'Adjustment after VAT' charge with British Gas

SwanJon

They don't charge for refunds, the deduction is the refund coming out.

Did anyone ask for a refund from the account?

I've spoken to customers who asked for (and got) a refund weeks before their quarterly statement was due. The account was showing a credit as they had made 3 months worth of payments, but the system hadn't applied any charges. Once the charges were applied, there were no longer any payments to cover it - resulting in an outstanding balance.

footyguy

Are you sure you have no idea what these adjustments refer to?

Adjustments generally reflect a refund given (for any reason) or a payment that was credited to the account but was not actually paid (e.g. a failed direct debit)

Maybe if you showed us all the bill? :cool:

Or call the supplier who will explain.

SJG82

footyguy wrote: »

Are you sure you have no idea what these adjustments refer to?

Adjustments generally reflect a refund given (for any reason) or a payment that was credited to the account but was not actually paid (e.g. a failed direct debit)

Maybe if you showed us all the bill? :cool:

Or call the supplier who will explain.

No I really don't know what the adjustment is ...the bill is posted a few comments ago ..and I have phoned them, and they just said it was an administration thing. I just wondered if anyone else has had the same thing ?

julieo1975

SJG82 wrote: »

I keep getting this random charge added to my energy bill from British Gas which is titled 'Adjustment after VAT' and it is for £117 and in November they charged me £288. Does anyone know what this is for, I have rang BG and they just said 'it's an administration thing' :eek:

Does the gas portion of the bill indicate you used £237.30 including vat and standing charges for the same period and also an adjustment after vat of £51.

MK55

do you have a combined bill? I think the adjustment is the 2 refunds coming back to you.

The refund has to show as a 'debit' on a bill otherwise the company would still think it has your money........

stator

Did you find out what this is?

ingenious_buttons

I also have this strange 'adjustment after VAT' - and when I look back on my previous years bills, I see it happened last year as well (in April) but I didn't challenge it then - my bills were completely mucked up before that when I was changing providers, where I had to over pay one and was effectively paying nothing for several months to BG until my actual meter readings caught up with the over estimate the previous provided insisted on. However that doesn't explain this huge adjustment this time around, where I have been consistently in credit all year.
My total Gas inc VAT for Jan-May is £118.54 and the total Elec inc VAT is £81.31 - but there are two 'Adjustments after VAT, Refund -8 Jan 2015' - under the Gas part of the bill it is £96 and for Electricity is £73.08, but as with the OP above, they are debited from my account, not credit as you would expect when something is titled refund. If I hear anything back from BG, I will let you know!

ingenious_buttons

So used the BG twitter team to get a quick response to this. While I still find the format/structure of their bill confusing, I can see how it is worked out now.

I pay by direct debit. After my bill at beginning of January 2015 this meant I was in credit by £169.08, and BG refunded this money directly to my bank account (their decision, I didn't request it) shortly afterwards - so effectively I started with a clean slate or a credit/debit of £0 for 2015. I have then paid by monthly DD (in my case this is £44, so £176). My estimated bill recently came to £199.85 and so I am currently £23.85 in debit

So far so simple. The confusion arose when I looked at my bill and it states the total charges are £365.93. But this is because they state that I start with £169.08 of credit (which I had at the end of my bill in January, but it was then refunded to my account). In order to balance up this refund, as they don't say that I started with a balance of zero, it is included as 'adjustments after VAT' and split between my gas and electricity.

So to the original poster, if you look back on a prevoius bill where you were likely in credit, and then check your bank statements after that, you should see that money was transferred to you at some point. Rather than then starting your new statement with a credit/debit of zero, the previous credit is still noted, but the refund that was made to your account is listed as charge to cancel it out. At least that is what I think it means.

Now off to fight with Sky over their ever increasing charges and rubbish broadband signal. Wish me luck!