British Gas Business Bill???

mattoak89

Hi All,

Hoping you could advise.

Basically, Me and 5 friends (students) were living in rented accommodation between Sept 2008 - Sept 2009. When our lease started the utility bills were with British Gas Business, even though the previous tenants were also students. the first thing we did was to call BG and get them to change the gas and electricity account to normal BG domestic. Our bills from BG came quarterly and we paid them as soon as they came.

This morning I've had a phonecall from BG Business querying a gas bill that was unpaid for this property over the time we were there?

As we asked for our utility suppler to be changed from BG Business... as we were not a business, I'm slightly confused. As this was 3 years ago and we were students, we have none of the bills from the time we were there. We never paid much attention to the bills, we just paid outstanding amounts when received, is it possible that they didn't transfer the gas supply from BG Business, therefore not charginf us for gas and now they are trying to reclaim the unpaid money to cover their mistake? Or could it be a situation where we have been charged twice once by domestic and once by business?

This is worrying me and would like to get it sorted. Even if we didn't pay the bill (By fault of BG), do they have rights to claim for a bill 3 years after it was due?

Thanks for any help.

Atidi

mattoak89 wrote: »

Hi All,

Hoping you could advise.

Basically, Me and 5 friends (students) were living in rented accommodation between Sept 2008 - Sept 2009. When our lease started the utility bills were with British Gas Business, even though the previous tenants were also students. the first thing we did was to call BG and get them to change the gas and electricity account to normal BG domestic. Our bills from BG came quarterly and we paid them as soon as they came.

This morning I've had a phonecall from BG Business querying a gas bill that was unpaid for this property over the time we were there?

As we asked for our utility suppler to be changed from BG Business... as we were not a business, I'm slightly confused. As this was 3 years ago and we were students, we have none of the bills from the time we were there. We never paid much attention to the bills, we just paid outstanding amounts when received, is it possible that they didn't transfer the gas supply from BG Business, therefore not charginf us for gas and now they are trying to reclaim the unpaid money to cover their mistake? Or could it be a situation where we have been charged twice once by domestic and once by business?

This is worrying me and would like to get it sorted. Even if we didn't pay the bill (By fault of BG), do they have rights to claim for a bill 3 years after it was due?

Thanks for any help.

It's possible, but your bills would have stated who was the supplier. Also, if you were only paying 5% vat, it was a domestic tariff.

I suggest you contact British Gas to get the situation clarified

dogshome

The fact that BG Business contacted you by phone, and not a letter demanding payment says that they are not sure of what went on either, but the fact that they had taken on the supply to a Student House shows the greed which is endemic in the Business Utility industry

I'm afraid that they can back-bill for up to 6 years, and as they have named you as the account holder, it's you they will chase

Don't ignore them, give them the data as per your post above and advise them that if they think any amount is outstanding, that they should send you a copy of the fully *detailed, but as yet unpaid bill.
(*details of start/end dates, meter readings, pricing calculations & VAT level)

It cannot be certain, but from your post there is a chance that perhaps a few days of your supply right at the start of your tenancy was unbilled by BG Domestic and was supplied by BG Bus.

However, if this ever get's as far as a copy bill being issued, refuse to pay it on the grounds that a Student dwelling should not be charged 17.5/20% VAT, because it's domestic status is only 5%
This gives BG Bus. a problem - As a Business to Business supplier, they cannot charge VAT at anything less than 17.5/20%, so use this as a lever to get a LARGE discount off the bill

macman

Since you would have received 3 or 4 bills in that period, can you not recall if it was business tariff indicated on the bill or not?
Did you submit regular readings during your tenancy, and did you supply a closing reading when you left, and terminated the account?
I think it's more likely that there's either a disputed closing reading, or that this is a catch-up bill because you did not supply readings and your bills were estimated (which again would have been indicated on the bill).

Terrylw1

5% VAT was charged to businesses using less than 34 kwh per day back then, so VAT is not the best way to check but the tariff indicates which it would have been.

Its important to note that a supplier is not allowed to offer a contract Deemed or otherwise to a domestic customer on business contracts. This is clearly covered in Ofgem's Standard Licence Conditions (SLC) so Bgas need to check when they made the changes and confirm you have been billed as domestic from your start to end dates.

Given the time involved and the likelihood of their errors here, it will be likely you can use the back billing code against them but do the above checks first.