Brit Gas bill reduced from £322 to £3.57!

shuan

I got my mothers British Gas bill reduced from £322 to £3.57!!

Here’s how….I will say this has taken me about 8 months, but still, a victory at the end. Briefly, I took over my mothers affairs last year, as dementia set in for her and she moved into a care-home.
On going through her bills and such and reading her meters, I realized that British Gas, who supplied her electricity [there’s no gas at her property] had not read her meter for at least 2 years and had been continually over-estimating her usage. For the last year, I had taken a monthly reading of mothers meter, so I knew what her usage was.
I worked out this usage, using the figures supplied on the bill by British Gas, as regards their tariffs and monthly rates for low and peak time usage…which are by no means clear and came to as figure of approx £112 outstanding. I duly sent this off, with a breakdown of my version of the bill, based on actual meter readings and their own figures.
I received a repeat bill of £322 [approx] and a further penalty for late payment and no other correspondence. I replied again with my figures and readings and refused to pay any more.
There then ensued a series of letters from debt collection agencies threatening confiscation of goods etc and bailiffs. These letters were very aggressive, I felt and lots of red ink and capitals.
I dug in my heels, rang the debt agencies and told them I was in dispute with British Gas about this and that I would give them no access to the property if they called and they were fine and immediately backed off. British Gas continued to send letters demanding payment.
In the meantime, I was also moving the supply from British Gas to nPower, who were very quick and polite, but seemed confused when they ran into a problem with transferring from British Gas, as British Gas seemed to have different meter readings. Obviously, on moving to nPower I had to take a reading to give them and that figure matched my own previous readings, and not British Gas ‘estimated’ ones.

It all went a bit quiet from British Gas for a month and then I got a ‘Final Bill’ for £3.57. There was no word of apology or recognition that they had been wrong all that time or any acknowledgement at all.
If I hadn’t taken readings regularly, and dug in my heels and not been intimidated by letters and threats, then this would never have been sorted out and my mother would have paid up and continued to pay well over the odds for her electricity.
So, if you have aged parents, just check their bills now and then and make sure the readings given on the bill really match the ones on their meter and if they don’t, stop paying and argue with the suppliers…and don’t give up!

I’m now taking on BT and Lloyds Bank, as they were, I think, mis-selling her products she had no need or use for.
Suan

bendipa

Interesting. So you worked out that your mother's consumption of electricity for a year came to £112. It would likely cost more than that just to simply run a fridge freezer for a year. Since she had no gas what about heating water? If she used an immersion heater that costs a bomb, probably more than running a fridge.Then there's heating her home in winter, which would still cost a fair amount even on economy 7, assuming she used a hot water storage system. Then there's cooking expenses on an electric stove, and heating a kettle, all heavy consumption appliances, and lighting her home. I would have thought that £322 is a figure what it would cost a fairly frugal, single person to run their home on electriicity over a year. You don't mention at what period the property was unoccupied during the year in question

Neither did you get the bill reduced from £322 to £3.57. British Gas charged your mother £322 presumably for unpaid bills. You sent them £112, after which they decided you still owed £3.57. So the whole bill must have come to £115.57, still a tiny consumption of electricity for a year considering your mother had no gas. Or is was her property unoccupied for most of the year in question?

Cardew

bendipa wrote: »

Interesting. So you worked out that your mother's consumption of electricity for a year came to £112. It would likely cost more than that just to simply run a fridge freezer for a year. Since she had no gas what about heating water? If she used an immersion heater that costs a bomb, probably more than running a fridge.Then there's heating her home in winter, which would still cost a fair amount even on economy 7, assuming she used a hot water storage system. Then there's cooking expenses on an electric stove, and heating a kettle, all heavy consumption appliances, and lighting her home. I would have thought that £322 is a figure what it would cost a fairly frugal, single person to run their home on electriicity over a year. You don't mention at what period the property was unoccupied during the year in question

Neither did you get the bill reduced from £322 to £3.57. British Gas charged your mother £322 presumably for unpaid bills. You sent them £112, after which they decided you still owed £3.57. So the whole bill must have come to £115.57, still a tiny consumption of electricity for a year considering your mother had no gas. Or is was her property unoccupied for most of the year in question?

My understanding is not that the total bill for a year is £112 but that was the amount outstanding using the correct meter readings.

The OP stated that they were over-estimating consumption for 2 years:

had not read her meter for at least 2 years and had been continually
over-estimating her usage.

The OP then states that there was a figure of £112 outstanding.

So it seems a fairly simply case of the OP's mother being well in credit had correct meter readings been used, instead of over-estimated readings.

P.S. If you have a fridge freezer using over £112 a year I would get it fixed.