British Gas changed our tarriff without letting us know...now they want more money!

tiffjh

Hi,
this is the first time I've posted on here, so sorry if any of these issues are covered elsewhere, but I dont know where else to go!

Basically, me and my partner were with british gas (just electricity) for our small 1 bed flat. We originally signed up for a websaver 4 tarriff which meant we payed £45 a month. this was perfect as I was a student with a part time job and he worked full time so we didnt have a great deal of money for electricity, it also meant we accrued a credit for the winter months. However we both got made redundant in the same week (2 months after I finished uni) so we were forced to move back into our parents houses. When I phoned British Gas to tell them we were moving and to question an email they send us saying our payments were going upto £72/p month they said this was down to the price increases and the websaver wasnt covering our usage. The problem I have is that in this email, it doesnt mention the fact that our original websaver tarriff wasnt covering our usage. It just stated that electricity prices were increasing. So in my opinion they moved us from a fixed price tarriff to a standard without our knowledge. I accept prices are increasing for everyone, but I feel that I wasnt told about the change of our tarriff until I phoned them to tell them I was moving.
To make matters worse, they now want £184 from us (outstanding payments, which I cant understand why as I thought we were up to date with our payments), which due to both of us being made redundant, we cant afford to pay, so we have to pay it over a year, despite no longer even living at the property.

This is causing me a lot of stress and anxiety, I dont want to play the 'I'm young and a bit naive' card, but this was my first time away from my parents, so therefore my first experience of paying for my own utilities. I cant help but feel that they are trying to get a lot of money out of us, money which we thought we had already paid and now we are left with a big bill on top of the stress of loosing our jobs and not having any other option but to move back in with parents. Any help would be appreciated or anyone whos had a similar experience! Also please do just say if I'm being a bit silly and young, 'Welcome to the real world' type advice, but I'm just a bit at a loss as to where I stand with this with regards to making complaints or trying to get our debt written off as they didnt tell us they were changing our tarriff. Basically do I have any grounds for complaint?

apt

Websaver 4 was not a fixed tariff, but a guaranteed discount on the standard tariff. It expired on 30 November 2010. British Gas should have written to you to spell out the change in tariff at that time. If there were other price increases it also should have informed you. If I were you I would take all the information you have about what what British Gas informed you, what you have paid and what you have used to the Citizen's Advice Bureau and ask for advice. The £184 probably reflects that the £45 per month direct debit did not cover the electricity you used last winter.