British gas threats

adamck

Hi all.
hoping some some advice.
ive recently moved into a property and received letters from British gas stating I owe them money.
they have estimated some usage and placed the property on a temporary tariff for a period of a couple of months.

i am not with them, nor have I ever been with them or agreed to any credit or tariff.

they have now sent a letter to the occupeir (their spelling not mine) demanding payment or they will send a debt collation agency round.

What is my position here legally?
i have no credit agreement with them, they don’t know who I am and I have never agreed to any services or provided any meter readings.

where do I stand?
surely they cannot send a debt collection agency round for a demand of payment to someone who isn’t a customer and has no credit agreement?

Robin9

When you moved in did you ring the present supplier (BG?) and give them readings. ?

Neil_Jones

You need to have told British Gas you were the new owner/tenant and opened a shiny new energy account with them for electricity and gas.  Do this now if you haven't done so already, better late than never.

If you are getting letters addressed to the previous occupant (by name), just scribble "name not known at this address, return to sender" on the envelope and put it back in the post.

As to the tariff - most probably standard tariff, which is deemed.  But you are with them now, temporarily anyway if you want to move away.

Mickey666

adamck said:

Hi all.
hoping some some advice.
ive recently moved into a property and received letters from British gas stating I owe them money.
they have estimated some usage and placed the property on a temporary tariff for a period of a couple of months.

i am not with them, nor have I ever been with them or agreed to any credit or tariff.

How recently did you move in ?

When you say "I am not with them", who do you believe has been supplying you with gas and/or electricity?

MWT

adamck said:

What is my position here legally?
i have no credit agreement with them, they don’t know who I am and I have never agreed to any services or provided any meter readings.

where do I stand?
surely they cannot send a debt collection agency round for a demand of payment to someone who isn’t a customer and has no credit agreement?

You entered into a deemed contract with the existing supplier at your new property the moment you took over the right to occupy.

So if British Gas were that company then yes, you have a contract, yes you are their customer and yes you agreed to pay their charges merely by taking responsibility for the property.

If you have not contacted them to arrange to pay their charges and thought you could simply set up a new account with another provider you were mistaken.

You need to set up an account with the existing supplier and then arrange a switch...

WhoIsThat

adamck said:

Hi all.
hoping some some advice.
ive recently moved into a property and received letters from British gas stating I owe them money.
they have estimated some usage and placed the property on a temporary tariff for a period of a couple of months.

i am not with them, nor have I ever been with them or agreed to any credit or tariff.

they have now sent a letter to the occupeir (their spelling not mine) demanding payment or they will send a debt collation agency round.

What is my position here legally?
i have no credit agreement with them, they don’t know who I am and I have never agreed to any services or provided any meter readings.

where do I stand?
surely they cannot send a debt collection agency round for a demand of payment to someone who isn’t a customer and has no credit agreement?

They will not be able to enforce any alleged debt against "the occupeir" (or whatever spelling they decide to use).

Whilst they don't know who you are, they will not be able to enforce any debt against you.

But presumably that is why they are sending debt collectors around.
(probably with a PPM under their arms)

Petriix

Don't panic! Presumably you took meter readings on the day that you got the keys; ideally photos of the meters with the date recorded. All you need to do is double check who the existing supplier is and contact them to confirm the date you got the keys and the meter readings from that date. You should also take that opportunity to switch to their cheapest tariff that doesn't have exit fees.

The next job is to estimate your annual usage (base this on your previous property and adjust according to known differences in your likely consumption e.g. bigger house = more heating etc.) and find the cheapest supplier(s) to switch to.

Don't pay for energy used prior to the start of your tenancy/ownership and don't pay any bills based upon estimated readings. Just make sure that the current supplier know the correct readings and your correct contact details.

adamck

I transferred my original supplier to the new property.
so I’m still with Bulb, who I’ve been with for years.

my contract is with them, and I pay them.

I’m not sure where this estimated bill has come from as I have my supplier the last reading from my last house and the new reading from this house.

as far as I’m concerned, british gas have signed me up to their tariff and billed me for an estimated amount of energy, completely without my knowledge and don’t even know who I am.

i don’t really want to just hand out £128 to someone because they said I owe it them!

Talldave

You can't transfer suppliers from one property to another. You have to sign up with the existing supplier at the new property - whoever it is - and then switch to your preferred supplier after doing that.

You may be paying Bulb, but British Gas believe they are the suppliers to the property because nobody's switched away from them.  You now need to untangle the mess you've created.

There are dozens of similar threads to yours, which is probably indicative of how confusing the system is more than anything else.

Gerry1

Unfortunately this is likely to end in tears, e.g. forcible entry and installation of a pre-payment meter.  All at your (considerable) expense.

Check with https://www.findmysupplier.energy/webapp/index.html to find your gas supplier.  For electricity, find out who your DNO is at https://www.powercut105.com/findoperator then go to your DNO's website to find out who is your electricity supplier.

If it's Bulb then you can BG to get lost, but almost certainly you'll end up eating a big slice of Humble Pie and having to pay BG PDQ to get them to call off the dogs.

MWT

adamck said:

I transferred my original supplier to the new property.
so I’m still with Bulb, who I’ve been with for years.

my contract is with them, and I pay them.

Bulb should have explained to you that it doesn't work like that any more.

Since you haven't switched to them from the existing supplier at your new address, Bulb will have to refund all the money you have paid to them and you will need to properly register with British Gas and pay them, then switch to Bulb.

Unfortunately by not following the correct procedure you will have been on an expensive deemed tariff with British Gas, but once you have registered you can at least ask to see if they have a cheaper option without early exit penalties that you can move to while you wait for your switch to Bulb to get processed.

You are not the first to make this mistake, and you probably won't be the last...

If you still don't believe us then follow the instructions here to find out who is the official registered supplier at your address:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/connections-and-moving-home/who-my-gas-or-electricity-supplier