Compensation?

harley2509

I recently moved into a new flat, bringing British Gas along with me. The bills started out ridiculously high, my monthly DD doubled and I ended up turning the boiler off except for showers only. As soon as my tariff ended, I switched supplier, but the final bill was £260 for June-September despite a DD of £139. By chance I stumbled upon a forum where someone had been charged imperial for metric, and low and behold, that was the issue all along. I also received an email at 10pm on a Sunday informing me that, as requested, a DD had been set up at my old address. When I contacted them on Monday after a sleepless night panicking about fraud, they told me they'd never updated my correspondence address but 'there was no point now as I was leaving soon', they did cancel the direct debit just in case, but then removed my DD discount on the final bill...

I contacted British gas, who told me they couldn't do anything until my new supplier updated my details, and they'd look into it in 2-3 weeks. I told them I was previously with SSE who had my meter listed as metric, and asked if they could search the database to check my PREVIOUS meter info. He said he could, but they had to wait anyway and 'follow procedure'. I spoke to a friend who happened to be an ex employee, and told me they'd fobbed me off with a load of rubbish. I called back, and was told the same thing again. Eventually I got through to a manager. After I explained how I currently had £5 left of my overdraft while they sat on hundreds of pounds of my money that they refused to return, that Id gone without heating, washed up in cold water and what not all because of their error, she eventually miraculously managed to find a workaround giving me my money in 3-5 days. I did mention compensation at the time, and she agreed that I would get some money for a 'breakdown in customer service'.

I've just had a credit bill, and they owe me almost £600 for just over 6 months. So, considering I've been going without heating and hot water, worrying about huge bills I couldn't afford for addresses I didn't live at and scrimping in order to pay a massive bill that was due to their error, how much would be reasonable compensation..?

Any advice would be very much appreciated!:D

DUTR

Just get your refund and move on!

spiro

I suspect from your post that you never checked your bill against the meter otherwise you would probably have spotted this. If the supplier has the wrong data it has been provided to them by a third party so you can't blame them entirely.

harley2509

I didn't actually receive any bills because they didn't update my correspondence address, I just had online versions. The meter readings themselves are right, and as I wasn't even aware that meters could be imperial or metric having never seen an imperial meter, I'm not sure I would have understood that as the problem since the only mention of imperial is to explain how the imperial is converted to metric.

The supplier was SSE when I moved in, they had the place listed as metric (which I checked when this all started) and I've been told that the only way British Gas could alter the information from the national grid meter database is to manually change it. There was no reason for them to do this, and even if they did believe the database to be incorrect, I would have assumed the logical step would be to simply send someone round to check. Had they done so they would have found a metric meter.

My main issue with them is that despite acknowledging that they owed me money and me begging for it back because I had £5 left to buy food and petrol for 2 weeks, they refused and told me I'd have to wait 2-3 weeks. It took sobbing down the phone to a manager for something to be done. I'd had my heating off since the beginning of March, I'd been heating the flat with candles, washing up in cold water, wearing enough layers to rival the michelin man and turning the boiler on for just 10 minutes a day to have a shower, and yet still paying £139 - £71 more than my previous DD, and the debt still didn't clear. People shouldn't have to live like that in 2015, particularly when it's a supplier error and it makes me wonder how many other people are overcharged like this without knowing why they're paying so much. If it was £20, £50 even £100 I wouldn't bother to claim for compensation. But £600 is a huge amount of money to overpay and I've lived miserably because of it.

Cardew

harley2509 wrote: »

I recently moved into a new flat, bringing British Gas along with me. The bills started out ridiculously high, my monthly DD doubled and I ended up turning the boiler off except for showers only. As soon as my tariff ended, I switched supplier, but the final bill was £260 for June-September despite a DD of £139.
Any advice would be very much appreciated!:D

I am puzzled by your opening statement. You cannot 'bring' BG along with you to a new property.


When you move into a new property you have no option but to receive gas/electric from the existing supplier - you are on a legally binding 'deemed contract' with that existing supplier. You can then apply to move to a new supplier.


However you appear to be saying that your existing fixed tariff with BG continued in the new property.


Without that being clarified(with dates) it isn't possible to offer meaningful advice.

harley2509

Sorry, I may not have been clear. I was with British Gas in my previous address for 18 months, so they had a pretty good idea of my average usage. I moved at the end of Jan 2015 and went through the home move with them, so was only with the existing supplier for a week or two. I took the same Price Fix tariff I had been on which ended in August 2015 (I call it the same tariff, I guess technically it was a new tariff) and they asked me various questions about the new property and estimated that my usage would be round about the same amount so my DD amount stayed the same.

My first bill came through at the beginning of March for around £260 and then at some point they raised my DD to £139. Once my tariff ended I did an energy comparison and found a much cheaper deal, so made the switch in September and my supply changed on the 23rd.

They have already agreed that they made errors and I will be entitled to some compensation but we haven't yet discussed numbers. I'm obviously not expecting crazy amounts, but I also don't think a tenner covers the inconvenience of spending months trying to keep warm next to a candle and leaving the oven on with the door open because using electricity cost me nowhere near as much as gas. I should probably add that I am one of those people who feel the cold, and will wear a jumper in summer and several in winter and still feel cold. I like to have my house toasty inside, and I have always (until now) budgeted for the money to do so. My flat now has been so cold that even normal warm-blooded visitors have commented on the temperature. So for me it really has been a miserable few months!

System

harley2509 wrote: »

Sorry, I may not have been clear. I was with British Gas in my previous address for 18 months, so they had a pretty good idea of my average usage. I moved at the end of Jan 2015 and went through the home move with them, so was only with the existing supplier for a week or two. I took the same Price Fix tariff I had been on which ended in August 2015 (I call it the same tariff, I guess technically it was a new tariff) and they asked me various questions about the new property and estimated that my usage would be round about the same amount so my DD amount stayed the same.

!

No two properties are the same in build, insulation etc. The fact that you were a customer before is irrelevant to how a supplier calculates your annual usage. Each property - not person - has historical data stretching back for 70 years. On switch the supplier is given this data - and along with any projected usage that you have given - it will calculate how much you should pay. Data on electricity usage is updated each time the meter is read, the annual gas quantity is updated once per year. Sadly, if a low energy user moves into a property with high historical usage it can take some time for the historical data to update.

harley2509

It wasn't the usage that was the issue. I gave meter readings frequently and my meter readings are exactly the same as the readings they have. I wasn't running on estimated readings, I was running on actual readings. The issue is with them taking those readings and multiplying them by 2.8 to convert them from imperial to metric, when they were already metric, costing me an extra £600 over 6 months.

The supplier when I moved into the address was SSE who had the meter listed as metric. It was nothing to do with historical data, British Gas screwed up.

As I've said before, they've admitted they messed it up and they've already agreed to compensation. I'd really appreciate some ballpark figures to see what other people think is a reasonable amount to ask for. I personally feel that I should be reimbursed for the interest lost to me that they gained, the additional costs from living from an overdraft after paying out an extra £100 (averaged) a month, and something to compensate for feeling I had no other option than to turn off my heating and hot water for everything but showers since I was locked into this (so I thought) extortionate tariff until August.

naedanger

harley2509 wrote: »

I'd really appreciate some ballpark figures to see what other people think is a reasonable amount to ask for. I personally feel that I should be reimbursed for the interest lost to me that they gained, the additional costs from living from an overdraft after paying out an extra £100 (averaged) a month, and something to compensate for feeling I had no other option than to turn off my heating and hot water for everything but showers since I was locked into this (so I thought) extortionate tariff until August.

My ballpark guess is that BG will offer to pay any interest costs you directly incurred and any overdraft expenses that are solely due to their error (provided you provide evidence to back up the amounts you are claiming) plus an offer of £25 for goodwill, which they may increase to an additional £50 if pushed. (If you get your direct losses plus £100 or more then I think you will have done quite well.)

However what matters is what you think is reasonable. If you are unhappy with BG's final offer then ask for a letter saying the matter is in 'deadlock' (this basically says that it is the supplier's final offer). You can then take your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman. They may agree with either you or BG or make a judgement somewhere inbetween. (In theory they could give you more that you are seeking or give you less than BG are offering but I suspect that very rarely happens in practice.)

The following link indicates how much compensation (on top of any losses being made good) the Ombudsman has offered in a few cases. The average amount in 2012 was around £135.

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/downloads/Anon%20cases%20energy%202012.pdf

Reading some of these cases I am surprised at how low some of the amounts are e.g. £101 to £200 for a vulnerable customer who was cut off in error and then not offered the guaranteed standards of service payments. (No wonder the service standards in this industry are so low.)

footyguy

harley2509 wrote: »

It wasn't the usage that was the issue. I gave meter readings frequently and my meter readings are exactly the same as the readings they have. I wasn't running on estimated readings, I was running on actual readings. The issue is with them taking those readings and multiplying them by 2.8 to convert them from imperial to metric, when they were already metric, costing me an extra £600 over 6 months.

The supplier when I moved into the address was SSE who had the meter listed as metric. It was nothing to do with historical data, British Gas screwed up.

As I've said before, they've admitted they messed it up and they've already agreed to compensation. I'd really appreciate some ballpark figures to see what other people think is a reasonable amount to ask for. I personally feel that I should be reimbursed for the interest lost to me that they gained, the additional costs from living from an overdraft after paying out an extra £100 (averaged) a month, and something to compensate for feeling I had no other option than to turn off my heating and hot water for everything but showers since I was locked into this (so I thought) extortionate tariff until August.

If they've agreed to pay compo, surely they have told you how much compo they are paying you; either the exact figure, or possibly an indication of how the exact figure will be arrived at if there is still some dispute.

That will provide you a better figure than anyone here could guess at.