British gas on my credit report but I am not their customer

TooMuchWine

As the title suggests I have just checked my credit report and have just seen that British gas have been added as a new utility supplier even though I have no account with them. I have recently swapped to octopus energy (through the Shell takeover) but the last four digits of the account number don't match with my octopus account.

I have tried contacting British gas but couldn't get through to anyone. 

Why would British gas appear on my credit score, is it likely to be fraudulent? How can I find out the full account number or is there a way to contact them? I tried their chat already but that was useless.

Ectophile

One thing you can do is go bask to the credit reference agency and dispute the entry of British Gas on your credit report,

Lynn1004

Exactly the same for me.  I havent used British Gas since 2018.  Account was removed and yesterday 2 new British Gas accounts were added to my report

Lizzie_74

Same here. And it dropped my credit rating down. I haven't been their customer since 2021. Has anyone managed to get any answes as to why? When i left my old address, i was paid and up to date. I did speak to them as i received a bill in my new addtess but once i explained that someone has lived there for the 3 months after I moved out, they rectified it and i never heard from then again. Now i see this on my credit report. It doesn't even say what it is for either. 

DeeQS

Same… I got an alert telling me a new entry had been added to my report, and it is British Gas. I left them as a customer in the summer of 2022.

dave_dph

Same here, added to my Clearscore/Equifax account last month and then removed. I've raised a query through Clearscore.

TooMuchWine

Thanks for the responses. I can see the new account on clearscore but not on equifax, equifax only shows my old account with them which was settled in 2021. Anyone managed to get through to British gas? Seems impossible without an actual account number. 

pete-20-11

I’ve got two entries for British Gas, both with the same opening and last updated dates. They are both on the closed tab though.

the April summary (clear score) says British Gas added and British Gas removed. 

Wonder if it’s a consequence of their new IT system, something got messed up. 

MeteredOut

pete-20-11 said:

I’ve got two entries for British Gas, both with the same opening and last updated dates. They are both on the closed tab though.

the April summary (clear score) says British Gas added and British Gas removed. 

Wonder if it’s a consequence of their new IT system, something got messed up. 

My immediate thought too - they've migrated a set of customers from their old system to their new system, and have inadvertently included old customers, and the new system managed to add BG to those customers credit reports.

But, it sounds they've noticed the issue and "closed" the connection.

I'd probably put a complaint into BG, and then when its ignored after 8 weeks ("not a customer") raise it with the Energy Ombudsman so at least they're aware of the issue. Might end up with £30 goodwill gesture too.

Swipe

Good old British Gas strikes again.

born_again

Lizzie_74 said:

Same here. And it dropped my credit rating down. I haven't been their customer since 2021. Has anyone managed to get any answes as to why? When i left my old address, i was paid and up to date. I did speak to them as i received a bill in my new addtess but once i explained that someone has lived there for the 3 months after I moved out, they rectified it and i never heard from then again. Now i see this on my credit report. It doesn't even say what it is for either. 

Your credit rating means nothing. It is never seen by any lenders. It's just a made up figure by the CRS's.
History is what counts, missed payments. 👍