2 and a half year old bill

Fiver29

I;ve just been on the phone to British Gas about a bill from 2 1/2 year ago that I didn't know anything about.

It's from a previous house that I move out of because it'd been bought up by the council for demolition. As far as I know the council boarded it up within a few days of me moving out.

BG said I didn't get a bill forwarded to my new address at the time, because they had billing issues, and bills weren't being printed properly during that period. Plus there was a mess up with them exchanging meters from a prepayment to a single rate and then to an economy 7 meter,

I have no problem paying what I owe (although I'll have to arrange some sort of payment scheme with them). My issue is with the amount. They say it is for £750 for 5 months.

My normal leccy bill is £20-£25 a month, there was no debt on the prepayment meter. I haven't got any meter readings from that time. I know I took them but they have ne record of any phone calls, and I would have thrown them away after 12 months of not hearing anything.

Is there anything I can do to dispute their readings?

mrcow

This is from consumer direct:

I haven’t had a bill for ages – do I still have to pay?
Consumers are legally bound to pay for their utilities. However, the Limitations Act 1980 prevents charges being recovered if the electricity or gas was used more than six years ago. In Scotland this period is five years.
Suppliers should at least offer a payment plan that allows you to repay any debt over the same length of time that it has built up. In other words, if you have not had a bill from your supplier for three years then, when a bill does finally appear, you should be able to spread the repayments over three years. However, if you accept a payment plan then you will not be able to change your supplier until you have cleared the outstanding debt.
However, as a result of the ‘super-complaint’ submitted in April 2005 to the energy regulator, Ofgem, energy companies have been told that, as of July 2006, they should no longer bill for any energy used by consumers more than two years previously where the company themselves has failed to provide a bill. Energy companies are not expected to bill for any amount that dates back longer than a year.

mrcow

I don't know if it would apply to your circumstances, but personally I'd certainly be looking into it!

Fiver29

Thanks MrCow, I'll look into that. They say a bill was produced just not printed out, so I don't know whether that would count as being billed or not (in my mind, not, but then I guess I'm biased), definitely worth putting to them though

Cardew

That ruling above has now been changed from 2 years to 1 year. e.g. where the Utility company are at fault they can only 'back-bill' 12 months.


However I don't know if that ruling is relevant to your case as the bill is only for 5 months.


If you had Economy 7(and presumably storage heating) then £752 for 5 winter months is high but feasible. It presumably would have been an old house with poor insulation.

If they admit(in writing) that they haven't produced a bill, then you have grounds for complaint. However if they produced a bill(even after a delay) but didn't know how to contact you, that is altogether another matter.

Fiver29

They knew how to contact me, because they had my forwarding address on file, plus I was with them for the bills in my new house for a couple of months too.

It was an old house, but it was only a 2 deb terrace, with only 2 storage heaters (one upstairs and one downstairs).

mrcow

Try giving Consumer Direct a call and see what they say on BG chasing you?

Fiver29

I have written them an email with all the details (I find it easier than talking on the phone, because most of the time I forget what I was going to say), so hopefully they'll get back to me soon, and then I shall be armed with the facts when BG get in touch again.

mrcow

The problem you have is that you have no way of verifying that this bill is correct in any way. I would emphasize that on the email. To start to chase a customer 2 1/2 years later for a bill with no proof of reading is unfair.

Have you still not seen a copy of the bill in question?

Fiver29

No not yet, the woman I spoke to at BG said she'd get a copy sent out today.

Fiver29

I never received a phone call back from BG, so never got chance to put to them what Consumer Direct said. However, this morning I got a cheque for just over £80 with a letter stating 'Refund on you final account'.

Now I'm just paranoid, are they trying to catch me out somehow, if I bank the cheque can they say 'oh that was just a good will gesture, and it was only the amount we kindly knocked off your bill', meaning that without knowing it I've accepted that I owe them the rest?

I still never received a copy of any bills, or any other correspondence.