British gas put us on an expensive standard tarrif

Dominoid

I moved into a house last April. A few weeks after this, I received a letter addressed to me from British Gas, saying that they had set up my gas and electricity account. I had not asked for this, but assumed that the letting agent asked for it to be set up in my name.

There was no mention on it of the tariff, and stupidly I did not check it at the time. The first bills which came in were roughly in line with what was expected.

Recently however, we received a huge (~£700) quarterly bill, which prompted me to check the tarrif. To my surprise I found that we were on a "standard" tarrif with an extortionate daytime electricty rate of about 19p/unit, which really bit us. This is more expensive that the daytime rate on my old EDF economy 7 tarrif, and had I known there was no way I would have signed up to such a ripoff scheme.

When I complained, British Gas told me that it was my responsibility to change tariff and I should have checked for the best tarrif for my usage. :mad:

I had a look at the mis-selling energy article on here, but that only seemed to deal with switching suppliers and not being signed up for a new tarrif when first moving into a home, so I'm not sure if I have any sort of case against them, but what do you think? Any advice much appreciated!

Nada666

Zero case, morally and practically.

The standard tariff is the standard tariff - it is what most people use, most people pay for. If you do not want to be treated like a typical customer then it is down to you to choose an alternative tariff. How can they read your mind?

Every supplier will place any new occupier on their standard tariff. If you want to make a different arrangement you can - but no-one does that but the customer.

DaveTheMus

My advice is...don't be so lazy next time and take responsibility for your own mistakes.

Nada666

(BTW, the standard tariff is not their 'most expensive' tariff.)

Nada666

(And, btw 2, 19p for electricity is a tier 1 price, not a tier 2 price. That includes a 6 or 7p contribution to the service charges instead of through a daily standing charge. Your daytime charge for EDF on E7 when the standing charge is factored in would not have been significantly less than 19p).

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

And how would you have reacted if you'd been put on their cheapest deal? No doubt you'd be complaining that you'd been tied in against your will, and there were evil exit fees to contend with.

You're capable of negotiating the property market with all that entails, but couldn't even take 5 minutes (yes, 5 minutes) to bother to sort out your energy bills. Pay up I'm afraid.

matelodave

You are put onto the standard tariff so that you've got the flexibility to change suppliers or tariffs without an exit charge. As said above it's up to you to check your bills, meter and bank statements to make sure that you are on the best tariff, that your bills & statements reflect the meter readings and cover the cost of the energy that you are using.
If you can't be bothered to check the bills (I assume that you've had more than one since last April) then you've no one else to blame but yourself. British Gas don't really care which tariff you are on - it's up to you to decide which one suits you best.

StuC75

Sounds like the standard tariff was a zero standing charge tier1/2 prices...

Even following moving to a standing charge, Ive stayed on the standard tariff since based on my usage that is the cheaper option at the moment - since most of the fixed ones load up the kwh charge now against what a future rise might be..

[Deleted User]

I think all new customers now will be going onto a daily standing charge, the 19 p/kwhr would be day use eco 7 plus 26 p a day daily charge.
A point of interest to me is that I thought suppliers are supposed to inform customers that cheaper tariffs are available. That does nt seem to be happening as far as I can see. Most people I speak to ( two today ) were unaware that "standard " tariff was about the dearest

spiro

sacsquacco wrote: »

I think all new customers now will be going onto a daily standing charge, the 19 p/kwhr would be day use eco 7 plus 26 p a day daily charge.
A point of interest to me is that I thought suppliers are supposed to inform customers that cheaper tariffs are available. That does nt seem to be happening as far as I can see. Most people I speak to ( two today ) were unaware that "standard " tariff was about the dearest

the new obligation on suppliers to advise customers of cheaper tariffs is only just coming into force.

chanz4

Op YOUR to blame not them, you would of recieved a welcome pack. Also if the letting agents didnt open you an account, would you of even bothered to inform the supplier?