British Gas surprise bill after switching to Octopus

jonnys2rich

We recently switched energy providers from British Gas to Octopus.

Octopus handled the switch. We received our final settlement bill from British Gas, and paid it in full and on time.

Today, roughly two weeks after settling with British Gas, and nearly three weeks after the complete switch to Octopus being 'live', we received a surprise bill for £1507.01 from British Gas (via text and email) — due in two day's time!

Has anyone else experienced this, and is this perhaps a scam?

[Deleted User]

Did the Final Bill from BG state it was the Final Bill, and did the closing readings used on it agree with the opening readings on your Octopus account?

How do the readings on the latest bill compare with those used by Octopus to open your account?

jonnys2rich

UPDATE:

Using the british gas online chat, it seems British Gas incorrectly recorded the final meter readings (by a LOT). The chat agent assures me he has escalated the problem to the correct team, but it will take 10 working days to sort out. 

Follow-up question: I will of course not be making this payment. Since it is due in 2 days' time, will this now be regarded as non-payment and negatively affect my credit score?

The agent says he cannot adjust the due date of the bill.

jonnys2rich

[Deleted User] said:

Did the Final Bill from BG state it was the Final Bill, and did the closing readings used on it agree with the opening readings on your Octopus account?

How do the readings on the latest bill compared with those used by Octopus to open your account?

Hi @[Deleted User]

Yes, the final bill was stated as such. As I believe the process goes, closing readings were agreed upon by Octopus and British Gas after final readings were taken and checked on-site. We received the final BG bill a little while after this was confirmed. This, as stated, was then settled. The new £1500 bill was received today via text and email only, due in two days.

I have spoken with both Octopus and BG, and it seems an incorrect reading (incorrectly recorded as 6003 instead of 5417) was recorded after the original 'final bill' was paid. Investigating with both institutions as to why this happened.

Today's reading is 5420.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem like a scam — more likely a clerical error, by whom I'm not sure.

Will update this post with any progress.

Qyburn

jonnys2rich said:

I have spoken with both Octopus and BG, and it seems an incorrect reading (incorrectly recorded as 6003 instead of 5417) was recorded after the original 'final bill' was paid. Investigating with both institutions as to why this happened.

What reading does Octopus have as their start reading?