British Gas - no bill since April 2023

FlyingSquirrel2

We have a fully electric house and British Gas took over our supply when someone else went bust (I forget who!). We had bills in November 2022 and April 2023 but nothing since. We have a smart meter, and I'm able to see our usage online, but we currently have a whopping credit of almost £3k sitting on the account as we pay a painful £375 a month. 
I have been desperately trying to get a bill raised since December but only manage to do online chat with them (no chance to actually speak on the phone), and after 4 failed attempts (roughly once a week) each taking an hour I am no closer to having a bill. I did manage to get one advisor to agree to a credit refund of £600 so actually when I add up the bill credit and our usage it's probably going to be mostly used up, but I'd really like to review our monthly payments and can't unless there's a bill in place.
Also - it just feels weird and wrong not having one!

The last 2 people I chatted with promised me THEY would be the one to sort it, the one last week even told me a load of nonsense about how we hadn't been providing meter readings so all usage was estimated and likely to be much higher in reality, despite the fact I can see my usage online, and the supposed "estimate" figure from 1st Jan she read out to me was 1000 kWh different from the one I can see online (and the online figure matches what's on our smart meter), so I have zero faith in the information I was given by that person.

Has anyone else experienced this with British Gas, and if so how do we resolve it? I'm tired of having to constantly chase them and then still getting nowhere!  Am getting so frustrated!

TheMilkmansDad

Vote with your feet and just switch to a better supplier (Octopus?) who bill more regularly. Final bill will be generated by BG and any refund will be made.

FlyingSquirrel2

Thank you! I did threaten them with that if they didn't pull their finger out, but am a bit afraid of a: how long it might take, and b: shooting myself in the foot with regards to costs. Perhaps things are better now than when I last thought about changing supplier though - need to do some more research I think, but having a bill would help that (though I suppose is probably not essential with a smart meter!)

Brie

Isn't there something that if you go online and submit a reading (even if on a smart meter) a bill gets generated??  Might be worth a try!!

la531983

Given the supplier you would be moving to would likely be charging the same, it wouldnt be "shooting you in the foot" at all.

Cloth_of_Gold

Brie said:

Isn't there something that if you go online and submit a reading (even if on a smart meter) a bill gets generated??  Might be worth a try!!

That's what we do for British Gas. We don't have a smart meter we just input the figure on the website and a bill is automatically generated. Perhaps you can't do that though if you have a smart meter.

FlyingSquirrel2

Cloth_of_Gold said:

Brie said:

Isn't there something that if you go online and submit a reading (even if on a smart meter) a bill gets generated??  Might be worth a try!!

That's what we do for British Gas. We don't have a smart meter we just input the figure on the website and a bill is automatically generated. Perhaps you can't do that though if you have a smart meter.

I did give them a meter reading on the phone last week and still no bill, but I have just submitted one online now and will see if it triggers anything...

wild666

When I moved from one supplier in 2018 they took 8 months to raise the final bill but not before I had gone through the energy ombudsman and being awarded £70 then they took just 5 days to generate the bill for £5.76. This was just under 50% of the credit I had and it was paid and the £77.56 credit was paid into my account within a week. 

Just move suppliers and that will generate the final bill from BG. BG are one of the suppliers that do 6 monthly billing cycles so put in a complaint but moving suppliers might have BG stop the move if the credit doesn't cover the billing amount.
Im Jan 2018 when I switched they tried to stop the move because I would be in debt by £14 on the final bill that's why I won't ever use then as my energy supplier again.

greyteam1959

Sounds like time for an email to BG with the word 'Complaint' in the subject line.
Never mind online chats.

MeteredOut

Have you checked how much of the £3K credit should have been eaten up in bills? eg, do you have a view of your true account balance?

Are you able to request s reduction in your direct debit amount online, or have you done that on the phone?

If i were you, I'd be trying to get into a position where my account balance only just covered my outstanding usage. You're doing your best to try get BG to fix things and, post April 2024, you could have an argument that any usage prior to April 2023 cannot be billed for (due to back-billing rules).

However, and the reason you need to get your actual balance clear is, any credit you do have over and above usage in the past year can be used to settle true usage prior to that date.

FlyingSquirrel2

greyteam1959 said:

Sounds like time for an email to BG with the word 'Complaint' in the subject line.
Never mind online chats.

I told them I planned to complain, but after reading your message this morning I went to the website and found the complaints section and have now logged it as one. They say they respond in 7-21 days though, so I won't hold my breath...MeteredOut said:

Have you checked how much of the £3K credit should have been eaten up in bills? eg, do you have a view of your true account balance?

Are you able to request s reduction in your direct debit amount online, or have you done that on the phone?

If i were you, I'd be trying to get into a position where my account balance only just covered my outstanding usage. You're doing your best to try get BG to fix things and, post April 2024, you could have an argument that any usage prior to April 2023 cannot be billed for (due to back-billing rules).

However, and the reason you need to get your actual balance clear is, any credit you do have over and above usage in the past year can be used to settle true usage prior to that date.

I had put together a check based on monthly usage/standing charges and assuming what's online is correct, we don't have that big a credit remaining - the one thing that they did do right in my many attempts to get this sorted was to send us a £600 credit just before Christmas. But otherwise I think we are more or less on track, but the monthly payments are definitely too high if you take into account that credit, and I could do without £375 leaving our account every month to sit and grow fat in BG's coffers! Th issue at the moment is that I don't seem to be getting anywhere no matter what I say to them, but let's see if filing a complaint gets things moving!