British Gas retro active bill..... opinions on legality?

terlan

We switched our electricity to BG last year, from scottish power. We had a Quantum prepay meter fitted and the switch went without a hitch.

While with Scottish power we would after a meter reading recieve a bill saying we had payed X amount more than we had to over a 12 month period and could claim it back. which was a nice little Xmas bonus.

Bg came last month and fitted a new prepay meter that uses a key like device to top it up. Suddenly we were spening £10 in electricity every two days instead of the using approx £10 every 4 or 5. Quite a hike and a shock as you can no doubt agree. After discussion with several people they all agree that when they got a similar meter fitted they too were spending approx 10 every two days. from people like ourselves with 4 kids and cookers / washing machine running all the time to single male friends who are barely home, all paying approx 10 quid every two days no matter what. But we decided that was enough time to switch.
Before we could begin the process we received a letter from BG stating that the tarrif on our previous meter should have been increased several times but hadnt and they had calculated we owed them £150 for the last 12 months. This I think is outragous.
If BG had increased our tarrif 12 months ago we would have left them for another supplier. However they basically sold us electricity at (for talking sake) 5p. We bought it at that price then after we used it they are now telling us btw we actually were charging you 10p but didnt tell you.

Anyone got an opinion regarding the legality of doing this. Is it perhaps worth contacting the trading standards regarding it or some other governing body? Anyone know how best to contest this bill?

Cardew

If you do a search, there have been plenty of posts on this forum about all the Utility Companies(not just BG) claiming back money from customers on pre-payment meters for increasing tariffs. So I think you will find that it is perfectly legal.

I do understand the point you are making, and have some sympathy for your argument. However the bottom line is you don't have to have electricity from anyone. You enter an agreement with the Utility Company to get them to supply you with electricity and in doing so you agree to their terms and conditions.

From a practical point of view it is simply not physically possible to go to the millions of pre-payment meters and alter the settings on the day the tariff changes take place.

If you have been paying £10 every 2 days, that is approx £1,825 per year. So arrears of £150 over a period of 12 months only represents an increase of 8% in the tariff. Electricity prices have increased by considerably more than that with every company in the last year, so changing to another supplier would not have helped.

terlan

I've only been paying £10 every two days since the new meter went in. So before that it was every 4-5 days so the hike is in the region of 100%.

The £150 is more like a 16-17% deficit.

However under most terms of contract when there is an increase in a pre agreed tarrif the customer must be made aware before they can be charged it, and at that point the customer is free to look elsewhere for a better deal or choose to accept the new tarrif.

BG hasn't at any point informed us of a change of the tarrif. Also why the 12 month wait.

From a practical point of view it is simply not physically possible to go to the millions of pre-payment meters and alter the settings on the day the tariff changes take place.

It is the companies reponsibility ensure the tarrifs in their meters are up to date within a resonable time and if they don't have the manpower to support the prepayment system they shouldn't be using it.

Cardew

terlan wrote:

I've only been paying £10 every two days since the new meter went in. So before that it was every 4-5 days so the hike is in the region of 100%.

The £150 is more like a 16-17% deficit.

However under most terms of contract when there is an increase in a pre agreed tarrif the customer must be made aware before they can be charged it, and at that point the customer is free to look elsewhere for a better deal or choose to accept the new tarrif.

BG hasn't at any point informed us of a change of the tarrif. Also why the 12 month wait.


It is the companies reponsibility ensure the tarrifs in their meters are up to date within a resonable time and if they don't have the manpower to support the prepayment system they shouldn't be using it.

I am not an apologist for BG or any other company; and they apparently all operate pre-payment meters in much the same manner.

From your post it appears you are pretty sure of what the company’s responsibilities are, so why not file a formal complaint with the regulator that they are breaching the conditions of your agreement with them?

You will need to look up the regulation in the contract that states that “it is the companies responsibility ensure the tariffs in their meters are up to date within a reasonable time” and quote that to the regulator; and also give your definition of a reasonable time.

You say that companies shouldn’t be using the pre-payment scheme. Well I suspect that all of the companies would agree with you! Bear in mind that pre-payment meters are used for those customers who are unable, unwilling, or unsuitable to have a credit account(that doesn’t imply fault by the way – as it often applies to new customers) It is far simpler(and cheaper) for companies to deal with credit customers.

I have had to put down a hefty deposit in advance before getting electricity connected in the USA; and this money was kept until I had built up a good record. I had 2 choices; accept that condition or have no electricity.

jennifernil

WOW!! £1825 per year is some electricity bill! Do you have gas as well or is your heating and everything electric?
We have a large 5 bed house, 3 adults and 2 large greenhouses which we heat with electricity 4 months per year. We use tumble drier all the time, electric hob and oven but gas CH. We pay a total of £130 per month for gas and electricity, so £1560 per annum.

tripled

You should have been sent a letter around the time of each price increase stating your new tariffs. If you can demonstrate BG didn't send it the regulator maybe say you should have some compo but otherwise it still stands.

The reason your meter has been changed to a key meter is precisly because the old token meters are so inaccurate, the new meters can be updated automatically without an engineer visit so you don't end up paying an old tariff.

homerfood

the reason you are going through the electric so fast is due to paying off debt to them, if you press the blue button on the meter it will probebly tell you that you have a weekly £5 debt charge and if you keep pressing it you will get a debt total. i am currently having the same prob with bg, they claim to have reduced the debt to 150 for my inconvenience, so i asked what the original debt was and the claim they were unable to say so i will billed an average amount. At war with them at the moment and just comtacted energywatch as bg have ingnored my request twice to forward on copies electricity statements since bg became my suppliers. The last staement i recieved was 2 years ago.