Help needed - not been charged for gas for 5 years

dancevinyl

Hi,

I was looking to change my energy provider this evening and had someone running through my bills, when looking at my gas meter they were unable to find a reference for my meter on their online system.

I looked a bit further, going through bank statements and I was unable to find a payment for my gas which now looks like I've not been billed since start of 2008 (£45 monthly payment) :-(

The last payment I can find is to Southern Electric for Gas in April 2008.

The confusing part is (and why I've not picked it up), I pay Electric and Service Fee to British Gas, I assumed this was everything.

Has anyone experienced this before? I'm not sure what to do now, do I contact Southern Electric? Move to a new provider and hope it just picks up from here?

I'm currently unemployed and therefore need to a avoid a big bill. As far as I'm concerned this is providers fault, but I'm sure they will say otherwise.

Typically when I was working I just assumed bills were being paid, now I'm looking closer this doesn't seem to be the case :-(

Any help/advise appreciated please.

DV

Own_My_Own

Sorry but it is as much your fault as theirs. It is up to you to keep an eye on your bills.

You will have to pay the bill. If you move companies you may need to pay the whole lot at once. If you stay with them you should be able to spread the cost, although I expect the monthly amount will still be quite high.

wakeupalarm

How can you go FIVE YEARS without noticing a missing payment going out of your bank account each month. All these news stories about freezing cold winters increasing energy bills and your paying the same amount and you don't wonder why your bills aren't increasing and what all the fuss is about!

Electric means electric bill
Service means your annual boiler service
Gas would mean the missing Gas bill

Contact Southern to get your meter reference point and then just change to another company. Don't worry you wont have to pay anything, other customers will pick up the bill on your behalf.

sheffield_lad

You will have to pay some back normally the total amount divided by the last five years, you pay back the last 12 months worth.

spiro

sheffield_lad wrote: »

You will have to pay some back normally the total amount divided by the last five years, you pay back the last 12 months worth.

The 12 month rule applies if its the energy companies fault. If its your fault you have to pay the lot. It really depends on how they ended up in this situation, something must have happened 5 years ago.

sheffield_lad

spiro wrote: »

The 12 month rule applies if its the energy companies fault. If its your fault you have to pay the lot. It really depends on how they ended up in this situation, something must have happened 5 years ago.

I have seen it many times before you only need enough smoke, backbilling is/will be applied here IMO of course.

Cardew

sheffield_lad wrote: »

I have seen it many times before you only need enough smoke, backbilling is/will be applied here IMO of course.

Whilst Spiro is quite correct, the Utility companies are so scared of bad publicity that they rarely fight contested cases even when the fault quite clearly lays with the customer; as it usually does!

CRISPIANNE3

dancevinyl wrote: »

Hi,

I was looking to change my energy provider this evening and had someone running through my bills, when looking at my gas meter they were unable to find a reference for my meter on their online system.

I looked a bit further, going through bank statements and I was unable to find a payment for my gas which now looks like I've not been billed since start of 2008 (£45 monthly payment) :-(

The last payment I can find is to Southern Electric for Gas in April 2008.

The confusing part is (and why I've not picked it up), I pay Electric and Service Fee to British Gas, I assumed this was everything.

Has anyone experienced this before? I'm not sure what to do now, do I contact Southern Electric? Move to a new provider and hope it just picks up from here?

I'm currently unemployed and therefore need to a avoid a big bill. As far as I'm concerned this is providers fault, but I'm sure they will say otherwise.

Typically when I was working I just assumed bills were being paid, now I'm looking closer this doesn't seem to be the case :-(

Any help/advise appreciated please.

DV

I had a similar problem a few years ago but the issue was no one would accept responsability for my supply. In the end BG decided it was them and the amount outstanding was £1,000. However they agreed a settlement figure of £750 which I gladly paid.

However I was fully aware no payments were being taken monthly
and only on moving I got BG to take ownership.

meeshpeesh

Even if you do have to pay back to full amount, it's unlikely they'll make you pay it all in one go. I had a similar situation where my tax code was wrong for a year, and they've changed my tax code this year to cover the difference.

I think some people are being a little harsh, the OP is clearly new to the forum and may not have been paying close attention to their money until recently. A few years ago I barely looked at my balance and outgoings now I'm all over it in case of under/overpayments!

matelodave

How can someone not know that they £45 a month better off = £540 a year and £2700 over five years.

Hopefully he's still got the money in his bank account just waiting for the bill then, if not why should the rest of us pay towards his debt.

People do have to take responsibility for themselves and not keep blaming others and then expecting the rest of us to bail them out.