No contact from new build energy supplier, until after I swapped supplier.

KLarnia

I moved into a new build set of flats in September. we where told British Gas where the gas/electric supplier and would contact us to set everything up. We heard from our water/sewage suppliers, local council (council tax) etc but nothing from British Gas. In my eyes it was down to them to contact me and introduce themselves as my supplier and not for me to call them and and say I had not heard from them.

In January had still had no contact from anyone and I was getting a little worried so I decided I was not willing to wait and longer so looked into energy supplies and signed up with a supplier who has had my account since the start of February. When this supplier took on my account they could not find our meters on the national databases and I had to send them photos of the meters to get the number off and get them allocated to that supplier - which they did. All fine and we have had no issues and their service is flawless in my eyes to date and I give them regular meter readings as they do not operate smart meters as yet.

This week we got a letter from British Gas addressed to "the occupier" welcoming us to our "Smart home" and stating they are gas supplier (no mention of the electric) and asking us to contact them to set up our account and confirm when we moved in. They also state we don't need to give meter readings as they already have it!

My question there for is this:
1) Do I contact British Gas as as far as I am concerned they are not my supplier and have not been one since the 4th February and I have evidence of this in emails from my current supplier
2) Do I need to tell my current supplier about this letter? - I am guessing yes.
3) Am I liable for the cost of the Gas/Electric used up to the point I moved supplier bearing in mind I have an email stating the meters where not on the national databases and British Gas never attempted to contact us before them (I checked with other residents here and NO ONE had heard from British Gas in 2016 that I could tell.

I would really appreciate some guidance on this and what to do next.

Thanks
Klaire

[Deleted User]

It was your responsibility to contact British Gas from the the day you became legally responsible for the property.

So yes you owe BG for all the energy used since that date (and going forward too until this is sorted) and you will be paying it at BG standard tariff rate. Once you have setup accounts at BG and then you will be able to switch to any other supplier (although BG can refuse a switch if you owe them more than £500)

On the plus side, the money paid to the other supplier will have to be refunded to you once you make them aware that you have messed up.

Haylescom

We had to phone BG when we moved into our new build, we gad readings from the day we moved in and gave them our MPAN number. We swapped suppliers straight away but still had to go through this so that BG knew when we took over the account.
Has your supply definitely moved over? We had letters from the new supplier and BG to confirm, although getting a final bill from BG was a different matter!

KLarnia

No one heard from BG last year and this letter arrived this week, 2 1/2 months after i switched.

I was told by the housing developers that BG and the other utility suppliers would contact me within a few months as they bill quarterly but they did not come to us - the water etc did.. As i said the new supplier stated our meters where not in the national databases so where not registered to anyone.

I have emails from the new supplier stating they have taken over but if the meters where not registered to BG surely they would not have been able to confirm the swap as they did not know if us. That is more my issue

Haylescom

I guess that's the point of the MPAN number, to register the meter, but if BG were definitely the original supplier, how could it swap without them knowing? Perhaps speak to the building firm, we contacted all utilities ourselves and the council, mostly because we didn't want any surprise big bills.

KLarnia

Thank you. I will check the meter registers tomorrow and see who they say is my supplier as that seems a good starting point. I can then speak to my present supplier and BG to resolve this issue.