Compensation for incorrect billing

sprince_2

I've been a British Gas electricity customer for over 2 years. I started paying £63 a month for the first year. British Gas then changed by payment down to £36 a month and gave me a £254 refund (to reduce the amount that my account was in credit). After a year at £36, my monthly payments was put up to £103.

During this period my electricity usage has been the same yearly cycle. It hasn't been fluctuating wildly. I have also been supplying real meter readings whenever they were asked for.

A couple of months ago, after submitting my latest meter reading, my outstanding balance went from near nothing to ~£1300. Subsequent investigation has revealed that I've been consistently been under-billed throughout the period. I have used this much electricity, but I was never billed for it at the time.

Do I have an argument for not paying this outstanding balance becuase it was not billed for at the time?

[Deleted User]

What sort of electric meter do you have ?, its not an economy 7 dual rate meter is it, which is the usual sort of meter to get this sort of underbilling

sprince_2

Yes, I have an economy 7 dual rate meter.

renegade

You could have worked out your own bills to see if the amount you were paying each month covered the costs of the electricity you were using.
I my mind you have no come-back on this, you knew you were being under billed from your own meter readings.

McKneff

If you used the electricity, you have to pay for it, whether they were underbilling you or not.

DVardysShadow

sprince wrote: »

Yes, I have an economy 7 dual rate meter.

So you would have been able to go to it and compare the actual readings with the bill?

ollski

Would imagine you have a good argument for a payment plan at 0% interest.

[Deleted User]

My payment plans with all providers have been at 0%

I am now with EDF and I got £250 with my first complaint and £75 last week and I am looking for some more now as we are not yet at final stage.

They told me my direct debits could be reduced, I asked them "How can I save money?", apparently this is just the same as miselling.

So that will give you an idea, also the people you speak to can do this very easily as the customer agents gave me £100 at a time.

Also seperate issue I got £100 off British Gas at Ombudsman stage because they had caused me problems by not fixing my boiler, they often pay up when they are challenged.

I feel like a right cheat now!, but I just get what I can as they take a lot from me! :-)

HTH:T

[Deleted User]

Have meter readers been involved in the reads or are they all yours?.British Gas are appalling in billing eco 7 meters correctly, I work for them and have been banging on about them for years, both to British Gas transposition dept.(! yes they have a dept just for these !!!! ups) and to my company about basic training to the meter readers in digital 2 raters from the many past posts and threads you can quote the back billing rule for these mistakes as its not your fault. However, many customers I meet know they are getting underbilled, and are quite happy to go along with it for as long as they can.Last week a lady showed me her last eco 7 bill which clearly showed she was getting billed her day units on the cheap night rate. She said customer services had cleared the bill as ok but she turned a bit nasty on me when I asked to photo the bill. Once again, she had the digital Ampy meter which was showing rate 1 as day, but the meter readers were imputting this into the night field on their handheld computers

jalexa

sprince wrote: »

Subsequent investigation has revealed that I've been consistently been under-billed throughout the period. I have used this much electricity, but I was never billed for it at the time.

I don't agree with some of the advice which has been given. It is first necessary to test whether "Billing Code" backbilling relief applies to unbilled energy supplied more than 12 months prior.
http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication/finish/43-code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills/412-the-code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills-back-billing-for-domestic-customers.html

Decide for yourself. Circumstances vary, including customer conduct, but it is a industry "Code" not a customer "code".

Terrylw1

You said you have been giving readings when asked but noticed they have not been used. The question is whether your reads fall inline with the bill. If they do, whilst your supplier should have used them, you could have chased that up to find out why and sort it out.

The back billing code applies over 12 months where you haven't knowingly concealed information or hindered the ability to collect it.