Does my Mum have to pay this Gas bill?

caeler

RGE08 wrote: »

She has been there around a year. She has never had the meter read and ONLY had it read when she called them. She was paying DD of £150 a month

I am sorry but this is the bit that sticks out for me. I think it will weaken any arguement because regular meter reads were not taken during the year and the DD was obviously paid during this period. It the DD value was questioned earlier perhaps this issue could have been resolved sooner. Any idea why not?

cheap_charlie

I learned the hard way the importance of regular gas meter readings - by law your supplier only has to read your meter once every TWO years.

In my ignorance I foolishly assumed I had a credit on my account for some time, not realising all the bills were estimated - when the meter finally did get read, I owed British Gas nearly £1000...

To their credit they didn't hound me for it back immediately but it was still a painful lesson to learn.

moneysavingplumber

cheap_charlie wrote: »

In my ignorance I foolishly assumed I had a credit on my account for some time, not realising all the bills were estimated - when the meter finally did get read, I owed British Gas nearly £1000...

To their credit they didn't hound me for it back immediately but it was still a painful lesson to learn.

I wouldn't afford BG too much credit for not hounding you, as having a large balance outstanding on your account renders it impossible for you to switch suppliers, until the balance is reduced to under about £150. If you go on Uswitch and try and switch with a large balance outstanding, it will simply be rejected during the process and you'll remain on your existing.

Ankatden

I wonder why she agreed to a new bolier without permission of LL.

Sounds like she was scammed by BG engineer that she needed a new one quickly.

LL within rights to refuse to pay as can argue it was not faulty and tenant decided it needed changing.

pararct

Was there a gas safety certificate in place for the boiler over the year of the excess use?
Given the fact the inspection this certificate carries checks for the safety of the boiler it could make a difference but a hard fought one.

British Gas will only be interested in reclaiming their money from the person named on the bill. If there is no certificate then it could be reasonable to assume the LL was negligent (well he/she was anyway and in breach of the law) in the upkeep of the boiler which allowed it to use far in excess of what was normal.

The dilemma here is British Gas will chase your mother they will not be interested in any problems she has with the LL. If the circumstances are right there may be a redress in law to chase the LL for all or some of the money.

You can see the problem in trying to achieve that.

clutton_2

older combi boilers do use more gas than modern boilers...... and can be certificated

puddy

well, i had an old boiler in my flat, i was paying about £50 a month for the gas dd but never got in arrears. we now live in a 3 bed house in a colder area and have a combi, we have been paying £50pm but i have now lowered this to 35 (although that might not be enough when the big bills come in), we also have a repayment coming this week. but the point is that i dont see this as a huge difference to what i had before on the old boiler, so how much more can they use??