Big bill from British Gas - Advice appreciated...

DSM

Hi fellow MSE readers,

I have recently received a rather large gas bill from British Gas which has got me a bit worried.

To give you all some background, I bought a reposession home back in 2010 which had token meters installed for the previous tennants who encountered financial difficulty. Within a few months of me buying the place, I contacted BG to have "proper" meters installed which they did no problem. Shortly after this, I received a letter to say sorry you're leaving us at which point I contacted them to inform them I had not requested to leave. They undertook an investigation and "found" that coincidentally, someone had tried to switch me without permision. I also asked quite specifically "is there anything I need to do now" at which point I was informed no and just to sit back and they will take care of it (in a round about sort of way).

Roll on to 2012 and I receive this letter stating I owe them £650 from Sept 2010 to Sept 2011.

Having asked around what my family and friends have been paying each month, it appears that I have only been paying for my electricity and not my gas. Somewhat naively and in hindsight, I never thought to check what I should be paying and just assumed that by setting up the direct debit with them, they would just take the right money out for what I've used. The bills received included the dual fuel discounts and the bank payments were listed as Br Gas-Electricity which now I understand was for electricity but foolishly, I'd seen gas and electricity together and interpreted it as both.

The letter I received states that I should wait for the bill (hasn't arrived yet) then go to the post office to pay it off. This leads me to my question which I would appreciate advice from others who have been in similar situations.

Would it be unreasonable to request to pay back over a period of 12 months as originally intended, in addition to my current gas usage? I'm in no way whatsoever trying to avoid paying, after all I have used the gas, however a big bill like this will leave me struggling to pay it all off in one go. Also.....

I'm now very worried I'm going to get a second letter and subsequent bill asking for payment between Oct 2011 to date for a similar amount.

I'll ring the helpline number once the actual bill turns up but I was just after a little advice prior to the call.

I know its a bit longwinded. Thanks for taking the time to read.

DSM

Terrylw1

I would remind them of Ofgem's directive on back billing.

I would be asking why its taken so long for them to produce a bill and what have they been doing in monitoring the unbilled account as well as all the triggers they get that would prompt them looking at it e.g. meter readings.

Suppliers have a habit of thinking its OK to ignore their errors in managing their accounts and then try it on with the customer for the full sum. Quoted the back billing policies and raising complaints tends to see a very quick reversal.

SwanJon

As well as the above, you could ask for as long to pay it back as it took to build up, so closer to 20 months than 12.
You are also entitled to a much better explanation - if your supply was taken by accident by another supplier it could have been a neighbour trying to move and getting the wrong details (in which case it may happen again). Check that BG have the right meter (there's a serial number near the barcode on each meter and it shoudl also be on the bill - if you gete one!).
Take a gas meter reading and give them a call to discuss payment. Don't be afraid to push for a sensible payment amount.
It might also be worth looking into the Energy Ombudsman, even if just to have in your back pocket.

chanz4

Something that needs to be checked, the billing is it for the et period? If so backbilling code is a little different

steph100

Sounds to me that this is because of the erroneous transfer, i.e when your supply was taken in error by a different provider. In that case its unlikely that back billing would apply. I would definately check your meter serial number as there could be a mix up between you and a neighbour, hence your supply being taken in error in the first place. In this situation the company being British Gas would usually allow you to pay the outstanding amount over a longer period of time usually they would want any balance paid over 12 months, but its likely they may agree to a longer period if you prefer.

DSM

Thanks for your replies guys. Most appreciated. I'll digest this info this evening and might pop back if I have any over queries.

DSM

Terrylw1

steph100 wrote: »

Sounds to me that this is because of the erroneous transfer, i.e when your supply was taken in error by a different provider. In that case its unlikely that back billing would apply. I would definately check your meter serial number as there could be a mix up between you and a neighbour, hence your supply being taken in error in the first place. In this situation the company being British Gas would usually allow you to pay the outstanding amount over a longer period of time usually they would want any balance paid over 12 months, but its likely they may agree to a longer period if you prefer.

Why would backbilling not apply just because of an ET? It doesn't take years correct an ET and you've only got until month 14 in real time before you can actually use the correct industry process.

Its not acceptable to take all this time to complete a progress whether an ET, a meter change or anything else. Whilst the root cause is another supplier, its up to your correct supplier to manage the ET process...not to site about for nearly 2 years and suddenly bill it up.

ERA is self regulated and can't overrule the previous Ofgem directive.

British_Gas

Hi - have you contacted us regarding your bill? If you send me a PM with your account details, and I'll be more than happy to assist you with your enquiry further.

Alex
British Gas - Social Media Team

DSM

British_Gas_company_representative wrote: »

Hi - have you contacted us regarding your bill? If you send me a PM with your account details, and I'll be more than happy to assist you with your enquiry further.

Alex
British Gas - Social Media Team

Hi Alex,

Thanks for getting in touch. I have composed a message but on trying to send it to you, it appears you have pm messages disabled. Please could you enable pm's through your settings or alternatively, leave me your email address and I'll forward it through to you via email.

Thanks

DSM

Terrylw1

Bumped for the Bgas Board Rep.

Users PMing you are having this problem, should it be linked to an email address?

DSM

All sorted now. Spoke to a nice chap in the call centre who was really helpful in sorting out a payment plan over twelve months.

The paperwork delivered wasn't really concise in explaining the situation however the chap gave me a full explanation as to what had happened and fully admitted that the fault lied at their end. Basically, it all stemmed from when the token meters were swapped over to standard meters and BG hadn't updated their systems sufficiently. As a result, I have received a bill for the last years' consumption, but the previous years' consumption has been written off so I don't need to fret over another bill!

Anyhow, I've now set up a direct debit (I'll make sure I check it this time!) which will pay off my current consumption and the accumulated bill over the next 12 months.

Overall, I'm very happy with this.

An extra thanks to all those who offered advice.