Disconnection

VictimOfBG

[FONT=&quot]I am being disconnected by British Gas. I have had a dispute with them since 2010 as they are billing me for a property I sold back then.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I'm a one man band operating as a limited company. My home is also owned by my Company – a mixed use property. The Commercial part is empty and the whole building (both residential and commercial parts share the same meters and supplies for gas and electricity.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]BG are still billing me for the property I sold to the local Council over 8 years ago. I eventually stopped paying them on all my accounts. Since then I have attended court for Warrant applications 38 times.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On a previous occasion BG managed to get a Warrant by default as I received no notification of their application and therefore did not attend court. Fortunately for me I was in when they showed up and managed to barricade myself in and get the Police. Luckily for me one of the Police officers seemed well versed in the law and sent BG packing.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]During the span of this dispute BG have rejected several applications to switch supplier (something they denied under oath in court). I was placed on an incredibly expensive tariff during this time. The bill is allegedly [/FONT][FONT=&quot]£ [/FONT][FONT=&quot]11,749.60 for approx. 3 years gas and electricity for an empty shop and one occupant! I was not even the occupant for much of the time I have been billed for.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I initiated proceedings against British Gas but due to me suffering depression (diagnosed this year but it has been going on a long time) and being a lay person, I found it difficult to do. I am of the opinion that large corporations have a MASSIVE advantage under our system from what I have witnessed. I ultimately failed by serving some documents late.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ironically, and unfairly in my opinion, BG did not serve documents on time to me in their latest application, however, when I complained about this to the Court they were granted an extension.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I still did not receive the documents before the hearing date, and BG verbally claimed to have sent the documents (late) by recorded delivery. I have no royal mail card to confirm this.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I told the court I live at the property an will be made homeless if this Warrant being awarded, and all I want is an accurate bill (not estimated) on a tariff that isn’t fiscal abuse as well as the end to invoices and threatening letters over a property the Land Registry and the local Council should be able to confirm isn’t owned by me nor my Company nor has been for 8 and a half years. Upon receipt of which I would agree a payment plan with them.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Court ignored the fact that I was paying for someone else’s energy for some of this period and had already done so when I paid approx. 5K + large costs for the case I lost through late service.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I felt that I was completely ignored in court and that the decision had been made prior to my being there.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]After the Warrant for disconnecting both Gas and Electricity were awarded I sent BG an email requesting a payment plan to avoid disconnection. This was rejected in an email sent later that evening. They did not respond to my request to stop billing me for someone else’s property. I was given 7 days to pay [/FONT][FONT=&quot]£ [/FONT][FONT=&quot]11,749.60 or have my electricity and gas disconnected.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I’ve contacted my local MP but there is no guarantee that the email will be read in time for them to help me even if they are so inclined.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]If anyone can offer me some constructive advice, please do so. I feel that I am about to lose everything and am about to be on the streets. I can’t afford to pay the mortgage on my home and rent anywhere else, I’m struggling as it is.[/FONT]

spiro

So your property including home is effectively a commercial property by virtue of being owned by a limited company and your hAvington operased part as a business. You will therefore probably have been on a commercial contract which is totally different to a domestic one and is for a fixed term during which you cannot switch suppliers. If you are on an out of contract rate these can be very high.

You complain about estimated bills, how often do you provide British Gas with meter readings?

Also bear in mind commercial contracts/properties don't have the same protection from disconnection etc.

HampshireH

A little confused.

Your post is confusing.

Does your debt relate to both a former property and current property?

Or did you sell your property and continue renting it?

You said you didnt live there and land registry can confirm its not yours then later say you do live there.

Have you provided the actual meter readings. Completion of sale documents, land registry details etc to the court to defend this claim?

How will they be able to get acual readings unless you gave them to them when you sold up.

Sorry if i got that all wrong. As I said a bit confusing

VictimOfBG

It is not a commercial property it is a mixed use property, that perfectly lawfully includes a residential part. The business part is not in use.



British Gas refused to change the supply to reflect its use and I am on a deemed contract that I have requested leaving many times. I am outside of the original contract period and have been for many years.


If British Gas were within their rights they would not have been sent away by the Police the other time they got a warrant. That warrant was given thanks to me not been given notice and so not attending court to prevent one being awarded. They were unsuccessful the other 36 times when I attended court to defend warrant applications in the past 9 years.

JJ_Egan

9 years then you need proper legal advice not a load of possible conflicting advice from MSE users .

VictimOfBG

Unfortunately, I think that is a waste of time.


Finding solicitors and barristers I consider trustworthy is too difficult and this is coming from someone that used to work for a major law firm (NOT as a lawyer).



I will have to fight back some other, non-violent, way. At the moment all I can think of is warning people against using British Gas.

[Deleted User]

Mixed commercial/residential properties are extremely common where there is a corner shop on a commercial meter and upstairs flat or flats on residential.
Residential properties on long term vacant can easily be switched to Ebico for no standing charges away from BGs 28 p a day standing charges but commercial contracts can be 5 years long with unbelievably high standing charges.
A small unit I used to visit to reads its small imperial business gas meter for British Gas which was never used from day, one was incurring costs of approx £440 a year for many years until I told the owner. These costs can be avoided if British Gas were notified and they would have removed the gas meter. BG will sit back for decades collecting the money. They can see its a zero use meter but they don t volunteer the information about free removal.
Possibly a sensible small claims court will see through this sharp practice and award an order against BG to scrub these punitive charges.
No solicitors are needed for small claims court case . BG fail to defend many cases anyway because of their Barristers cost
.Maybe worth a punt on issuing a small claims against BG

VictimOfBG

Hi Houbara,


British Gas are not reasonable. They should have issued a debt claim not a warrant application that I believe is legislation created to deal with electrical and gas emergencies (Gas and Electricity Act 1954).


I've told them and given them countless pieces of information. It is just a waste of time.


I am not alone in my view that civil cases are a lottery, hence the large proportion of decisions turned over on appeal, and large corporations seem to have a distinct advantage.


I asked them if I could have a payment plan, that was just rejected, without any numbers being mentioned from either side. I was given 7 days to find £11,749.60 or be disconnected and have no heating, and no hot water.


All I can reccomend is learn from my mistake - Never use British Gas.

unforeseen

Houbara wrote: »

Mixed commercial/residential properties are extremely common where there is a corner shop on a commercial meter and upstairs flat or flats on residential.
Residential properties on long term vacant can easily be switched to Ebico for no standing charges away from BGs 28 p a day standing charges but commercial contracts can be 5 years long with unbelievably high standing charges.
A small unit I used to visit to reads its small imperial business gas meter for British Gas which was never used from day, one was incurring costs of approx £440 a year for many years until I told the owner. These costs can be avoided if British Gas were notified and they would have removed the gas meter. BG will sit back for decades collecting the money. They can see its a zero use meter but they don t volunteer the information about free removal.
Possibly a sensible small claims court will see through this sharp practice and award an order against BG to scrub these punitive charges.
No solicitors are needed for small claims court case . BG fail to defend many cases anyway because of their Barristers cost
.Maybe worth a punt on issuing a small claims against BG

Did you miss the bit where the OP stated that commercial and residential share a single meter for both gas and electricity? In that situation I would think that any contract would be commercial as both residence and commercial are owned by a single company, probably as a single building

[Deleted User]

I had a small part sometimes to do with BG issuing warrants of access to either fit prepayment meters or remove a commercial/domestic credit meter. Its usually the last resort of many visits and letters to get the matter resolved.
They hate issuing warrants because its an expensive option.. Many suppliers will never issue warrants of access because of the costs they have to pay at their end when it all ends in default in recovering debts anyway. They would reject a payment plan only if the previous payment plans have failed and you had defaulted on your repayments.
If you can show that this option was never offered in the first place and you have never defaulted in a payment plan then you have a strong case in your favour..
I know British Gas allow customers to abstract gas for free up to three times before a warrant is issued to remove meters and a court appearance scheduled.
In 2015 only 1500 customers were taken to court by all the suppliers in the UK so its a very rare thing

[Deleted User]

unforeseen wrote: »

Did you miss the bit where the OP stated that commercial and residential share a single meter for both gas and electricity? In that situation I would think that any contract would be commercial as both residence and commercial are owned by a single company, probably as a single building

Sharing a single meter between residential and commercial will bring problems. They should be either one or the other. A small shop could have a single electric business meter then another electric meter for the private occupier.
I have seen a flat dweller who were upset at the owner sticking all their electricity usage from the downstairs shop onto his bills .He wondered why he had such large electric bills. That could possibly work if the flat was "in on it " and made good his losses. The owner had this set up to avoid paying electricians to install separate tennent and metering supplies