British Bad " Good news, your payments are spot on" Error

Lilly2019

Hi all,

I've lived in my property for just over 2 years.

A year ago, I received an an annual statement from British Gas, with a big green square saying  " Good news, your payments are spot on" then I glanced over the breakdown and my monthly payments seemed very low so I phoned to check as I didn't want to build up a debt if there was an error.

The call operator confirmed, yes, my payments were on track. I never thought anymore about it and was grateful my bills seemed low in this new property!

I have received my next annual statement which says the same thing  " Good news, your payments are spot on'" and again I glanced over the breakdown and to my horror I have built a debt of over £1000.

I phoned up and they said yes - this is a system error but you will have to pay the debt as you have used the energy. I have gone through the complaint procedure to which British gas admitted on the phone it is there fault as the only thing they can do is give me £50 off as an apology. 

Has anyone else experienced this?

I feel if it's their error they should be knocking much more if not all of it off!?

I explained on the phone that I'm a single parent who is already struggling financially- I can't cover this debt. They empathised but said there was nothing else I could do other than take it to the ombudsman. The operative told me not to hold my breath with that though.

Any advice and guidance would be appreciated? It seems the bills are correct ( show my usage) but them telling me I'm on track with my payments is an error and very misleading. 

Thank you,

MWT

Those were the annual statements, what about the billing in between those two statements?

You can't just look once a year, and assume that it is all good in between those annual statements.

lohr500

Could you not see from your bills that the actual mount being used and hence the cost was much higher than your monthly payment? Do you not check the meter reading/s on a regular basis to keep an eye on your actual usage?

Especially as you realised your "monthly payments seemed very low".

I think the best outcome that you can hope for is some form of agreed repayment plan to clear off the debt.

BobT36

Ask em to set your DD's a  bit higher than what you're using, to form a "payment plan". 

Aylesbury_Duck

Sorry to say that you shouldn't just accept an annual statement at face value.  You also don't say what tariff or tariffs you've been on in that time.  It's possible your energy usage hasn't changed much and that you're now on a much more expensive rate.  Building up a deficit by not keeping an eye on your usage and balance, compounded by price rises in the last few months have led to a nasty shock.

As suggested above, increase your payments now, making sure they cover more than your normal usage and the new prices, so you eat into the debt.  Oh, and take the £50 of course!