Need advice on what my rights are before I ring Britisg Gas

Becki101

If anyone can give me some advice before I ring British Gas tomorrow I would be very grateful. I'm a British Gas customer and have been for some time for both gas and electricity I have always checked online to make sure we were getting the best deal available, online comparison sites always had our account as the cheapest.

This all started back in November last year when out of the blue we get a phone call from BG gas saying “sorry I was leaving and was there anything they could do to get us to come back to them”. At which point I told them I wasn't leaving them, I hadn't switched suppliers. Turns out it was too late to stop it but they opened an investigation and told me not to worry. They phoned us every week to tell us that it was an Erroneous transfer, and that they had informed the company it had been transfered to and that it would be tranfered back but that it could take up to 8 weeks, Well it took a lot longer than that 12 in the end. Turns out next door had switched from BG to another company but the company and somehow are meter No had been used switching us instead of them.
Tonight I went online to check my bank account only to notice that my last BG Electricity DD had gone from £50 to £100 and I couldn't figure it out last bill in we were in credit by £75 so I went on BG website to check the accounts. The next bill has not been generated so I couldn't figure out how they had decided we were using £50 more of electricity a month. Then I saw it, They had switched my tariffs on Gas & Electricity to their standard tariff, which is a big difference in price:mad:

My question is what are my rights, Can they legally do this as we had a contract with them and we never broke that contract & can I get a refund on the past 3 months that they have been charging me at the standard price. I am really worried the quarterly bills are due soon and I'm scared how much they are going to be especially tas we live in Yorkshire and our village get some of the worst weather going. We have the heating on most of the time in winter and 3 kids who who use a lot of electricity and I have been working from home over winter so things that would normally be switch off while at work have stayed on in the day. So if we have to pay at the standard tariff prices it will cripple us:(

Sorry this went on a bit and thanks for any advice you can give.

Terrylw1

It was agreed as an erroneous transfer and once they transfer back they have to restore your account exactly as it was.

I wouldn't worry, its going to be a mistake. Billing systems are very automated and if you were on an expired product it would put you back on a standard with some utilities. It may just be a careless mistake in setting you back up.

You should have no problems sorting this and if they state the product is expured just remind them you did not leave and it was out of your control. If they don't agree, contact their complaints dept which will most likely be listed on the back of your bill.

It sounds simple to me, seen this a lot before. The same can happen if they changed your account to another customer in error and then restored it as utilities often have all this programmed into systems you enforce what their staff do...but it can come unstuck in a scenario like yours and you end up telling them so thy can correct it.

Joyful

As above they will rebill you on the correct tariff. You just have to let them know. Also if you have kept the payments aside from when you were Erroneously transferred you can pay this to BG which will mean your DD will not be so high.

Terrylw1

That's a good point Joyful, there is also a chance that this will have other impacts to the consumption which could cause issues with dd`s. It could also impact dual fuel discounts.

They should hopefully avoid this but its worth keeping an eye to ensure its truly as it was.