British Gas Unauthorised Switch Nightmare. What can I do?

littlebitstuck

Hey folks!

Posting here because I've been trying to resolve this myself for months now and absolutely nothing is being done, and things are only escalating further and further to 'danger' territory. I also want to apologise in advance for the length of the post but I've taken detailed timelines for everything and I hope this is actually helpful to anyone that's able to offer advice. 

In April this year my landlord arranged to have the electricity meter moved/reinstalled as the one that was supplying my flat was in the basement of our building and to check meter readings I'd basically have to constantly ask the downstairs neighbours (funnily enough, my landlord) to let me in or send me a photo any time I needed a reading.

When he first told me about it I asked if there was anything I needed to do with my own energy supplier and he said that there wasn't anything that needed to be done on my side other than informing my current energy supplier (Bulb) once it had been done by giving them the new meter number. Thought nothing of it, moved on with my life, etc.

The day comes, the meter gets installed in the lobby section of the building by who I believed to be Western Power (again, thought nothing of this at the time). At this point I was also in the middle of changing jobs so I didn't let Bulb know about the change until about 2 weeks after the installation - Bulb were quite surprised that it had been done without their knowledge, but they told me to wait for a few weeks and check back with them again to see if Western Power had informed them of the change/reinstallation of the meter. Again, I asked Bulb this time if there was anything I needed to do and their response was 'no'. 

This is where it gets complicated:

On the 24th May, 2021, I received a welcome letter from BG (dated 15/05/2021) addressed 'to the occupier'. Naturally this confused me, so I called British Gas that same day and spoke to a representative. I gave the representative my full address and postcode, but was informed that there was no record of British Gas supplying my property, and was told to ignore the letter.

On the 26th May, 2021, another welcome letter arrived from BG (dated 18th May) addressed 'to the occupier' once again. This was now becoming quite concerning, so I called BG and spoke to a different representative who informed me that BG were attempting to take over the supply of my property, however the national database showed that my
supplier was still Bulb.

⦁ I explained that I had not given any consent and requested formally to reverse this instruction - as the bill payer it is my legal right to decide who supplies the electricity to my property, and therefore BG had acted unlawfully. 

⦁ The representative informed me that this would be resolved and if there were any issues, somebody from the relevant team would give me a call back later that day - nobody called me back so I assumed the matter had been closed with no need for further action from myself.

On the 3rd June, 2021, I received a bill from BG (dated 26th May - the same day that I had spoken to the representative only a week prior) addressed 'to the occupier'. The total for said bill was £77.84. 

⦁ I once again contacted BG to ask what was happening, and was informed by the 3rd representative that BG had installed a separate supply line to my property when they replaced the old meter, and BG were supplying that line. 

⦁ I asked why BG had installed a brand new line rather than just replacing the meter, and the representative was unable to provide an explanation. On the same date, I spoke to Bulb and explained the situation. 

⦁ They naturally shared the same surprise and concern that I myself was feeling, and informed me that BG had acted unlawfully when they not only replaced the old meter, but also when they installed the new line - I believe that BG did this to circumvent my choice in supplier, as there would have been no other reason to do the work as they did otherwise. 

⦁ Unfortunately Bulb were unable to use my existing account to take over the line fitted by BG, as their records showed they were still supplying the old line (the meter had been removed and replaced). This resulted in me not only having to go through the process of switching back to Bulb as a result of BG's unlawful behaviour, but is also that I was required to pay a final closing bill to Bulb - that amounted to about £78.

On the 5th June, 2021 I received 3 letters. 

⦁ A second bill from BG (this time dated 31st May, 2021) addressed to me by name. This was the first instance of BG sending me correspondence by name. The total for that bill was also a different amount than the one previously stated, despite being for the same billing period - £76.98.

⦁ A welcome letter, addressed to me by name (dated 31st May, 2021) with a projected cost for their services for the year - the projected total was £607.14, significantly higher than any annual bill I have ever received from Bulb. They had also placed me on a standard variable tariff by default rather than putting me on the lowest possible tariff.

⦁ A second welcome letter, addressed to me by name (dated 1st June, 2021) with a projected cost for their services for the year - the personal projection this time was significantly lower than the one quoted earlier, £103.20 and assumed no electricity usage outside of the standing charge...how this happened is absolutely beyond me.

At this point I sent a complaint to BG by email (6th June, 2021) so that I had an electronic record of it, because they'd shown that they couldn't be trusted to keep their word on the phone and I had no other options left. I received a confirmation of receipt from BGs automated complaints email, which basically told me that the complaint would be reviewed and that someone would be in touch with me in the next few weeks. That contact never happened until...

29th June, 2021 received an 'overdue bill' letter dated 22nd June, 2021 threatening late payment charges. Immediately called British Gas and spoke to someone for a total of 13 minutes 23 seconds (a record of the call can be provided). 

The representative informed me that the complaint did not exist despite there being an electronic record of the complaint. I ran through my initial written complaint with her over the phone, gave all of my contact details, and she promised that the following actions would be taken:

⦁ a note of the call would be placed on the account detailing the particulars of my complaint, and the complaint would be reopened as high priority due to the existing threat of late payment charges

⦁ no further action would be taken with regards to late payment fees being added until the complaint had been resolved with me directly

⦁ a senior member of the accounts team would contact me via phone within the next few days

⦁ she assured me that no further action on my side would need to be taken, BG would resolve everything internally and then contact me to outline and provide full information on their resolution

To this day (20th July, 2021) a senior member of the accounts team has yet to contact me to discuss the complaint, despite me now having registered it with BG both in written form electronically, and also verbally. 

20th July, 2021 received a letter dated 14th July 2021 from BG stating that my bill was still overdue and if it was not paid in full 28th July 2021, BG would not only be adding late payment fees of £28.00 to cover 'their extra work',  but they would also be passing my overdue bill amount (stated as £140.57) to a debt collection agency. 

Basically, despite me trying to (and having a record of) making numerous attempts to file a formal complaint and/or resolve the matter directly with BG, they're ignoring everything I do. Representatives have repeatedly lied to me over the phone, BG have given some pretty suspicious date stamps for their letters, and I'm at a complete loss as to what to do. If I file a complaint it disappears, if I speak to them they lie or mislead...

I've tried to contact the Ombudsman/register my complaint with them a few times but apparently there needs to be an 8 week gap between the date of my initial complaint and when I actually register it with the ombudsman. Normally I'd be happy to just wait it out and play the same game that BG are playing, but that deadline of the 28th July is well before the 8 weeks are up and I cannot risk the amount being passed on to debt collectors - I've had a few rough spots financially in the past that I've finally managed to dig myself out of, and I cannot go backwards.

So basically, is there *anything* I can do here or am I just completely screwed until the 8 week deadline arrives? How do I actually resolve this when BG clearly have interest in being helpful or following the law/regulations?

Any help is going to be massively appreciated and I apologise again for the *very* long post. Just trying to give as much background and info as I can. 

bagand96

Is your landlord’s supplier British Gas by any chance?

The only way you can arrange moving a meter is by contacting your supplier. So this should have been Bulb.  And they wouldn’t have dealt with your landlord in the first instance, they’d have had to deal with you. 

I wonder if the landlord has contacted British Gas (their supplier?) to try and arrange for your meter to be moved and this is where the whole chain of events started to unravel. 

You say you’ve paid a final bill to Bulb, and that supply is now defunct.  The simplest thing to do now would be to settle up with British Gas and then start a switch of your new supply to whoever you choose. (Assuming the final bill to bulb was correct, and the bills from BG are correct) 

Carrot007

That all seems a bit suss to me. Some thought.

A "new line" or new connection, costs a lot. someone would have to pay it up front (or at least agree to it). As much as your landlord seems bad enough I'd want to move, I doubt they would do this.

A meter change would result in loss of power and if changing rto a new supply a lot of work would need to be done on your side paid for by you or your loandlord. So again this seems unlikely to have occured.

It could be your landlord was previously hcarginf you for his supply as well adn now found out he has had it split but it all went a little wrong.

You seem to be very emote on legal and lawful in copntacting who are probably innocent parties here. It's really not even the right terminogocy as it is all contracts and license terms. And unlikely to help if you get all up in the poor phone advisors "face". not that on the phone is a good way to deal with this in any way.

Anyway withoug more info on what is what I see you best options as.

1. Move. Cut your losses and find a landlord who is not dodgy.

2. Employ an electrician to trace your supply.

3. Claim any losses back from your incompetent landlord, should they just be found to be incompetent and not on the fiddle.

(it is possible if you had an interuption to supply there has been a logical disconnection of your old supply and a new supply put in place (for no good reason other than incompetent landlord), so hopefully it is just that, but again, landlord seems the bad party here).

niktheguru

You've discussed in detail your dealings with British gas, but what you havent given details on is your communications with your landlord.

What has he/she said about all this. Did you ask them who actually moved the meter  have you asked who their supplier is. Have you mentioned all this rouble has occurred because they moved the meter and they should be encouraged to sort this out, because as far as you were concerned you were paying bulb and hadn't changed anything.

I think you need to complain more to your landlord than British gas here.

Ectophile

Every electricity supply has an MPAN number, listed on every bill.

Check the number on your old bills, and the new ones from BG. If they are different, then it's a new supply. The easiest solution is to start a switch to whatever supplier you choose.

If it's still the old number, ask Bulb to follow the erroneous switch process.

littlebitstuck

@Ectophile

I've checked the MPAN number, and there was a period of time (shortly after I realised what was going on) where I was being charged for the old MPAN (Bulb, I was still paying them due to not being aware of the takeover from BG, but Bulb reversed those charges to make sure they weren't included on my final bill), and then the new MPAN (installed by BG which they immediately assumed ownership/responsibility of without my consent) and the new MPAN at the same time. The property doesn't have 2 electricity supply lines. 

The new supply point has now been successfully switched over to Bulb, but as I mentioned in my post I'm still dealing with the aftermath of the erroneous switch. Bulb have told me that there's absolutely nothing they can do and that I need to file my complaint directly with BG, which again as I mentioned in my OP I've tried to do numerous times and the complaint either gets ignored, or it mysteriously disappears and BG have absolutely no knowledge of it when I chase them.

Switching unfortunately didn't solve the issue because BG are still expecting me to pay them for a supply that I didn't even ask for.

@Carrot007

I'm honestly not sure why you mean by 'it sounds sus' considering I'd have absolutely no reason to lie about it, and neither would my landlord. He's been nothing but helpful the entire time I've lived here (2 years) and given the research and digging I've done about this over the last few months there's absolutely no way that he was charging me for his own personal electricity usage - the building has 3 supply lines for 3 properties, and the original meter was burn tested twice about a year ago so I know that the only supply being measured was the one in my own flat. 

I'm aware of how unlikely this is to have occurred, because Bulb expressed the exact same level of shock that I did when this all came to light, but it's exactly what has happened.

I don't get "up in anyone's face" when I call - I'm always polite, helpful, and provide the facts rather than shouting at the rep from a place of emotion. If BG were truly an innocent party, then why have they repeatedly ignored or shoved my complaints down the back of the figurative sofa? At best they've made an erroneous switch which *is* unlawful. The terms I'm using aren't emotive or false, they're the terms used to describe what has happened. 

If a mistake has been made by my landlord then I'll deal with that at a later time and get any money back that I'm owed, but the fact of the matter is that BG are deliberately choosing to not communicate with me, their reps have lied to me on numerous occasions, and overall they're being incredibly cagey about the entire thing despite me attempting to actively resolve this with them using the correct channels. 

[Deleted User]

Ectophile said:

Every electricity supply has an MPAN number, listed on every bill.

Check the number on your old bills, and the new ones from BG. If they are different, then it's a new supply. The easiest solution is to start a switch to whatever supplier you choose.

If it's still the old number, ask Bulb to follow the erroneous switch process.

Absolutely right. MPANs are linked to a property address: meter serial numbers may change but MPANs never do. It is though possible to get a second MPAN when a smart meter is being used to record both import and export (PV solar/battery) from and to the Grid.

When a supplier takes over a supply, the MPAN does not change. If the OP is being charged for electricity that is linked to another consumer then the most likely reason is that the address linked to the MPAN on the National Database is incorrect.

bagand96

British Gas wouldn't have just decided to come to your property and install a new supply, and terminate the old one. 

I also don't think they'd have just decided to hijack a meter move. 

I still wonder if the landlord asked British Gas (his supplier?) to come and move your meter?  Not through any ill intent, just a misunderstanding (it should have been you asking Bulb to move your meter).  And the whole thing spiralled from there. 

Old supply is settled correctly with Bulb. New supply is now switched to Bulb. You do need pay for the energy used between the new supply being installed and it being switched to Bulb. 

The easiest way to resolve this quickly is to pay BG what is owed (after checking the meter reads and bills are accurate) and move on. 

niktheguru

Again, you need to clarify and get evidence from the LANDLORD of who he asked to move over the supply. It is the landlords intervention that has caused this problem.

The solution would be the land lord paying any difference in cost of the money owed to British gas for energy use (assuming the tariff will be an expensive deemed tariff, so they could pay the difference between the unit cost for that compared to your bulb tariff, so that you are not out of pocket.

It would be highly unlikely for bg to just randomly takeover a new utility, without someone requesting it.

Ectophile

Switching unfortunately didn't solve the issue because BG are still expecting me to pay them for a supply that I didn't even ask for.

Maybe not, but there's not much you can do about it now.  It wasn't an unauthorised switch.  Your old supply to be disconnected, and a new supply installed.

So your supplier is whichever company was contracted to install it, just as if you had moved into a new property.

spiro

Ypu need to speak to your landlord, the only people that can move meters more than a couple of feet is YOUR Supplier. If the meter has been moved a considerable distance then it likely to need the Network Operator (Western Power Distribution based on your post) to install a new cable which in some cases can be very expensive (thousands). It will also depend if your LL reqwuest a new supply or to move the existing one. A new supply will result in a new MPAN. I would speak to your DNO and they can advise you of all of the MPANs at the property.