British Gas gave me wrong Meter serial number 2 years ago! Help.

MrsD14614

macman wrote: »

When usage has to be estimated it invariably works out in the customer's favour. To expect a years worth of usage to be credited without rebilling is absurd.

I appreciate that point. And I definitely don't expect to have a years worth of usage credited. My point was simply that we've paid £700 approx over the last year for someone else's gas and all I wanted was assurance that our payments would be credited to our account and that we wouldn't be stung with a gigantic bill when all we have ever done is exactly what we should have. We read the meter we were told to and paid the bills on time. Because BG couldn't explain in any way how they proposed to estimate or work our usage I was reluctant to proceed any further - I am sure you can appreciate that I don't want to find myself completely out of pocket through no fault of our own. If it's based somehow on our usage then fine.

Can you explain further about the back billing? I've read the scenarios but am not sure which - if any - relate to our situation.

naedanger

MrsD14614 wrote: »

I appreciate that point. And I definitely don't expect to have a years worth of usage credited. My point was simply that we've paid £700 approx over the last year for someone else's gas and all I wanted was assurance that our payments would be credited to our account and that we wouldn't be stung with a gigantic bill when all we have ever done is exactly what we should have. We read the meter we were told to and paid the bills on time. Because BG couldn't explain in any way how they proposed to estimate or work our usage I was reluctant to proceed any further - I am sure you can appreciate that I don't want to find myself completely out of pocket through no fault of our own. If it's based somehow on our usage then fine.

Can you explain further about the back billing? I've read the scenarios but am not sure which - if any - relate to our situation.

Firstly in essence back billing is covered by the following principle:

"If your supplier is at fault, it will not seek additional payment for unbilled energy used more than 12 months prior to the error being detected and a corrected bill being issued."

So if your supplier was at fault it would not be able to recover any shortfall that accrued more than 12 months before their catch up bill. (They could of course still apply any payments you had made more than 12 months previously to the energy you used during that time. And they could, and would, charge for any shortfall that arose over the last 12 months.)

Personally I can see the rationale to the request you made in your original post. I suggest you write to the supplier making that offer. And state that if they are unwilling to agree they need to write to you within 14 days explaining what they propose instead, and how long they will take to fully resolve the matter. If you are unhappy with their response then send them a formal complaint. (Then, if after 8 weeks you are still unhappy, you could take your complaint to an independent Ombudsman.)

From what you have said, it seems your supplier may be aiming to establish your actual usage, which will presumably involve finding your actual meter and being certain of the initial reading. (Then they can calculate your actual usage, less your actual payments and bill you accordingly.) However if this has any uncertainty (e.g. can they be certain of the initial reading) or will take an unspecified length of time then you could complain about their approach. In practice I would have thought their approach will be too difficult, and I would have thought they would agree to your suggestion. (But I have no industry knowledge.)

MrsD14614

Thank you that's really sound advice. I'll do that tomorrow.
I really appreciate your help.