HUGE BG final bill after switching - help!

sarahse24

With the help of this site I found a good gas and electricity deal with the Co-Op and so have switched from BG. I've been paying around £150 per month for both gas and electric, in a two bed flat.

We've given regular meter readings to BG throughout our time at this property (approx 1.5 years), but since switching I received a final bill from them to say we are an enormous £770 in debt!

I can't understand why we owe this much, our usage isn't extreme, we have a new boiler etc. I feel that if our usage had been this high, our d.debits should have been adjusted to reflect it?!

My partner called BG today who have insisted the bill is correct, but we can't afford this.

Can anyone advise what we should do in this situation??

jobdone1

Firstly i would if me ring the co-op ask for the start readings that they have on system when they started to supply you for both gas and electric then armed with this ring British gas and ask for the close reads again both gas and electric, Then get the cupboards open and check today's meter reads again both gas and electric. If you see a gap, in readings that's likely to be where the problem will be. It is clear their has to be a problem with readings based on what you where paying in D.D every month and what they claim you now owe in my view.

Twister17

I know how you feel. I have a similar issue with Scottish Power sending us a bill for £700 after switching - we're on a prepayment meter though so it makes no sense as to how we owe that much.

Definitely check meter reading between the two companies, and maybe if they're still insistent go to the ombudsman.

ollski

When did you give bg the last accurate meter reading before the final reading?

sarahse24

ollski wrote: »

When did you give bg the last accurate meter reading before the final reading?

In January

jobdone1

how did you get on with the phone calls ?????

shazzablue

Hi,I switched from bg to coop energy end of feb I noted my readings sent to both companies yet bg initially tried to bill me 10772 units,actual read was 10364,bg initially refused to back down blaiming coop,after 2 wks of emails,some making no sense,i asked coop to raise a dispute.lo and behold bg agree the read was 10364 and instead of a bill I have received a refund,good luck!

System

sarahse24 wrote: »

With the help of this site I found a good gas and electricity deal with the Co-Op and so have switched from BG. I've been paying around £150 per month for both gas and electric, in a two bed flat.

We've given regular meter readings to BG throughout our time at this property (approx 1.5 years), but since switching I received a final bill from them to say we are an enormous £770 in debt!

I can't understand why we owe this much, our usage isn't extreme, we have a new boiler etc. I feel that if our usage had been this high, our d.debits should have been adjusted to reflect it?!

My partner called BG today who have insisted the bill is correct, but we can't afford this.

Can anyone advise what we should do in this situation??

Had exactly the same problem with BG when I left them a few years ago. The call centre staff were hopeless and never kept a log of my calls. Ended up writing a letter of complaint and it was sorted a few days later with an apology.

ollski

They have probably let your arrears grow through the winter without changing it expecting your summer use to be low and so reducing your debt over the warmer months. Now you want to terminate your bg contract it's fair enough what you have used is due. You could always stay with bg until the autumn and bring the arrears down and then swap.

brewerdave

OP -if you were paying £150 pm for a 2 bed flat then there seems no way that you could be £700 in debt !!
For example I'm paying ~ £120pm for a 5 bed detached -and I'm actually in credit by a small amount as of yesterday.
It HAS to be either incorrect readings on the changeover (Have you actually checked that BG's final readings agree with the readings you supplied to Co-op and were they actually correct?)
Or a big backlog of debt from before -were you always paying BG £150 pm - or was this a much higher figure that you have been paying for a short time?

sarahse24

brewerdave wrote: »

OP -if you were paying £150 pm for a 2 bed flat then there seems no way that you could be £700 in debt !!
For example I'm paying ~ £120pm for a 5 bed detached -and I'm actually in credit by a small amount as of yesterday.
It HAS to be either incorrect readings on the changeover (Have you actually checked that BG's final readings agree with the readings you supplied to Co-op and were they actually correct?)
Or a big backlog of debt from before -were you always paying BG £150 pm - or was this a much higher figure that you have been paying for a short time?

Thanks brewerdave. I've double checked the final readings and they seem to be correct (they match what I gave). Our payments went up from £79 to £114 and now £150 since January.

But I don't understand how have accrued so much debt. If we genuinely do owe it then we need help paying it off in chunks as we don't have that money spare.

I'd like to complain to BG but I'm not entirely sure where the mistake lies, we are endeavouring to get to bottom of it.

teepee83 what happened in your case?

Thanks everyone.