Final bill

Sliding_airlock

Hello!
I have question about energy final bills.

About 2 years ago, British Gas contacted me to install a smart meter. I agreed and it was installed. It didn’t send readings, and after a complaints process it was fixed, and I was offered £75 compensation. My direct debit remained unchanged, and I didn’t monitor the account.

In February, I used a referral code from a family member to switch to octopus. I took my final electricity meter reading, and tried to take my gas reading. The (newish, and complained about) gas meter is dead - no lights, no response to buttons.

I checked my BG account, and found that they record estimates from June ‘23 - about a week after BG had fixed the issue. It showed no gas usage since then, and a final meter reading “from smart meter”. I contacted British Gas to let them know a) the complaint they settled hadn’t worked, and b) that they didn’t have an accurate meter reading for me.

They replied telling me that the meter reading was accurate, and that I would receive a final bill from them. I let them know that they were wrong, and I had been using gas.

I got the final bill, and a £180 credit refund. The meter is still broken - octopus looking into it, but I have a question on what happens next?

Is the final bill “final” or am I liable for back billing at some point in the future? How will the supplier know who’s owed what, given that we don’t know what’s been used, and when?

Any advice really welcome!

Reed_Richards

"Final" bills are by no means final and can be subject to revision/"correction" later.  Your old supplier might make an estimate based on historic usage.  We had a generally mild winter so you might want to challenge that estimate.  

Sliding_airlock

Thanks so much for this, v helpful.