Two Gas companies supplying my Gas?

rich_finch

Hi,

I've got a bit of a problem that I'm finding very confusing and not sure on what to do? If anyone can point me in the right direction on the next step to resolve the below, that would be great.

....Sorry if it's a bit long!

....................

I’ve been in the rented property since 6th September 2008 and have been paying EON for my Gas and Electric since I moved in. I been paying them this as when I moved in I received letters from them welcoming me to the property and introducing themselves as the Gas and electric suppliers.

On the 20th July 2009 I received a letter from British Gas requesting a Gas payment of £2121.71???:eek: I phoned them up to query this letter as I pay EON for my Gas and have done ever since I moved into the rented property on the 6th September 2008. After several minutes on the phone to a British Gas representative who was very confused to the whole situation she gave me the national grid number to phone them so I could find out from them who provides my Gas. The national grid number I phoned was an automated service and stated that EON was my provider.

I phoned British Gas back up and spoke to a representative who was in the billing department. She was very helpful and tried to work on my behalf to find out what is going on.

I provided her with my meter serial number and a meter reading and she began to research into who is our actual provider. After a long time of me being on the phone she came back to me that she had been onto a company named OnStream who apparently provide the national grid with information as to who provides the gas for that property.

After a long and confusing conversation she basically said that British Gas are the Gas supplier to this property and that I needed to phone EON and explain this situation to them. She explained that EON should refund all the money that I had paid them so I could now pay £473 to British Gas, which was the new bill from the meter reading.

I phoned EON straight away and explained to them about the whole situation and that British Gas reckon they are the providers. A representative took my call and then tried to find out what was going on. He phoned me back after about 20 minutes and explained to me that I needed to speak to someone at the national grid and provided me with a number that I had already rang earlier. He then said he would phone them on my behalf and and put me through to speak to an actual person there to find out from them who provides our Gas.

I spoke to a lady there who after a long conversation explained to me that EON provided our Gas and that British Gas show an address to the property but it doesn’t shows a meter reference number or a live supply.

I phoned British Gas up with this information and spoke to the same woman again. She explained that EON need to speak to OnStream to get the correct information and she was very sure that EON are wrong.

.....

So any body have any ideas?

Is it possible that I can have two Gas suppliers supplying my flat?

It's odd that I've never had anything from British Gas before and have no reason to also am not sure where they got my name from?

The British Gas representative thinks I should go through EON's complaint department to try and resolve the problem, she has put a hold on the amount owed until I can resolve the problem????

Cardew

Write(don't phone) to EON and explain exactly as above and request that they sort the matter out with BG and confirm in writing to you that it has been resolved.

Copy the letter to BG.

The difficulty you face is that BG will probably just pass your 'debt'(as they see it) to a Debt Collection Agency.

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi Rich_finch,

It’s not possible to have two suppliers supplying gas to your property, unless you have two gas meters.

Is everything okay with the electricity billing?

It is possible for one company to be billing on an old meter whilst the other supplier has the correct meter details, do E.ON and BG have the same serial number on record? If so it may be a duplicated supply number, this is more difficult to identify. If there is a record of your address somewhere that has no meter reference against it, I’d be surprised if the BG records are correct. They may be charging you for an old disconnected supply. :think:

Without a lot more information this is very difficult to diagnose, writing to E.ON is best and the complaints address would be a good place to start, as it’s BG that have suddenly started billing you for this, you may want to ask them to write a detailed explanation of what they’ve told you so you can show this to E.ON.

Having everything on paper is a good way of keeping track. :cool:

Brian

rich_finch

Hi all,

Thanks for you replies, I will do exactly that and write to EON complaint department and also forward to BG complaints.

Everything seems to be okay with the electricity.

Yes EON and BG have the same serial number on record. It was all very difficult to understand especially not knowing how the whole GAS industry works. But the fact both EON and BG both say they are supplying the GAS to this property and neither one will budge on the matter??

One of them must surely be wrong.

lemontart

onstream DO NOT TELL NATIONAL GRID WHO THE SUPPLIER IS. they are metering contractors.

The gas supplier inform a company called xoserve that they supply gas to a property and that info is entered onto their data base, xoserve then pass details of the mprn , the gas suppliers name to a national grid for them to run the mnumber line on their behalf - that is the 0870 608 1524 you call to find out who is your registered gas supplier.

Basically the British gas operative you spoke to is confusing one of the companies who operate as there metering contractors for something totally different.

If the data base is showing eon as supplier then they are your supplier if british gas say different ask for dates and compare to dates from eon etc

HERE ARE THE FACTS

http://www.onstream.co.uk/our_people.asp
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] OnStream is a subsidiary of National Grid and operates in the competitive metering market in the UK, managing the provision, installation and maintenance of meters. We are always looking for talented people to join us and, in return, we offer excellent benefits and working conditions. [/FONT]

http://www.xoserve.com/whatwedo.asp

Customer Service

xoserve has a customer service centre that deals with queries and provides information to the major gas Networks’ customers, the gas Shippers. Known as the Information Centre, it provides this data directly via responses to telephone calls (via a call centre) as well as responding to email requests for information. The Centre also provides information to gas Suppliers, Ofgem, energywatch and other major energy users.
The team also handles gas consumers enquiries directly via an individual telephone line on issues regarding premises which do not have a registered gas supplier. In addition, an internet data service is provided to gas Shippers and major energy users where they can obtain information directly about their supply points on-line.
The team handles an average of 960,000 calls per year, receives 21 million hits a year on its internet data service, and receives up to 2.4 million supply point enquiries via e-mail a year.
M Number Service

xoserve provides the M Number enquiry line service for end gas consumers. This enables consumers to call a dedicated phone number to establish what the M Number (the unique identifier) is for their gas supply point and also the identity of the current registered gas supplier at their premises. Consumers make around 1.8 million calls to this service each year.
The M number phone line is 0870 608 1524

Finally the suppliers have access to xoserve and can check the information there for themselves and as xoserve pass that info onto the mnumber data base it should match.

rich_finch

Thanks for your help, you certainly know your stuff!

lemontart

I should I work for national grid and was working on the mnumber line until recently and we are thoroughly trained, monitered and tested with annual exams to pass if we wish to continue working,

rich_finch

All got sorted yesterday by a brilliant guy on here who works for EON named Brian! Thanks for your help!

Also as it turned out EON were in the wrong and British Gas are my supplier, so EON are refunding back my £415 that I had paid since last September.

.....Now, after giving BG my meter reading they have come up with a new bill of £473 which is obviously more that what I have paid EON. Meaning now I owe BG an extra £58 (which I don't have at this present time).

As far as I was aware I had a contract with EON who were obviously cheaper, but after no fault of my own am now with BG and now owe them this extra money.

Can I argue this fact so BG just take what I have paid EON?

lemontart

worth a try as bg failed to register the fact they are the supplier with xoserve