Massive elec bill - will I still owe it all?

slickster77

Hi all,

Back in February 2010 I was paying my electricity bill with British Gas by direct debit. Then they cancelled my direct debit.

I rang them up to query this, and they said it was because I was on a pre-pay meter. I told them that this was not the case, we still had our standard meter. They said they could see I'd been topping it up - £20 here, £10 there and so-on. They must have got me mixed up with another house or something.

I rang them a few more times, but was only met with the same response - so I tried to set up my dd again but they said they couldn't as I was on a pre-pay meter.

I was skint at the time so probably didnt keep on chasing it up.

About six months later I sent in an application for help towards the outstanding bill through this site - even though I had no idea what the bill would be at this point as they had stopped sending me bills. I was rejected for help anyway.

Over the last three years a guy has been and read the meter a few times, although I still never got any bills from them. I had still been paying my gas bill by dd throughout.

Anyway - on Saturday I got a bill through for £2,800 which obviously I havent got the cash for! My question is really should I be liable to pay all of it? I know I've used the electricity but feel that this has been their error really.

I wanted to check if I had any rights before ringing them up and trying to sort out a payment plan!

Thanks
Rich

StuC75

So what have you been doing with the money that you would have budgeted for Electricity??

Do the meter numbers on the Bill match with your supply meter? (If theyve had crossed account details - maybe the meters are incorrectly referenced?)..

slickster77

Unfortunately the money which would have gone on the electricity has been used for other living costs.

The readings match up ok.

Andy_WSM

slickster77 wrote: »

Unfortunately the money which would have gone on the electricity has been used for other living costs.

The readings match up ok.

Also unfortunate is that if you used it, you are expected to pay for it. If you don't then other customers do, which isn't fair, is it?

macman

The back billing rule may apply here, since you did attempt to get them to bill you.
In which case they can only bill you back 12 months.

undaunted

You could look into back billing rules.

Expect to have to prove that you made efforts to obtain bills, advise you were not on pre payment meter, offer payment by DDI etc however. If you can do so you may possibly get away with the last twelve months bill, if you can't you'll be stuck with the bill

http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication/finish/43/412.html