Electric bill query

lauraj87

Hi all -

I have been looking and didn't see this question before so I thought i'd post it here. I moved into a brand new house and the housing company told us that we were supplied both Gas and Electric from British Gas, we paid every month on time.

I then wanted to swap suppliers to Utility Warehouse so I called British Gas who informed us we are only with them for gas and had never paid them for electric. I assumed that I was paying for both but looking back, we have never received an electricity bill. I do not know who is supplying us and I am so worried to find out now as we would owe quite a lot of money! I read somewhere that Utility companies could only charge a back bill of one year period. Is this correct?

Thanks in advance all

Mike_by_the_Sea

Hi Laura

Are there any other houses in the new build that you could ask who they pay / paid when they moved in?

If not, you can find out who is providing your electricity by contacting your local distributor......

Electricity

There are 14 elctricity distributors/generators. To find out who supplies you however, you must contact the distributor for your area, who should be able to tell you your Mpan number and who currently charges for the electricity for your home. The Mpan number comprises of two lines of numbers beginning with a capital "S" the generators' identity is denoted by the first two digits of the second line of that number.

Eastern England 0800 783 8838
East Midlands 0800 056 8090
London 0800 028 0247
North Wales, Merseyside & Cheshire 0845 272 2424
West Midlands 0800 328 1111
North Eastern England 0800 668 877
North Western England 0800 195 4141
Northern Scotland 0800 300 999
Southern Scotland 0845 272 7999
South Eastern England 0800 783 8866
Southern England 08457 70 80 90
Southern Wales 0800 052 0400
South Western England 0800 365 900
Yorkshire 0800 375 675

Good luck

Mike

lauraj87

Thanks for that useful info Mike, i'll give that a try, by calling those numbers though will it flag it to them that I am not currently being charged?

Does anyone know if they can only back bill you for a year?

Thanks again :beer:

Premier_2

lauraj87 wrote: »

...
Does anyone know if they can only back bill you for a year?

Thanks again :beer:

The 1 year back billing rule only applies in certain circumstances - typically where the supplier is at fault.

As you don't appear to have informed your supplier that you are using their energy, your supplier is not at fault for not billing you and so when they catch up with you, are not limited by the 1 year back billing rule.

Perhaps now you know that your current bills only pay for gas, you need to re-consider whether moving to UW is a good idea.

Use the comparison sites in the resource bar above to find who would be the cheapest supplier - but if you don't think your current electricity supplier will ever catch up with you, you won't get cheaper than free.

Mike_by_the_Sea

lauraj87 wrote: »

Thanks for that useful info Mike, i'll give that a try, by calling those numbers though will it flag it to them that I am not currently being charged?

Hi Laura

It won't flag anything to them - you are just asking who supplies your property. They will only know anything else if you tell them.

Mike

SwanJon

I agree with Mike - these companies (the distributors) are legally independent of the suppliers so they can't tell any supplier that you have called.
If you call the supplier of your choice, they should be able to tell you your old supplier too.

When/if you change supplier that will trigger a bill, and even 12 months will be hefty, so be prepared.

property.advert

Now if you could get the meter reset !

lauraj87

That's great thanks all - worried about a huge bill now though!!

lauraj87

Hi all -

Just called the line thanks for that Mike and they said it is British Gas, but when I called them they said it is not through them, so that means the supplier is at fault right? Then again it is my word against theirs... ?

Mike_by_the_Sea

lauraj87 wrote: »

Hi all -

Just called the line thanks for that Mike and they said it is British Gas, but when I called them they said it is not through them, so that means the supplier is at fault right? Then again it is my word against theirs... ?

Hi Laura

Very interesting.....

I'm not sure where you would stand re: outstanding payments etc., but the "normal" position would be that as you have used the electricity, you would be expected to pay for it.

If you now have the MPAN numbers for both your Gas and Electricity you could go ahead and change supplier. That would inevitably lead to your existing supplier (BG?) providing you with a final (first) bill.

You can do an estimate of the likely cost for electricity if you have the meter reading - I am guessing that the meter would have been set to zero (ish) when you moved in. If you are not sure, post the readings on here and somebody will work out a rough number.

As a matter of interest, do you know what tariff you are on for your Gas? This might help to know if it is "standard" or one of the "cheaper" BG ones.

I would think that, at the end of the day, you might be able to negotiate a number with BG for outstanding monies if it turns out that they have been your supplier since day one and have not billed you for the electricity. How long have you been in the house?

Good luck

Mike