British Gas final bill - 6 months after moving!

jetblack61

Hi all,
I was hoping for some advice...
I moved out of my electricity-only flat in February (10th) and notified British gas of my final meter readings etc on the day I left. Today, I have had a phone call from the new tenant saying there is a bill for me that 'looks important' and perhaps I should have it...which I now have.

Opened it up - £91.75

I've just looked through my paperwork and have a letter from BG on 18th Feb saying 'your payment scheme has been cancelled...you need to pay your outstanding balance of £17.16 immediately...bla bla' which I did on 26th Feb. Now I find that my final bill is from Jan-Feb and that it needs paying.

I've just got off the phone to them and they've basically said the £17.16 was the remainder after my DD payment for the last bill and this one is the final bill which runs from the last DD payment to the move-out date. However, the bill is dated 13th July and she tells me that's the first time it's been issued.

Does anyone else think this seems somewhat unfair? My mail was redirected for 4 months when I left so any other correspondence would have been received, but for some reason they've sent the final bill *6 months* after I closed the account and now they expect me to come up with £91.75.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance

macman

If the amount billed corresponds to your closing reading then yes it's perfectly fair, if somewhat tardy of them. Sounds like you cancelled your DD too early.
Look on the positive side-you have had 6 months interest free credit from them.

spiro

Some suppliers wont issue a 'final' bill until they have a new account for the property as someone is always responsible for the bill. Doing it this way they try to ensure both parties (old occupant and new occupant) agree on the readings.

Premier_2

jetblack61 wrote: »

...Does anyone else think this seems somewhat unfair? My mail was redirected for 4 months when I left so any other correspondence would have been received, but for some reason they've sent the final bill *6 months* after I closed the account and now they expect me to come up with £91.75.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance

Usually the supplier will ask for a forwarding address so they can send their final bill directly to you at your new address; they only send it to the supply address if no forwarding address was provided.

The supplier has 12 months in which to produce a final bill.