Can they charge for the same gas units twice??

jucie_lucie

Hello,
We moved into our house at Christmas. The previous owners were with British Gas, and British Gas had closed their account with an estimated gas reading.
We wanted to go with Eon, who contacted BG to get the estimated meter reading and set-up our account. The first meter reading we gave them (in about Jan) was lower than the estimated reading, so we got some free gas (yey!), and they said that we couldn't be charged for any units upto what the estimated reading had been.
We had someone take another reading last week, and I got a phone call today from Eon saying that they wanted me to check the reading, as it's still well below the estimated reading.
If the reading is correct (which it should be, as one of their readers took it), can they actually charge us again for units that the previous residents paid for??
I haven't, of course, got a problem paying for energy which I have used, but i'm just interested to see where Eon stand. It really does show how ridiculously energy company overestimate bills!

cloey

Surely they can't, they are meant to refund previous residents who have overpaid. But if they have no further contact with them, I can't imagine they can charge you for units that have already been paid, that would be terrible but I suppose that's what these companies try to do...
Another proof the estimate bills are just annoying! We overpaid ALOT when i lived in my last flat and it was a struggle to get it back once we had done our final readings and moved out.
You have nothing to hide so don't worry, nothing bad can really come of it. You can either get lucky and get some free gas or have to pay.

jucie_lucie

The previous resident was an elderly lady with Alzheimers, which makes it even worse! I don't have any contact details, so can't let them know that they should be entitled to a refund.
I'm pretty sure they're going to make me pay for the units again now, but its just the principle of it...!

cloey

It's bad enough that they havn't refunded her for them, but to charge you again is a tad harsh.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi jucie_lucie,

Your correct in saying that you shouldn't be paying for the previous owners usage.

I just have a couple of questions if that's ok?

When you moved in, the house was supplied by British Gas, so did you contact them with your details and meter reading to enable them to open an account for you?

Then E.ON took over the supply, did you then also give E.ON an up to date reading for the change of supply date?

Is the start reading from E.ON the same as the Final reading from British Gas?

If the final BG reading is estimated and E.ON start reading is estimated and the reading is now lower, then we may need to raise a dispute to correct this, this is called an agreed reads dispute (ARD).

Sorry for all of the questions

Helena