British Gas Robbery! Help!!

Carl_Ward

I was wondering if anyone has any advice on a problem I have with British Gas (BG). I moved into my home about 2 and a half years ago and chose BG to supply my gas and electricity. Ever since then I have had a regular Gas bill which I just pay. However, I have just discovered that for all these years they have only been sending me estimated Gas bills. As a result I now have a bill for £1200!

I asked why they took so long to send me an accurate bill and they said that the private contracting company they use to read meters had only been reading my electricity meter and there had been a communication error and they had not been reading my Gas meter (despite it being next to my electricity meter)

I called BG to inform them that I cannot afford to pay this and told them that I felt this issue was a direct result of their inability to manage their 3rd party contractor correctly. Their reply was that somewhere on each estimated bill it states that it is the customers responsibility to check the accuracy of the bill and gas usage.

I am not happy to have to pay this and am wondering if anyone has any advice or information that can help me avoid paying this huge bill.

Thanks

C

SwanJon

Good news -you can probably argue something off the bill, and at least negotiate a deal to pay it back over as long as it took to build up (although you'll be stuck with BG for that time). You may have some luck with the fact that gas meters are meant to be read every 2 years at least.
Bad news - they are right. It is the customers responsibility to check the bill is accurate (especially readings) - otherwise how would they know the estimate wasn't close? The fact that the bill has been estimated hasn't always been the most visible, but the reading would have been followed by an E, and the bill would have a number, address, or url so that you can update accurate readings.

Cardew

Whilst it is understandable that people don't check their bills, the bottom line is that it is your responsibility.

Had the bills been based on over-estimated meter readings and BG owed you a lot of money I suspect you would want your rebate(probably with interest?)

As stated above you will almost certainly get a reduction off the sum you owe and will have had an interest free loan.

Carl_Ward

Thanks for your help. Fingers crossed

littletommytucker

The fact that the bill has been estimated hasn't always been the most visible

.... On the front page of each bill, the largest text on the page is bang in the middle, it says Your Gas Bill - Estimated and takes up the largest portion of the front page.

talulahbeige_2

BRITISH GAS CUSTOMER THIEF! HELP!!

Why do lazy people always try and shirk their responsibility! Its your house, you are responsible to check what you use! And you certainly shouldnt use it as an excuse to not pay your full bill.

Do you also realise how much money energy companies loose becuase of people attempting this? Ever wondered why charges are higher than you think they should be? Yep, I'm paying your gas bill for you because you cant be bothered!

BettySpaghetti_2

I had a similar issue with EON for years. We always got an estimated gas bill which I couldn't understand as the meter is on the side of the house with open access and EON had been the provider since the house was built. Following receipt of an estimated bill, I always submited the correct meter readings (online or phone) but bizarrely these meter readings were never uploaded to our account. I'd ring and ring and they'd say it would be sorted but it wasn't.

Eventually I got through to someone who did listen and, low & behold we got a gas bill for £700!! :shocked: It turned out our meter number was allocated to a different address on the National database and the meter reader had never been able to read the meter at that property but, for some unknown reason, they let this go on for ages. They let us spread the bill over about 7 months, but that was it.

For a further year I tried to get our meter number/reading thing sorted out, but it never happened. We still got estimated bills and the meter reader still went to the wrong address. In the end I kicked EON into touch - during the 3 years with them the gas meter was never read once. They gave us £50 compensation after I compained! :rotfl:

Surprisingly, the new company never had any problems - our meter number was allocated to our property on the national system and the meter was read.

Yes, it is your responsibility to submit correct meter readings but if your meter isn't registered to your property you don't actually have a cat in hells chance of getting an up to date bill.