Student Gas Bill Messed Up !!!

fitzi_74

Hi, I have graduated this year but in my second year of uni I was sharing a house with two other people. When our first bill arrived we were shocked by the price and compared to friends on the same street ours was a lot more. We realised that on the top of the page it said 'Brittish Gas Business Account', which is obviously wrong! I think the account was set up by the landlord. We thought we had paid it off but now a year later my housemate has a debt collectors letter stating we owe £476.

There is another complication in the fact of a housemate called 'Bob' who was from Saudi Arabia who towards the end of the year stopped paying bills and rent but then continued to pay rent when he was threatened to get kicked out. We have no contact with him and he owes the majority of the bill!

We have no idea what to do, I dont have that kind of money to pay either! Help needed!

Thanks

dogshome

Hi fitzi_74 - I'm afraid that the breakdown in the financial arrangements between 3 students in a house-share is no concern of Brit Gas and your remedy lies with the Civil Courts.

However, the charging of this account on a Business Account basis is the concern of BG, the least of which is that VAT is applied to Business accounts at the full rate of what was 17.5% and now is 20%, whilst domestic accounts are at 5%

It seems BG have logged your fellow student as the account holder, get him to WRITE to BG pointing out that you were a Domestic dwelling, and asking them for copies of each and every bill they issued during your tenancy, (They have to supply them ).
The point of doing this is that you will have a record of all the meter readings and consumption on which to base your case for being charged at Domestic rates.

Whilst your landlord because of the size of his property holdings may have been on a Business tariff, once you took over responsibility for the account it should have been billed as a domestic dwelling

Cardew

dogshome wrote: »

It seems BG have logged your fellow student as the account holder, get him to WRITE to BG pointing out that you were a Domestic dwelling, and asking them for copies of each and every bill they issued during your tenancy, (They have to supply them ).
The point of doing this is that you will have a record of all the meter readings and consumption on which to base your case for being charged at Domestic rates.

Whilst your landlord because of the size of his property holdings may have been on a Business tariff, once you took over responsibility for the account it should have been billed as a domestic dwelling

I suspect that, like many students, in all probability the account was left in the Landlord's name and they just paid the bill.

The demand for £446 has come from a Debt Collecting Agency - not BG - and has taken a year to arrive.

It seems probable that the the DCA have traced the OP's flatmate and are holding him responsible.

For OP.
If the above is correct, then you are all 'jointly and severally' liable for the unpaid bill and your flatmate is in the 'hotseat'.(it could have been you!!) This will affect his credit rating and needs to be sorted.

You may be able to get BG to amend amount owed because of the VAT situation, but I doubt it as they have sold the debt to a DCA.

If bill was in your Flatmates name, it is his problem to sort out. He owes the money.

macman

Why, when you realised on receipt of your first bill that it was on a business tariff, did you (apparently) do nothing about it until now?
Saudi Bob does not owe 'the majority of the bill'. You are all jointly and severally liable, as stated by Cardew.
Did you take and submit a closing meter reading upon your departure? If not, then you cannot prove your usage up to that date. If the billing period exceeds the end of your tenancy, then you will have to prove the date of exit in order to get the bill recalculated.