British Gas - massively delayed incorrect bill and bullying

Brendanc

Hi All

Completely new here but had to get some advice from somewhere, so hopefully someone here can help!

I left my rental property on 24th October 2013, at which point rang up and supplied a meter reading and was told I owed £98 in order to bring my account up to date. This sounded about right seeing as I had only paid a bill, based on estimated usage a month or so previously, so I promptly paid over the phone and thought nothing more of the matter.

In November of this year I received a letter from british gas saying I owe them outstanding amount of over £2k, based upon the meter reading I gave them! They say the agent I spoke to made a mistake and because I do not have written bill that I am still liable for this excess payment. This does not seem fair to me and I spoke to the ombudsman who essentially said we cant help you until its been 8 weeks or I get a final position letter from British Gas.

Since November I have had numerous phone calls from British gas insisting this is my fault and I need to pay the money, but still no final position letter. Their suggestion has been that even if this goes to the ombudsman that they will side with them and I will still have to pay the money so I may as well come to an agreement now with them. This feels a lot like bullying tactics to me and in all honesty it has made me even more determined not to pay them a single penny.

I don't understand how a business can say we made a mistake how much we charged you for that and now you have to pay the difference, if i charged my customers an amount for something by accident there is no way I could come back to them afterward for more money if I had made a mistake so why can British gas?? Especially after so long a time.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Brendan

System

Hi. The first thing that you need to do is dig out an old bill which has ACTUAL rather than ESTIMATED meter readings. You then need to sit down and work out what you actually owe. Without this information, you cannot know whether you have a case or not. Presumably, BG has sent you a final bill which shows the amount that they think that you owe. Compare the 2. If BG is right then I am afraid that you have a debt that will have to be settled. Estimated bills are just that: estimated.

lvf

Hengus wrote: »

Hi. The first thing that you need to do is dig out an old bill which has ACTUAL rather than ESTIMATED meter readings. You then need to sit down and work out what you actually owe. Without this information, you cannot know whether you have a case or not. Presumably, BG has sent you a final bill which shows the amount that they think that you owe. Compare the 2. If BG is right then I am afraid that you have a debt that will have to be settled. Estimated bills are just that: estimated.

This. I would agree with all of this.

To answer your question, yes they can reissue a final bill if they find the details are incorrect on it. All suppliers are allowed to do this because meter readings can be taken directly from the customer, and allows for quick generation of a final bill. If the customer has given incorrect information, then it would be unfair for the supplier to suffer as a result.

I'm not saying this is the case with yourself though, and in order to understand a bit more about the bill, could you clarify the following:

* You mention your end date, but what was your start date with BGAS?
* Was the account opened on actual reads?
* Was it for both gas/elec or just one?
* Do you have your tariff details (unit price, standing charge, any discounts) and payments you made? If you do, you can calculate what you owe as Hengus said.

And as above, if you were billed to estimates all along, then this may actually be a catch up bill, but if as you say you gave actual reads to close the account, that's the confusing thing.

dogshome

As already posted, it's very easy to build up a big debt with estimated bills
BUT
You are entitled to a Final Bill that lists everything, ( Start & End meter readings/unit prices/ Kwh useage/Daily Standing charge/VAT).
Written and verbal demands for just a sum of money count for nothing.

Obviously, having moved out of your let in the belief that your account with BG was fully settled, you had no reason to retain the previous bills that are now needed to check what BG are demanding.
WRITE a letter to BG headed Complaint, demanding that they not only issue you a written Final Bill, but that they also supply copies of all the bills they issued to you for this flat so that you can check the accuracy of the Final Bill.

With this letter sent, all demands from BG for payment should cease until they have supplied the above and given you reasonable time to check the figures

cing0

Since you like telephoning them, ask the head of CS on 07979 563466 what she thinks.

Brendanc

Hi All

Thanks for all your replies. Yes all my previous bills were estimated, but i gave them my meter reading when I left and paid to that, i dont understand how their error can leave me with a new bill years later in all honesty I might have expected this at the time, but have since bought a house and had a baby, so I do not have money set aside for bills from years ago. Does the length of time make a difference?

In my business I cant come back years later to my customers asking for money if I made a mistake on how much I charge them, I don't see why this is different in the case of electricity, if their computer system isn't good enough to put in my meter reading and it to calculate how much I owe then it should be there software provider that they are chasing for money not me.

Thanks

Brendan

Brendanc

lvf wrote: »

To answer your question, yes they can reissue a final bill if they find the details are incorrect on it. All suppliers are allowed to do this because meter readings can be taken directly from the customer, and allows for quick generation of a final bill. If the customer has given incorrect information, then it would be unfair for the supplier to suffer as a result.

please note i did not give incorrect information on the meter reading when i left they have conceded that i gave the right information and that it was their agent who made a mistake.

duchy

Have they conceded this is writing ?

Cardew

Brendanc wrote: »

In my business I cant come back years later to my customers asking for money if I made a mistake on how much I charge them, I don't see why this is different in the case of electricity, if their computer system isn't good enough to put in my meter reading and it to calculate how much I owe then it should be there software provider that they are chasing for money not me.

Thanks

Brendan

Actually you can come back up to 6 years later even if you had made a mistake.


In the same way your customers can demand a refund for up to six years if you had overcharged them.


It is exactly the same with the Utility companies. If they make a mistake they often do demand payment.


It is pertinent to add that to run up a bill over over £2,000 due to successive incorrectly estimated meter readings it follows that you hadn't checked the readings on the bills and informed them of the correct reading.


You might be better off negotiating with BG rather than go to court and/or have the account handed to a Debt Collection Agency.


P.S. Is this a domestic bill or for your business?

Brendanc

Hi it was a rental property and I did not have access to check the readings except when I left the landlord checked readings and gave them to me. At which point I gave them to BG and they said I owed £98 which I paid.

No I have not got that concession in writing. But they dont seem to have an issue conceding that so I would imagine I could get this in writing.

Brendanc

"An electricity supplier can recover an undercharge for a maximum period of one year before the date of discovery, even if the undercharging or non-charging has been for longer than that. This time period is only relevant for undercharging as a result of inaccurate metering of consumption. For undercharging which is the result of fraud or tampering with the metering equipment, there are no limits to how far the supplier can go back and recover."

This is from the ombudsman's website. This is quite clear in my opinion. If it is longer than a year that it takes them to find the error then they can't charge for it.