Cancelled Bills and what happens next (British Gas)

Mallotum_X

Im with British Gas for gas and electricity. 
Logged into my account recently and it was suddenly showing that they owed me nearly 10k. Contacted them via the online chat and was told initially it was correct and i could have a refund (surprised but sounds great!)

Then when challenged a little more, they explained that all my bills going back years have been cancelled and i will receive a new bill at some point that covers the whole period.

Can they do this? Would the rules on back billing kick in, or would the fact they did originally issue bills they have now cancelled have any impact.

So far no new bill, last bill (that was cancelled) was in March, i now have no idea what the real balance may be or when it will be resolved. 

Anyone been in a similar situation, and what are the rules?

BarelySentientAI

Mallotum_X said:

Would the rules on back billing kick in, or would the fact they did originally issue bills they have now cancelled have any impact.

The fact that they originally issued bills means that back billing cannot apply.

Mallotum_X said:

and what are the rules?

The rules are that you get the amended bills and they get paid.

Scot_39

Mallotum_X said:

Im with British Gas for gas and electricity. 
Logged into my account recently and it was suddenly showing that they owed me nearly 10k. Contacted them via the online chat and was told initially it was correct and i could have a refund (surprised but sounds great!)

Then when challenged a little more, they explained that all my bills going back years have been cancelled and i will receive a new bill at some point that covers the whole period.

Can they do this? Would the rules on back billing kick in, or would the fact they did originally issue bills they have now cancelled have any impact.

So far no new bill, last bill (that was cancelled) was in March, i now have no idea what the real balance may be or when it will be resolved. 

Anyone been in a similar situation, and what are the rules?

Are you being caught between old and new billing system ?

Have you still got old bills or records or can you still grab them on line now before they delete them  ?

As your new bill will cover very significant price changes - you need as much historic use pricing and consumption data to check the new billing.

They have been woefully bad at reissuing long term bills in that respect in my experience over a 2.5 year period let alone 10.

Mallotum_X

Update as this may be affecting others:

They have now created a new bill to cover the period (over 4 years) but have deleted all historic actual readings, and imposed new estimates. The estimates put significantly more energy costs into the more recent higher cost periods than the old bills on Actual readings. 

The online and phone support teams are unable to see any of the old bills, so cant even see the problem when pointing out discrepancies between the new estimates and Actuals from the same period.

Have had to escalate as a complaint for investigation by the finance team, who im told can not be contacted by myself.

So if you have had bills cancelled with the new billing system fiasco, check estimates in the new bills to actuals in the old. (and save copies of all the old incase they are deleted)

wrf12345

Lots of people have already been transferred from the old to new system so not sure where this madness has come from, other than a virus or computer system failure, anyone who reads this site and the constant BG hassle hopefully has the sense to keep a copy of the bills. Would have thought a couple of grand in compensation is in order for anyone who suddenly has made-up bills for thousands and is stressed out by them...