Never paid gas bill!

Jackinbox99

My partner had british gas connect her house to the gas main and fit a meter around 3 years back. They came out, did all the work, took the readings and said they would set up her monthly payments etc as it was a new install.

3 years later and she still hasnt had a bill. She gets her electricity through British Gas and nievely assumed the monthly bill was for both gas & electricity. It wasnt until I checked, I saw it was for just the electricity.

Obviously, shes used 3 years worth of Gas and wants to pay for it, but is worried if she contacts British Gas they will want the whole lot in one go when its not her fault they havent sent her the bill. She realises that she should have noticed that the bills she did get were just for electricity & not both electricity + gas but is worried now as to how much this bill would be.

Ive heard a lot of people experience the same problem, but ive not seen any answers to as to what the outcome was when the supplier was contacted. Are they likely to want 3 years of gas paying? Do they accept they should have billed her and offer some sort of reduced amount? Is there a law where they can only claim back X number of years worth of gas?

Most stories ive read from people who have been in a similar situation seem to suggest they keep quiet and not tell the supplier, but my partner is moving and obviously wants to settle her debts before the new people move in.

Thanks.

lemontart

British gas would not have connected the gas to the property they may have acted as middle man to arrange this with the gas network for that area, then arranged for their metering contractors to install the meter - this last bit could be where things faltered.

It is in her interest to contact them to sort it out.

SwanJon

If, in the worst case scenario, they ask for all the money, they should spread it over the time it took to build up. Down side, this means that you need to stay with them for 3 years, although you can choose your tariff from what they offer.
You may get away with asking about the 12 month billing 'rule', although technically you need to be making an attempt to pay. (This is where you only need to pay for the previous 12 months if they haven't billed you for 12 months or more)

ollski

They can claim for any gas used in the previous 6 years plus reasonable interest. Its in her best interests to start putting away at least what she should be paying for gas in an account paying decent rates whilst she contacts the company to get it sorted. The 6 years is rolling so in another 5 years if she has saved 5k in an account that would possibly cover the last 6 years and the 2 years previous would be gratia....are you a gambler?. I do know of people who have not paid for gas for 20 years but they have advised the company and put the money away to cover it. I'm not legal btw!

andyg99

I had something very similar happen with electricity when I lived in a rented flat. I contacted Scottish Power about it and they were actually pretty good and gave me a 25% discount because there admitted it was partly their fault. Whatever you do contact the provider as it will be better in the long run trying to sort it out.

Premier_2

Jackinbox99 wrote: »

...Obviously, shes used 3 years worth of Gas and wants to pay for it, but is worried if she contacts British Gas they will want the whole lot in one go ...

The longer she waits, the bigger the eventual bill will be.
Without any bills, this may mean she is being charged on the suppliers standard (expensive) rate. Any change to that will only usually be effective from the date she requests it.

The supplier will be more amenable to agreeing a repayment plan if she contacts them first in an attempt to establish a mutually agreeable resolution to pay, than if she waits for the supplier to eventually catch up with her.

davidgmmafan

I too think the supplier would be reasonable, afterall they've gone from having no money coming in from that address to something coming in. If it is not registered to any supplier that is the first obstacle really.

blackreign

I've got a very similar problem, contact them as soon as, it will only get worse. It may be that the meter is not registered, it will one day be sorted and you will get a large bill. They should come to some arrangement to repay the amount, the question is, what was the meter reading when they should have taken over the property?

spiro

Things like this can also catch up with you if you move and the new tenant calls a supplier to register for gas only for the supplier the property is not registered.

I agree the back billing rule will probably not apply as she has not be active in advising the supplier that she has not been receiving a bill.

The most likely cause is that the meter worker fitted the meter but the details did not update the suppliers billing system correctly.

Shelley3774

Similar thing happened to us moved into a new build in 2005 and could not find out who supplied us, phoned around with no luck. Received a bill in Jan from EDF for £2880 and immediately contacted them and fortunately under the billing code because they had never sent us a bill they confirmed they would recalculate and came back with a bill of £800 which we could pay back monthly. Needless to say we were very happy with the outcome

Jackinbox99

As an update to this one, my other half called up the supplier and explained to them the situation and they have said they have no record of her actually being connected or fitting the meter. So, what they have said to her is that they will treat her as a new customer and only charge her for gas she uses from now on!

Im very sceptical as this sounds too good to be true?!