Breach of contract by British Gas

cabg9395

In November 2021, following the failure and closure of my electricity supplier, British Gas (BG) contacted me and offered to take over the supply of my domestic electricity.

BG told me by telephone that until 31st July 2022 it would match the prices and terms of the supply provided by the previous supplier, including the reduced costs resulting from payment by direct debit, even if I did not pay by direct debit during that period.

On 28th November 2021 BG sent me Claimant its “contract pack” document which offered:

Payment method: cash or cheque.

Unit rate: 21.607 pence per kilowatt hour including VAT at 5%.

Standing charge 25.664 pence per day including VAT at 5%.

Tariff ends on 31st July 2022.

“Price guaranteed until 31st July 2022”

The contractual terms offered by BG Defendant were set out at numbered paragraph 1 of the contract document and highlighted in colour, making those terms the most prominent, eye-catching element of the contract drawn up by the Defendant.

In March 2022 BG raised its unit rate and daily charges by 38% and 125% respectively, claiming that “Price guaranteed until 31st July 2022” does not mean what it says.

Court proceedings have been issued for the overcharging by BG.

elsien

Did your contractual terms have any caveats or get out clauses? 

I think it was less offering to take over your supply, and more a done deal with no alternatives, if it was a SoLR transfer from a bust supplier. 

Bradden

Did the small print not allow them to increase costs?

MWT

cabg9395 said:

...Court proceedings have been issued for the overcharging by BG.

There are number of huge threads on this topic, tracking the successes and failures as people escalated their complaints to the Ombudsman, have you already been through that process?

cabg9395

Not in the face of the unequivocal and highlighted "Price guaranteed until 31st July 2022".

Any ambiguity in a contract is to be interpreted in favour of the person who did not write the contract: the "contra proferentum" rule. Silly-sounding name, but sensible, especially where a huge commercial company has written the contract.

brewerdave

As far as I can see, the highest successes financially ,have been achieved by those who produced copious and sufficient evidence to convince the Ombudsman that they would have taken another fix at that time if they had realised that BG's "offer" was not as written - it was a "mistake".! So have you been through that process ??

cabg9395

To my surprise, the Ombudsman ordered a payment to me of £306 in respect of a wholly different, separate loss that I had never considered. The breach of contract claim remains outstanding.

cabg9395

If BG and its numerous legal experts made a "mistake", and thus made an offer and entered a bad bargain, that does not relieve them of contractual liability.

They run a large, wealthy company, not a sweet shop, and are bound by the contracts that they choose to draft and enter.

QrizB

Good luck in court.

Do let us know the outcome.

pochase

Will be interesting to see what a court says here. You are mentioning only what is in your favour, and are very silent about the part that speak against you, like the clear declaration that it is a variable tariff.

I agree that if there are facts that do not match it should eb handled in the interest of the customer, but as I said lets wait and see.

Also it seems that you have taken this to the ombudsman and they decided not to give you the higher compensation you requested? That will work against you in a court case.

k3lvc

cabg9395 said:

If BG and its numerous legal experts made a "mistake", and thus made an offer and entered a bad bargain, that does not relieve them of contractual liability.

They run a large, wealthy company, not a sweet shop, and are bound by the contracts that they choose to draft and enter.

Yet you still haven't shared the back-up wording, only the headline on which you're basing your case.

What did the T&C's say about variable tariffs and 'guarantees' ?