Help please re gas supply problem

Jillandjean

My friend has a problem! She moved into her house 13 years ago and although she gets electricity bills she has never received a gas bill. The previous owners were there for 2 years and never received a gas bill either. She now wants to move and is understandably concerned about the situation and what she should do about it. Should she ask another energy company to start supplying gas to the property? Will they want to know who was supplying it before? Can she say she’s not used the gas there? If she can find out who is providing the gas she is prepared to repay but will they just charge the whole 13 years at today’s prices? If anyone has any suggestions as to the best way out of this we’d be very grateful. She just wishes she’d contacted whoever the supplier is/was at the time but she was under a lot of stress at the time, having just separated from her husband of 20 years.
Many thanks

JC_Derby

what she do? Choose a supplier and pay the backlog (all of it)
what would I do...move house and not say a word!

matelodave

Who do you think should pay for all the gas that she's consumed over the past 13 years?

The fact that she was "under stress" - good excuse that one - shouldn't mean that she gets free gas.

She should put some effort into finding out who her supplier is and see what arrangements she can come to with them to pay it off, something she should have done years ago. Anything else is theft.

PennineAcute

I can understand that she may have been stressed over her separation, however, I doubt she has been stressed for 13 years.

I am on benefits and struggle to find my £21.70 at month (for my gas) at times, yet your friend thinks it is okay to steal gas for 13 years.

Some people make trouble for themselves and if this all comes crashing down, karma has done its job.

System

Jillandjean wrote: »

My friend has a problem! She moved into her house 13 years ago and although she gets electricity bills she has never received a gas bill. The previous owners were there for 2 years and never received a gas bill either. She now wants to move and is understandably concerned about the situation and what she should do about it. Should she ask another energy company to start supplying gas to the property? Will they want to know who was supplying it before? Can she say she’s not used the gas there? If she can find out who is providing the gas she is prepared to repay but will they just charge the whole 13 years at today’s prices? If anyone has any suggestions as to the best way out of this we’d be very grateful. She just wishes she’d contacted whoever the supplier is/was at the time but she was under a lot of stress at the time, having just separated from her husband of 20 years.
Many thanks

Hi - welcome to the forum. There is no easy solution to this problem given that the most likely reason is that the supply/meter has not been properly registered on the National Database. Walking away from the problem is of course an option. However, if the house is being sold then the solicitor acting for the buyer will want details of the present energy suppliers. It is not a question that can be answered in the usual non-committal way; 'not any that I am aware of, but no doubt your searches will reveal etc etc.'

If she does walk away, then the next occupier will want to set up an energy account and the truth will most likely come out. As you have already concluded, explaining away 13 years of free energy use is going to be very difficult. Trying to get a supplier to take on the meter will raise a host of questions as they cannot takeover a meter that doesn't exist. They will want details of when it was installed etc and by whom.

At best, National Grid (Cadent) will take action to recover what it is owed as it is they, not any individual supplier, that has lost out. At worst, and I do not wish to add to your friend's woes, there is the remote possibility of a criminal charge. In simple terms, knowingly taking something without the owner's consent is theft.

As hard as this might seem, your friend and her husband need to pay for legal advice, and make some offer of financial retribution to cover the cost of energy consumed. Had your friend's not split up, then one has to wonder whether they would just have continued to heat their home for free?

Jillandjean

Thanks everyone for your responses, yes she realises that she should have acted much much earlier but I think the longer it went on the more she avoided thinking about it. It wasn’t intentional theft, she just didn’t want to think about it. There is a meter installed and she told me that she should be able to trace the company from the number on it. I guess the best thing is for her to just come clean to whoever was supplying the gas all those years ago and offer to pay the back charges and hope they understand but yes some legal advice sounds like a good move. She’s only lived there alone, she split from her husband before she moved in.

System

Jillandjean wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your responses, yes she realises that she should have acted much much earlier but I think the longer it went on the more she avoided thinking about it. It wasn’t intentional theft, she just didn’t want to think about it. There is a meter installed and she told me that she should be able to trace the company from the number on it. I guess the best thing is for her to just come clean to whoever was supplying the gas all those years ago and offer to pay the back charges and hope they understand but yes some legal advice sounds like a good move. She’s only lived there alone, she split from her husband before she moved in.

Quote: Who supplies my gas?

If you're wondering "who is my gas supplier?" you can call:

Meter Number Helpline on 0870 608 1524.

(Please note that calls to this number cost 7p per minute plus your phone company's access charge.)

If you're wondering "who is my gas supplier?" you can call the Meter Number Helpline
The Meter Number Helpline will also be able to help you find your MPRN number. Your MPRN, or 'Meter Point Reference Number' is a way of identifying the unique gas supply to your property.

You will be able to find it on your gas bill, but if you've just moved in and don't yet have a bill you can call the number above. Your gas MPRN will be between six and ten numbers. Unquote

I suspect that the above will not reveal anything of use. If it does show that the meter is registered, and the supplier has failed to take action to bill the consumer, then the best that your friend can hope for is that the bill raised is reduced to 6 years under The Statute of Limitations on Debt..

PennineAcute

Landline number from saynoto0870

01623 413650

Jillandjean

Hengus and penineacute many thanks for your advice, I’ll pass it on to her and hopefully she will act on it!

AndyPK

Supplier can only back bill 2 years worth I think. ??
But that's when it's supplier fault

System

AndyPK wrote: »

Supplier can only back bill 2 years worth I think. ??
But that's when it's supplier fault

The Back Billing Code: From Ofgem's website:

Quote: Put simply, a supplier can!!!8217;t seek additional payment for unbilled energy used more than 12 months prior to the error being detected and a corrected bill being issued.

That said, if it can be shown that a supplier was at fault, then the situation changes dramatically as the story in the following link demonstrates:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/07/no-electricity-bill-20-years

It would seem that the OP's friend is not alone.