Xmas present, a lump sum bill!

karlarmstrong1

Hi,

New to here,

Just wanted some quick advice/info.

I moved into my new home, a new build in june this year. I then switched to my choice of provider, first utility, as they were cheaper than my current chosen provider, British gas.

So, after 6 months of living in my house paying first utility, i receive a letter yesterday from British gas, and along with it a nice £150 bill due by the 23rd December. Obviously i was very confused by this and presumed it must have been a mistake, so i called first utility to check with them i was actually paying them, although i knew i was as it was on my bank statement every month.

An employee then decided to tell me i had only been paying gas and even though i applied for gas and electric, they had not went through with it, openly admitting it was their fault. He then proceeded to tell me that they left it with British gas but just didn't tell me.

I know everyone should pay their bills, but surely British gas can not just stick this lump sum of a bill on me and expect me to pay it? i mean surely this is first utility's fault, after all, not ever have i received a phone call from them explaining this!!

Advice please! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Cheers

Rubidium

Yes it is First Utilities fault but you have used the electricity supplied by BG so you should pay for it.

You have meters and can easily calculate if you are paying enough to cover your actual usage, so take responsibility yourself.

karlarmstrong1

Take responsibility myself? if i am correct, my responsibility was sorting out my provider, not doing their job for them?....

I hope when you become under pressure like so, you receive such supporting comments!

Rubidium

karlarmstrong1 wrote: »

Take responsibility myself? if i am correct, my responsibility was sorting out my provider, not doing their job for them?....

I hope when you become under pressure like so, you receive such supporting comments!

Obviously not the advice that you wanted.

You have chosen to change supplier but it is your responsibility to pay for the energy that you have used and you would know if you were paying enough if you had read your meters.

System

You have a case against First Utility for compensation; however, I would be very surprised if you get anything like £150. I would calculate my 'loss' along the following lines:

kWhs consumed times (cost per kWh BG- cost per kWh FU)

Difference in daily standing charge times days

This would be the total amount the you are out of pocket. Add this to compensation of about £30. Even if you took the complaint to the Energy Ombudsman, I doubt that you would get more. No one is going to write off a £150 bill. I am afraid that you do have to take some responsibility for managing your own energy accounts.

PS You need to check that BG has used an actual reading as it has a derogation that allows it to defer actual meter readings for 5 years.

poppellerant

You can't just say everything was down to the provider and expect them to take all the blame. You have to accept it was your duty, as a responsible bill payer, to check your bills. Surely you have been receiving regular (usually montly) statements from First Utility - if you realised sooner that you were only paying them for gas, you might not be in this position now?

When I change suppliers, I normally check the status of the change over every few days. If something isn't right or I'm not sure about anything, I contact them on the phone straight away. This way there is a record of you contacting them with your concerns which in turn looks better on your part if anything goes wrong as it shows you have made some effort to resolve any potential issues.

If I were you, I'd get on the phone to First Utility then British Gas. You might have to phone them up a few times, but you really need to find out why your electric is still with British Gas and what problem has stopped them allowing you to change.

karlarmstrong1

again, i was paying first utility, on the bill it says energy, not gas and electricity, ENERGY.

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

I am not an energy expert!

Rubidium

Buying gas and electricty is no different from buying groceries at the supermarket - you pay for what you have.

Mojisola

karlarmstrong1 wrote: »

again, i was paying first utility, on the bill it says energy, not gas and electricity, ENERGY.

All the bills I've ever had from energy supplies have given meter readings (actual or estimates) and shown how much gas and electricity I was paying for.

Boxman

OK First Utility have erred, (text removed by MSE Forum Team), the problem pretty quickly as it would have been obvious that either you were not paying enough to the supplier you thought you were using or alternatively you were building up a much larger credit balance with them than could be reasonably predicted for the time you've been with them.

poppellerant

I completely understand and my post was in no way trying to make me come across as an expert. But what few people actually do is actually take the time to read their bills properly - I hold my hands up and admit to this myself when I was naive about bills.

I'm not expecting you to, but do you have regular meter readings from both your gas and electric meters? If so, this will help you and companies decide who you owe what. Normally when you change providers, you have to provide them with about a couple of meter readings from each meter - one to the old provider at the start of the change and another reading a few days before the actual change over.