British Gas - Is this legal?

NoRinse

We recently took the lease on commercial premises in November, they required renovation which is still occurring.
All suppliers except British Gas had written to us within 30 days introducing themselves and offering contracts.
As the Gas was switched off from day one, it wasn’t a high priority for me to address who the supplier was.

I didn’t know who the gas supplier was, but felt sure they would contact us soon enough. At the beginning of February they sent an estimated bill of £450, now we finally knew who they were we contacted them immediately and informed them the gas has not been on and that we haven’t moved in yet, they offered us a contract, which we declined in favour of a better deal with EON.

However they are sticking us with £150 for the daily standing charge (£1.67/day instead of 12p under contract rate) and say they could have done something about the bill if we had entered a contract with them but as we haven’t it remains, and apparently it is our responsibility to find out who our gas supplier is at day one.
My argument is this seems very unfair, firstly to not tell us who they are or the rate we were being charged for 4 months, what was I supposed to do ring every gas supplier in the country to find out? I had asked Eon and they couldn’t tell us who supplied our gas.
Secondly to wait 4 months clocking up the bill on emergency tariff and thirdly to basically coerce us into taking a contract or get stiffed with a big bill.

The gas meter is not bonded which is one of the reasons it’s off and below standards. The bill was made out to the landlord not us, I gave my name when calling and they now say they will reissue the bill in my name and that they attempted to contact the landlord before the 4 months but refused to tell me the method used as its protected under the data protection act. I asked the landlord if he was contacted and he says absolutely not.

Do they have any responsibility – can they legally do this?
Seems pretty wrong to me

macman

Welcome to the forum. Correct, it is your responsibility to take readings and register on day one. You are in a deemed contract, which will be the default one-usually the most expensive. Standing charges apply regardless of whether you use the supply or not.
Tracking your supplier involves one phone call. Did the LL not know who they were?
http://www.ukenergy.co.uk/pages/area.html

chanz4

They will search the landregistry to find the owner, not hard. With it been a business property it does have a standard charge.

undaunted

A deemed contract begins when you first use the supply, not merely when you move into the property!

Ofgem definition here:
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Markets/RetMkts/Compl/SLR/SteerngGrp/Documents1/14319-Deemed%20Contracts.pdf

If the gas was switched off you were not in my opinion using the supply & I would therefore seek legal advice and challenge it personally.

macman

I've just realised that this would be a commercial supply-so does the deemed contract system still apply at all?

undaunted

Unfortunately deemed contracts affect us all (domestic or commercial). Personally I think the whole thing is a nonsense & suppliers should be required to either obtain an express contract within a reasonable given period (eg that a "deemed contract" could not run for more than one quarterly bill) or disconnect the supply.

chanz4

Without the deemed contract system you would have no power on if you ever move, that means days of waiting for supply which you prefer?

DVardysShadow

undaunted wrote: »

A deemed contract begins when you first use the supply, not merely when you move into the property!

Ofgem definition here:
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Markets/RetMkts/Compl/SLR/SteerngGrp/Documents1/14319-Deemed%20Contracts.pdf

If the gas was switched off you were not in my opinion using the supply & I would therefore seek legal advice and challenge it personally.

I agree.

The relevant words are

Schedule 2B paragraph 8(1) of the Gas Act and Schedule 6 paragraph 3(1) of the Electricity Act, respectively, provide that where a supplier supplies gas or electricity to premises or a consumer otherwise than in pursuance of a contract, the supplier shall be deemed to have contracted with the consumer for the supply of gas or electricity from the time when he began to supply that gas or electricity.

Typically a deemed contract will occur where a customer moves into a new property and has not agreed contractual terms with a supplier who is supplying energy to that property or where a fixed term contract expires and there are no explicit provisions for terms and conditions for the period immediately after expiry.

So provided that no gas has been consumed, there is no supply and therefore no contract. So there can be no deemed contract.

undaunted

chanz4 wrote: »

Without the deemed contract system you would have no power on if you ever move, that means days of waiting for supply which you prefer?

It seems to me that there is no reason whatsoever that consumers could not enter into an express contract with effect from ..... before they move into the property.

I did however give leeway and merely said that the deemed contract should not run for more than a short reasonable period - ie if it existed for one quarter maximum the supplier and consumer would each have time to get their act together but both parties would have to enter into a properly defined contract. At the moment we have a system where people can do a runner never having been identified by the supplier, suppliers can rely on a so called contract the terms of which which the consumer is never properly made aware of etc.

utility_csa

I dont know if gas on commercial properties is different to electric but unluckily its your fault for not finding the gas supplier, it takes on call to ngrid to find out the current supplier.

Unfortunately Non-contractual rates are very high and this is due to the cost of everything in the half hourly world..

Alot of suppliers seem happy to have various sites around the country running on n/c rates which i dont understand..

"The gas meter is not bonded which is one of the reasons it’s off and below standards. "
If you mean earth bonding, it isn't required to be installed by the meter operator or supplier, its the customer responsibility. unless it was their previously.

DVardysShadow

utility_csa wrote: »

I dont know if gas on commercial properties is different to electric but unluckily its your fault for not finding the gas supplier, it takes on call to ngrid to find out the current supplier.

As OP has not used any gas, it is not 'unluckily for him'. It is British Gas's hard luck.