Can an erroneous gas bill affect my credit rating?

CJRyder

Afternoon all,

I have received a back-bill from Shell, currently being disputed as it does not comply with the Ofgem back-billing principle. Shell cancelled the DD, moved it to the Resolution Centre and things are proceeding as expected.

I received an email from the billing team telling me that I have an overdue bill (the non-compliant one), plus an automated phone call 24hrs later to request I give them a call. The Resolution team have apparently told the Credit Management team on the day that the email was received to put everything on hold as the bill was being disputed, and to ignore anything that comes through requesting payment that arrives in the next 72 hours. This would include the automated call.

I am concerned that the bill will be reported as unpaid to the CRAs and affect my current rating. I'm wondering what the chances of this occurring are, and how to dispute this should the situation arise? I will be paying the bill in full once they finally get back to me, but I don't want my score to be affected by yet another administrative error from Shell.

For those interested, Shell took control of the gas supply but failed to manually apply the supply to my account until very recently. I left in August and received a demand for payment for 18 months worth of supply in November.

[Deleted User]

It could be reported to your files if their terms allow it.

Check your contract or give them a call.

CJRyder

Cheers for that, I'll give my old contract a going over. My concern is that the left and the right hands are independent of one another despite what I'm being told.

Ben8282

You could just pay the bills if you have used the gas that you are being charged for .If you are unable to afford it in one go they will probably accept payment by instalment.

As has been suggested to you in your other thread on this subject https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6077240/shell-energy-back-billing
you need to establish if you have or have not used this gas. If yes, then you need to pay and not rely on non-compliance with some principal or other as an excuse not to and request ridiculous amounts of compensation. Compensation for what exactly?
If no, you need to dispute the bill on the grounds that the amount is incorrect according to the meter readings.

If this account is currently being reported on your credit files then chances are that a late payment may be recorded.

sourcrates

You can just look on your credit files and see if the account is reported or not, none of my utilities are.

CJRyder

I'm happy to pay the bill in full, once the Ofgem Back-billing Principal has been adhered to. However the Billing department hasn't provided that figure yet. With regards to comp, don't ask don't get.

My credit score has recently been updated, before the email was sent. I will keep an eye out for January's report to see what happens.

Biscuit_Tin

CJRyder wrote: »

Afternoon all,

I have received a back-bill from Shell, currently being disputed as it does not comply with the Ofgem back-billing principle. Shell cancelled the DD, moved it to the Resolution Centre and things are proceeding as expected.

I received an email from the billing team telling me that I have an overdue bill (the non-compliant one), plus an automated phone call 24hrs later to request I give them a call. The Resolution team have apparently told the Credit Management team on the day that the email was received to put everything on hold as the bill was being disputed, and to ignore anything that comes through requesting payment that arrives in the next 72 hours. This would include the automated call.

I am concerned that the bill will be reported as unpaid to the CRAs and affect my current rating. I'm wondering what the chances of this occurring are, and how to dispute this should the situation arise? I will be paying the bill in full once they finally get back to me, but I don't want my score to be affected by yet another administrative error from Shell.

For those interested, Shell took control of the gas supply but failed to manually apply the supply to my account until very recently. I left in August and received a demand for payment for 18 months worth of supply in November.

If, as you indicate, the supplier has agreed to hold all collection activity, then that should extend to making any reports to a CRA.

elsien

Credit score is neither here nor there.
What matters is what is showing on your files at the time you wish to take out any further credit. Not some random number, but what your report is showing with regards to any late payments, defaults, etc.

CJRyder

elsien wrote: »

Credit score is neither here nor there.
What matters is what is showing on your files at the time you wish to take out any further credit. Not some random number, but what your report is showing with regards to any late payments, defaults, etc.

No late payments, defaults, etc. through any CRAs. Reports are currently squeaky clean and I would like them to stay that way!