British Gas send 'normal' bill in advance of switch

Crater

Thursday 3rd January 2013

We are switching away from British Gas.

We are supposed to give a "final reading" near the date of switch, within 5 days that is, so that British Gas can bill us. The switch date is supposed to be in the middle of next week.

Instead, British Gas have sent an estimated bill ... not marked as a final bill, just a bill :mad: ... dated 28th December, which is nearly 14 days (the usual time in which bills need to be paid) before the switching date.

And it's 4-6 weeks before our normal billing date, which would be end of January or (more normally) early to mid February, so this is not just a bill which has made it through the post early.

Also, BG sent one of their "We would love you to come back to British Gas" letters dated 27th December, telling us to give them a gas reading ... even though we are supposed to give the reading to the new supplier, not to the old one.

If I submit the reading on the actual switching date as intended (when it would be 100% accurate), British Gas could claim they didn't get the reading till after the time the bill "should have" been paid, as it takes 2-3 working days to go through.

Any advice on how I should respond to this bill?

Is this what British Gas normally does to departing customers?

My other (electricty supplier) hasn't done anything like this.

Wywth

Shamsan wrote: »

Thursday 3rd January 2013

We are switching away from British Gas.

We are supposed to give a "final reading" near the date of switch, within 5 days that is, so that British Gas can bill us. The switch date is supposed to be in the middle of next week.

Instead, British Gas have sent an estimated bill ... not marked as a final bill, just a bill :mad: ... dated 28th December, which is nearly 14 days (the usual time in which bills need to be paid) before the switching date.

And it's 4-6 weeks before our normal billing date, which would be end of January or (more normally) early to mid February, so this is not just a bill which has made it through the post early.

Also, BG sent one of their "We would love you to come back to British Gas" letters dated 27th December, telling us to give them a gas reading ... even though we are supposed to give the reading to the new supplier, not to the old one.

If I submit the reading on the actual switching date as intended (when it would be 100% accurate), British Gas could claim they didn't get the reading till after the time the bill "should have" been paid, as it takes 2-3 working days to go through.

Any advice on how I should respond to this bill?

Is this what British Gas normally does to departing customers?

My other (electricty supplier) hasn't done anything like this.

I suggest you contact the supplier with an accurate reading

They will then probably do one of the three following:
a) Issue you a new bill based on your reading
b) Suggest you pay the current estimated bill, and any amendment will catch up with the final bill
c) Hold the current bill (and pend all collection actions) until they issue you a final bill

Crater

Thank you. Any of those would be logical, but I am a bit concerned that they have "jumped the gun" like this when they know what our changeover date is. It wasn't necessary.

I intend to submit our meter reading to our new supplier on Monday, within the 5 days, and send British Gas a letter with the meter reading on it and an explanation of why I am doing it like that.

grahamc2003

Shamsan wrote: »

Thursday 3rd January 2013

We are switching away from British Gas.

We are supposed to give a "final reading" near the date of switch, within 5 days that is, so that British Gas can bill us. The switch date is supposed to be in the middle of next week.

Instead, British Gas have sent an estimated bill ... not marked as a final bill, just a bill :mad: ... dated 28th December, which is nearly 14 days (the usual time in which bills need to be paid) before the switching date.

And it's 4-6 weeks before our normal billing date, which would be end of January or (more normally) early to mid February, so this is not just a bill which has made it through the post early.

Also, BG sent one of their "We would love you to come back to British Gas" letters dated 27th December, telling us to give them a gas reading ... even though we are supposed to give the reading to the new supplier, not to the old one.

If I submit the reading on the actual switching date as intended (when it would be 100% accurate), British Gas could claim they didn't get the reading till after the time the bill "should have" been paid, as it takes 2-3 working days to go through.

Any advice on how I should respond to this bill?

Is this what British Gas normally does to departing customers?

My other (electricty supplier) hasn't done anything like this.

I'm not really sure of your complaint (if you have one).

BGas is your current supplier. Suppliers request readings and send out bills. If they don't have an uptodate reading, then they estimate your bill, with a note to say if you don't want the estimated bill to send them a meter reading, and they'll send you a bill based on that.

Why don't you want your current supplier to know what your meter readings are? If you want a revised bill, then send them the meter readings. If you're happy with an estimated bill, then just pay that and any adjustment to it will come out in the wash when you get round to supplying readings to your new supplier, if BGas has no reason not to accept them.