British Gas Woe

wrighty43

I am currently having issues with British Gas after I left them last year and was wondering if anyone else had had a similar issue.

In my last property (rental) I had British Gas supplying gas and electricity. Whilst their the meters were swapped to smart meters. When i moved out of the house I moved my supply over to my new property. All seemed to go well until 3 months after moving out (Whilst British gas were still supplying my new address) British gas sent a debt collection agency after me demanding payment of a months gas and electric for dates after I moved out. After having to prove i didn't live at the address then they went away.

Last week a different debt collection agency have contacted me on behalf of British Gas telling me that I again owe British Gas money, but this time the story has changed. Apparently when my smart meters were installed a mistake was made with the meter readings and I owe an amount of electricity and gas. I have been forced to pay this to British gas as they were threatening to take me to court. Apparently they have been writing to me to tell me I owe money for a year, but I have only ever had one letter, which is one i responded to.

I have tried to complain to British gas via the phone but I keep getting fobbed off by the call center staff, who tell me no one senior is available and they will call me back, which they never do. I have tried emailing them but I get no response.

Has anyone else had this trouble with British Gas or any advice as to what to do ?

CashStrapped

wrighty43 wrote: »

When i moved out of the house I moved my supply over to my new property.

What do you mean by this?

This is a common misconception. You cannot "move your supply". While the account is in your name, the tariff/agreement is speific to that address. You always have to close the account.

When you move, you have to ensure that you give your current supplier a final meter reading (this should have been easier with a smart meter) and then close the account and pay any oustanding bills.

You then move to your new property and open a new account with whatever supplier is at that new property. This could be any utility company, but you have to initially set up an account with them. Once you have done this and given opening meter readings, you can then switch to another supplier.

In your specific case, did you formally close the account at your previous address? Did you get a final bill? Did you pay the final bill?

If not, the account may have been left open and the new occpents are using gas/electricty that is being billed to you! Hence, British Gas are chasing you because they think you still have an account there and owe money!

I responded to a similar post recently who was also confused about the moving out/account closing proceedure.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5421788

wrighty43

Yes I did close mr account and gave a meter reading. British gas then took over my new property and gave me a free boiler service for staying with them. I had a letter thanking me for my complaint when I got home today. But don't think they are doing anything about it.

SwanJon

They have 8 weeks from when you first raised the complaint to resolve it before you can take it to the Energy Ombudsman - but you need to follow their complaint procedure before you can escalate it further.
https://www.ombudsman-services.org/energy-complaints-2.html