanks for the quick reply, heres the answers to your questions-

What was the meter reading you gave them? and on what date? You state you gave them a meter reading and supplied them with the correct details.

I gave them a meter reading on the day we moved in (around the 11th of May), I can not find that initial meter reading in any of my paperwork. I know I gave them several different readings during the first 4 months of being there.

Was your flat vacant for a long while before you moved in?
The flat was newly refurbished so nobody had moved in before hand. The gas meter was not at 00000 though as the previous owner who was refurbishing it had used the gas.

How did you know that BG supplied your gas?
After the first call BG did not say they supplied us. After phoning transco, they told us the I was free to go with any gas supplier. The previous owner and the other flats were supplied by BG so I continued to phone them.

What date did your first bill arrive?
The first set of bills started to arrive in November last year. The last 3 were all based on estimates. The £2000 bill arrived after they finally added the latest meter reading to the system.

Thanks again!

Well if the first bill arrived in November 2008 they can only backbill you 12 months to November 2007.

So they need to estimate a meter reading on November 2007 and then base their charges at the extant prices at various times since that date - there were 2 price rises in 2008.

It would be to your advantage if they calculated your consumption pro-rata from May 2007.

i.e. May 2007 to Jan 2009 is 20 months. If the consuption over those dates was, say 40,000kWh that is 2,000kWh per month.

So November 2007 to Jan 2009 is 14 months so you pay for 28,000kWh

How you reach agreement on the initial meter reading when you moved it I don't know. However you did discover the actual reading amongst your papers - didn't you;)

However £2,000 even for 20 months is huge.

scheming_gypsy

indeed it is huge.. i lived in my house for 3 years before i finally got a bill. It was £720 for combined gas and electric.