British Gas

Ivrytwr3

Hey all,

I need a bit of advice. On 11 Jan 06, our first house purchase was completed. A few weeks before the completion we arranged all the utlilitles, council tax etc to run from 11 Jan 06. We have gone with Powergen for combined Gas/Elec.

The other day i received a letter from British Gas addressed to the "occupier" welcoming me as a new customer. I got fed up of waiting on hold on the telephone and so emailed them to tell them i don't want to part of British Gas thank you very much. Still haven't had a reply.

Today i received bills from British Gas addressed to the occupier! The Gas bill is a final gas bill for £0 up to the 11 Jan 06 and the electricity bill is from 11 Jan 06 - 31 Jan 06 for £160.54!!!!

Now it looks to me that the previous owners were with B Gas and i suspect i will no doubt be getting a gas bill shortly soon too.

Where do i stand? Was i meant to contact the previous owners utilties suppliers? Am i expected to pay twice, once to B Gas and once to P/Gen.

Wife is due to give birth in 9 days, we just don't need complications like this!!!

Ivrytwr3

bedtime, will check back later!!

hjb123

Have you contacted Powergen to see what they say? They may be able to help you with whats happened!

Also contact energywatch - they are regulatory body for the energy industry - we have had lots of problems with British Gas and have had to use them!

Their website is:
http://www.energywatch.org.uk
Helpline: 08459 06 07 08

Keep us updated!

-=Mr-J=-

Ivrytwr3 wrote:

Where do i stand? Was i meant to contact the previous owners utilties suppliers? Am i expected to pay twice, once to B Gas and once to P/Gen.

Given you do not know (until now) who the previous occupants suppliers are/were, you could not contact those companies. The previous owners should have notified their suppliers.

You will have documentation to show when you took possession of the house and can therefore prove (if requested) to the utility companies the date they should be charging from (if at all). If Powergen are claiming for payment over the same time period as British Gas, ask them to talk to British Gas to resolve the problem. It is in Powergens interest, if they want paying.

At the end of the day, one of the companies is charging for a service they did not provide, which would not be legal. Those companies need to resolve who has the right to claim.

hjb123

British Gas shouldnt even have your details! If they are just addressing their bills to 'the occupier' then surely they are at fault? Powergen should have connected the supply when you moved in?

-=Mr-J=-

hjb123 wrote:

British Gas shouldnt even have your details! If they are just addressing their bills to 'the occupier' then surely they are at fault? Powergen should have connected the supply when you moved in?

Thats a good observation. How about using the old return-to-sender with 'Mr the occupier' not known at this address

It seems obvious that British Gas are just trying to recoup monies that have not been paid (by previous owner), as already said, get Powergen to sort it out and if British Gas are persistant in chasing you for the monies, then get in touch with Trading Standards.

Don't want to scare monger, but you may need to prepare for other 'Bills' arriving from Tel Co, catalogues, etc. if the Gas/Elec payments were deliberately avoided.

oldagetraveller

About two weeks after moving into present house also had a "welcome to British Gas" letter, addressed to "occupier."
However, didn't bother with 'phone or e-mail but sent a Signed For letter advising I didn't want their energy and that I had transferred from moving in date, it seemed to work. Strangely enough I was transferring to Powergen who had been supplier at previous address. Could they be the common denominator? Didn't stay with Powergen long anyway because they threatened legal action, there had been no prior notice or red demands, over a previously paid, for which I had proof, £11 bill. Slipped up there, should have let them take me to court!

scotgirl

We had the same issue with receiving a bill for the previous owners - we moved in on 1 Feb 2006. I contacted BG (waited for ages on the phone!) and advised them that we took occupancy on the 1 Feb 2006 and that this bill was not for me and to please note this on my account. I then forwarded the bill to my solicitor and asked thm to send it to the sellars solicitor for the previous occupants with a note asking them to ensure that they had update all suppliers of their move. So far we have not received anything else - fingers crossed thats the end of it!!! Good luck

nej

I had similar problem when I moved house, with NPower continuing to charge me even though I'd moved to British Gas.
It took some time to get it all sorted out I must say. What really annoyed me was the customer service from Npower. They denied receiving any of my letters, yet they had corrected the mis-spelling of my name which I had pointed out to them in one of the letters!

Ivrytwr3

OK, just got off the phone from BG and P/Gen after been passed from one to the other.

P/Gen state that although i requested connection from 11 Jan 06, the connection did not take place until 31 Jan 06, so i accept that i owe BG these in between dates.

BG confirm that the elec bill from 11 Jan 06 - 30 Jan 06 for £160 is excessive and there is nothing owed on the Gas.

The outcome is the last owner of the property, my FIL, and i agreed the final readings and submitted them, him to BG and me to P/Gen. This apparently is not good enough for P/Gen and they have submitted their own start readings to BG which is an estimate and so using their estimate BG have correctly billed me.

BG will amend their bill but require start reads from P/Gen, fair enough.

I suggested to P/Gen a letter from both myself and the previous occupant of the meter readings, this was declined and the way forward is i have to take a further 2 readings, 1 today and one in a few days time. Submit these to P/Gen who will then investigate the consumption rate and then give amended readings to BG so i can be billed correctly.

I added to the P/Gen conversation, that my wife is expecting any day now, the house is a rental property of ours and is some 30 miles away (no tenants at present, so have to do the read myself). Surely if both occupant and previous occupant agree on the reading then this is what should be used. No. So see you all in an hour as i have an unneccessary drive in my opinion.

smcaul

Oh you poor sole, why oh why go with powergen - they are useless, as you are finding out. I pay slightly more with BG but I get a hassle free life - when I was with PG all I got was hassle, they do not have a clue and their customer serice is awful - I ended up fighting with them for over 2 years AFTER I had taken it to energywatch and EW had agreed that I did not owe PG the £200 they said i did!!!!!