£9000 backdated British Gas bill!!!

Marshy69

Has anyone had anything similar to us?
We were back charged for 5yrs of use as BG had failed to take meter readings.
We have gone to the Ombudsman, who has not helped!
We have changed supplier and the new supplier has changed the meters as they were faulty.
Is there any way to raise awareness of this action?
Help!
Thanks.

Andy_WSM

£9000 in 5 years?

What are you heating - a mansion???

Simply ask the supplier to PROVE you owe that amount of money. I doubt they can...

JimmyTheWig

When we had something with them along similar lines they agreed to only charge us for the last year's usage.

JasX

Marshy69 wrote: »

as BG had failed to take meter readings.
Is there any way to raise awareness of this action?

Well since its really up to you if you are getting estimated bills to check they are accurate from time to time and you left it five years I'm not sure what exactly you're after.... advice on common sense?

*onlyme*

So what have you paid for those 5 years of usage?

I don't understand what stopped you reading the meters and why is it BG's responsibility?

savemoney

Odd how BG didnt check meter readings in 5 years, could you not have done that yourself?
Odd how BG then let you move to a new supplier when your account wouldn't have been cleared.
why didnt you read your own meter its not rocket science

penrhyn

Presumably the evidence regarding the faulty meter has disappeared when it was changed.

dogshome

Hi Marshy69 - Your post is a bit too cryptic to offer help

Is this bill for Gas or Elect, or both ?
Were you getting bills, and if so were they all estimated ?
How were you paying these - D/Debit or cheque ?

From your post, the only error BG seems to have made is not reading your meter/meters once every 2 years, but unless you live in a mansion with a lifestyle to match, £1800 a year for fuels is about 30% more then the average

More information may provide some answers

charis18uk

I had a friend a number of years ago who had a very similair thing happen to her with a bill for £6000. She tried to fight it at first. In the end she had to repay the whole amount (although over a period of a few years via increased direct debit).

What it boiled down to was one simple question:

Had she used that amount of gas? The answer was yes therefore she had to pay for it. It's the customers responsibility ultimately to check their bill if estimated.

You mentioned a possible faulty meter. Can this be proved? If yes then you may have some argument to have the bill reduced somewhat.

Your line that says: "We were back charged for 5yrs of use as BG had failed to take meter readings." Could actually be viewed differently if you are looking at it from BG perspective:

"We charged the customer for 5yrs worth of gas which they had failed to notify us they had used by checking their bill was accurate against their meter readings!"

If it boils down to you used it, then you'll be paying for it.

Cardew

Marshy69 wrote: »

Has anyone had anything similar to us?
We were back charged for 5yrs of use as BG had failed to take meter readings.
We have gone to the Ombudsman, who has not helped!
We have changed supplier and the new supplier has changed the meters as they were faulty.
Is there any way to raise awareness of this action?
Help!
Thanks.

As you say meter(s) presumably you mean gas and electricity?

Is this a domestic or business premises?

Have you paid anything, or did you move in and hope that nobody would notice?

If you have had bills did you check the meter readings?

How did the new supplier know the meters were faulty? Did you complain? Did they check the meters? What action did they take about them being faulty.

Have you anything in writing to say the meters were faulty?

JimmyTheWig

If the meters were faulty (both of them?) then I believe BG will bill you based on estimated usage. If you give them readings now and the reading (presumably zero) when the new meters were installed and the date they were installed they will use this to calculate how much you would have used over this time.

This is what they did with us when they lost our original meter reading.