MERGED: Missing Gas Bills/No Gas Bill

HydroBoy

Hi,

I live in a Housing Association owned house. About 8 years ago the association (my Landord) decided to convert me from solid fuel to gas.

This was done, and I have and use, gas central heating to this day. There is an external mounted meter. The landord is responsible for keeping the boiler safe, but nothing else.

I have never received a gas bill - I have never paid for a single cubic inch of the stuff.

Now I have decided that enough is enough - and I will own up to this misjudgment by me - and incompetance by Gas people.

I have contacted Transco and they say they have no record of my meter , my installation or my consumption. They have no record of the meter serial number (I have sent this to them) . In fact they have no record of anything to do with me, my property or anything.

They have given up searching their records and now suggest I select a supplier - register with them - and then have the supplier register the property as 'theirs'. I have done this and selected Hyrdo Electric (I live in Northern Scotland) as my supplier.

So far - when I have explained to Hydro Electric what has happened - they pretend I have said nothing. They say they will take one month to discover my previous supplier (good luck Hydo Electric!!) and will then register me and calculate a first bill based on an end reading by the previous supplier and the current one.

I think I must be very carefull what I say to whom in the negotiations that will follow - after all I don't even know if the meter started at zero, 8 years ago!! I know nothing since I have not even had a plastic key to the cabinet (until two weeks ago)

Any advice will be appreciated?

TIA

HydroBoy

Fran

HydroBoy -

What a nightmare situation this could be if you get a bill for 8 years of gas! If you do, visit your Citizens Advice Bureau who may be able to negotiate for you and at least help decide payments if it becomes necessary.

I suppose it could be worse you could have left it for 15 years!!! :-/

HydroBoy

Fran,

One piece of advice that I have received from a Tax Expert....of all people?? is that, it is extremely difficult to recover money from someone when the debt is older than 6 years. So maybe I should have left it for longer - but I need the sleep!!

Meter reading is around 3500 cuft b.t.w, which (assuming it hasn't been round the clock, and that it started at zero) is apparenty just over £2500 - depending on tariffs

HydroBoy

loveabargain_6

Hydro Boy,

Do you have an update on your situation? I am in a similar one at the moment and don't know what to do.

Any advice is appreciated..

sunflower_2

this is very common !!
some people carry on using gas for years without receiving bills and noone is any the wiser...

your chosen supplier will contact Transco to see if you have a Meter Point Reference Number

obviously Hydro, you havent got one, so Transco will create a brand new one
they may need to visit your prop do take all meter details

the supplier will then nominate themselves as your supplier and set up an account

its not rocket sience !!!

whether or not the supplier charges you for past consumption is at their discretion, but in your case I very much doubt they would.
as you say, there is no proof of your actual usage....

i would imagine you would start being charged from when the company becomes the registered supplier and a meter reading is obtained

good luck

Fran

sunflower wrote:

whether or not the supplier charges you for past consumption is at their discretion, but in your case I very much doubt they would.
as you say, there is no proof of your actual usage....

If you have spent a long period of time without getting a gas account, I suggest you take legal advice on your situation. Citizens Advice Bureau - find nearest one here may be able to advise, on their Adviceguide website they say:-

"If you have a gas debt, you may not be accepted by a new supplier. A protocol exists which ensures that if you have a debt of up to £100 and use a prepayment meter, you are allowed to transfer to a new supplier and take your debt with you."

chugalug

This happened to me. I too have a HA property which they bought on the open market and then updated themselves to rent out. They put in new gas central heating but I couldnt get anyone to accept my money. Transco couldnt find who the supplier was and no gas co accepted responsibility. The HA said it was the gas company's problem not theirs. This went on for seven years. I eventually exchanged my property without ever paying a gas bill. The new tenant works for Seeboard who took on the meter but there were no charges made for the years I was there. Apparently you cannot be charged if no-one has responsibility for the meter and they havent measured the amount used. And yes, I do now pay for my gas.

loon_2

unfortunately, this is not my given field, but if transco have no record of the meter, the property or the supply and claim that it doesn't exhist, then surely it doesn't. ie if you did not contact a gas supplier to supply you (because no one is actually supplying you at the moment as you do not exhist as a customer) then no one would have a record. That is to say, if you cancel the contract with hydro, or do not give them the mpr, who is going to charge you. According to transco, there is no meter and no one supplying the property, so if you keep things as they are who is going to charge you. As for back dating the supply charges... again if there is no meter and no supplier, then you have nothing to pay and no one to pay it to... surely?

R00STER00

Help!

We have not had a gas bill for a number of years and can't even tell you who supplies us. How do I go about finding out who our supplier is and getting them to bill us?

I am slightly concerned that we are going to be hit with a huge demand and be unable to pay it. Can anyone tell us what our rights are in this situation?

Fran

ROOSTEROO,

I have merged your thread with the above with a similar question. You might also find the thread No-one wants my money useful.

Bargod

I have the same sort of issue (new build still no bill)! We moved into our last this time last year since Jan I have been trying to find out who our supplier is, have spoken to Energywatch they gave me loads of numbers (All 0870 which I wasn't happy about but got the landline numbers from the Saynoto0870.com website). Still no joy! Even with the meter serial number begining and current readings. I was able to get electricity supplier who tried to get me to pay all at once (no way Jose!) so I neogiated with them and paid it off over 6months .. . . .
I saw the note saying that the builders should be responsible I tried this by speaking to them in June, they claimed to have handed the details over (still can't tell me who to!) However Bryant Homes are worse than useless anyway!
The builders have now finished the estate (earlier this month) and left so the details should now have been handed over to the gas supplier. Still no gas bill yet, so I have emailed engerywatch the full details and am waiting to see if I get the details of the gas supplier. Then as it's their fault/builders they can wait for the money as I pay it off monthly.
Any updates for people that have had simular problems would be great!