British Gas - No Bill for 6 months logged and rang 5 times what next? Panicking

CarefulJohn1

Can anyone give me some guidance or help on what to do next?

I moved into a new build property back in June (5 bed detached home) supplied meter readings on day of moving in and registered with British Gas (supplier given by builders). I received a letter/email confirming account being set up and would receive further notification and also registered and set up the BG App on my mobile.
Rang BG again in August and got a reference number provided as evidence of call app continued to show no usage
Rang again 30th October and provided latest meter reading (before price increase) as app still showed no usage also provided both meter serial numbers
Range again Nov/December and still 29/12/22 app still shows no usage, again provided meter serial numbers and usage as asked for them yet again.

Every time I ring they close down the old complaint/call log so ringing makes the situation worse as it starts the process again, all they ever tell me is that they pass it over to the back office to be resolve and they cannot give me a deadline or SLA time for the back office to resolve.

Every time I speak with a call handler they criticise the previous call handler saying they did not log the issue correctly.

In my panic I have paid onto the app £1,250 Electricity and also £1,250 Gas as the last thing I want is a whopping bill I cannot pay. The situation is really concerning me as I am either doing without (overpaying) or potentially blissfully running up a high bill as no clue if I'm running the house economically or not.

My previous home was no bigger than a shoe box and at a great fixed energy rate so no clue what I should expect in terms of running costs at this stage being in a much bigger home on a standard variable rate.

Should I just request all my payments back and move to another supplier forcing BG to sort the issue out?

Joyful

British Gas now bill you every 6 months but there is nothing stopping you asking for a bill when you give a reading. When I was with them I found Facebook the best way of  getting a good response.   The last question is a no go. As long as Xoserve,where your meter and property have been registered shows BG as your supplier, you will have to pay them till you leave.

As I have just spent from May trying to get BG to register a new build gas meter, when you call them, get someone to check it is on Xoserve. My customers was only registered in December which means they cannot charge him before that date.

Officer_Dibble

Have you got access to the meters to read them? If so, you can keep track of usage and expected cost perfectly well without being billed. Don't pay any more on the app. Keep any excess money safely in a separate account so you can pay the bill happily if it arrives, while hoping that their shambolic admin doesn't ever catch up. I believe they can't bill you for any usage more than a year ago, so they've got a good incentive to catch up before June. Not your problem any more, you've done more than enough to make them aware.

Alnat1

If you would like to post your opening meter reads and what they are now and details of the tariff you're on (assume variable rate?) and area you live, someone should be able to do a bit of maths and give you a decent estimate of costs so far.

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum. You can definitely have monthly billing with British Gas, e.g. Monthly Fixed Direct Debit.a fixed amount or Monthly Variable Direct Debit. But why not ditch and switch to a supplier with a better record of customer service?

ariarnia

Officer_Dibble said:

 I believe they can't bill you for any usage more than a year ago, so they've got a good incentive to catch up before June. Not your problem any more, you've done more than enough to make them aware.

i think back billing can be more complicated than that. but yes it could be your not due any debt or all of the debt older than 12 months. worth talking to a citizen advice energy advisor if your local area has one. 

about the complaints. it doesn't matter if they close the complaint if the issue is still going on. all you need is the reference number and date of when the complaint was first made (as a complaint not a problem that you told them about). then 8 weeks later you can go to the ombudsman to get it sorted. that might be a good idea for you cause then at the least you will get a good idea of what exactly the problem is. 

Gerry1 said:

But why not ditch and switch to a supplier with a better record of customer service?

i dont think you can switch away from a deemed supplier until the account is actually properly set up on the system?

elsien

Can’t you tell them you don’t want the complaint closed till the issue is resolved? That’s what I had to do with another supplier.