In credit more than £11,000 with British Gas and they won’t give it back!

alijp

We moved into a new home with solar panels, air source heat pump etc four years ago June. British Gas were charging us crazy amounts for electric - as much as £1800 per month - but it was a new property and we were charging a car and while we thought it was exceptionally high we figured eventually we would be able to get a handle on our usage and costs and it would even out. Basically we’ve ended up paying as little as £10 a month and it seems our monthly usage is about £50 per month. We are in credit more than £11,000. We gave requested it back and while the company has verified everything is correct they are not paying the money. They keep stalling, telling us a they need to talk to other people, pass us from a pillar to post and never come back to us when they say they will. I am at my wits end. I paid in good faith as requested now I want my money but simply don’t know how to get it. Please help. 

Swipe

That's strange. You should have got it back on your last annual review. I just got a £500 refund from EDF out of the blue after my bi-annual bill was produced.

MWT

You are probably hitting the authority limits of the management chain, shouldn't be your problem but that is the root I suspect.

File a complaint and get it escalated.

I would say though that with an EV and ASHP I'd find it very unlikely that your bills are as low as £50 a month except in the middle of summer, even with solar. 

alijp

It’s also a cat 5 eco home. They’ve said our billing is now correct at that. I don’t mind paying more than that - it does seem very cheap - but I just want what I’m owed. We’ve had a run of expensive bad luck at the moment and really need the cash back! 

MalMonroe

This is what MSE said last year : 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/03/credit-balances-of-around-p65-per-household-could-be-automatical/

And Ofgem say - 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-if-you-are-owed-money-your-energy-bill

And if all else fails, there's the Ombudsman -

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/

MWT

alijp said:

It’s also a cat 5 eco home. They’ve said our billing is now correct at that. I don’t mind paying more than that - it does seem very cheap - but I just want what I’m owed. We’ve had a run of expensive bad luck at the moment and really need the cash back! 

Just file the complaint, nothing else is likely to get the reaction you need.

... and you can take it to the Ombudsman if necessary after you've completed the complaint process with BG, but I doubt it will get that far without being resolved.

Mineral1

Sorry but you were happily paying nearly 2 grand a month for energy bills when you moved in?

alijp

Thank you for all your help so far. A complaint has already been lodged but they just don’t come back to us. At one point they said they’d no record of us paying?! I had to send proof of all the direct debits from my bank account. And no. We weren’t happy paying nearly £2000 a month but we had nothing on which to base what we should be paying - especially as we had come from a large 17th century house that cost a fortune to run. Their behaviour has been utterly scandalous. They also seem
completely inept at understanding how an eco home works so God help them when we are all supposed to for heat pumps and the like 

Benny2020

You had meter readings surely?

Thrugelmir

Presumably BG were charging you on the basis of meter readings submitted. Why haven't you approached the regulator? 

Sea_Shell

Have you actually received a bill showing that amount of credit?