Advice - how much should i pay for gas?

beelywoker

Hi,

Not sure if anyone can help or offer legal advice?

I lived in a property for about 10 months and was aware the gas bills were too high from the start. I told the gas company there was a problem and stopped paying the bills after a few months.

I've since moved out. But, over a year later they have just come back to me and said that I was right all along, and I was being charged for my neighbours gas. They reduced the bill from £450 to £300 ... but this £300 is based on a guess. It makes matters more annoying, because has they investigated this when I first said there was a problem, I would of know exactly how much gas i'd used!

My question is can they ask me to pay anything, if they have no idea what i've used? And if they can, is there any way of knowing what is reasonable? For example, if they insisted on paying £300, and i refused, what would the outcome be if they took me to court?

Many thanks, Sarah

amcluesent

<And if they can, is there any way of knowing what is reasonable?<

Well, you don't want a CCJ to your name. I'd suggest making them an offer of a final settlement based on a reasonable use of single person, adjusted for whether you used gas for both cooking and heating. But to be honest, a plausible consumption of 8000kWh would cost about £300 on a typical tariff. I'd just pay it.

littletommytucker

Id take a look at the readings they have used. And then "find" that piece of paper that you noted your real readings down on,.... that happened to be a thousand units less than they have estimated. Unless they have actual readings, they have to accept your meter readings that you find on that bit of paper in the back of your draw.

Vestra

Did you take a note of your reading when you moved in and out? If so provide these so they can bill you to correct readings, have you paid anything for gas at all?