HELP REQUIRED PLEASE 3.5 years now a bill from British Gas

solardurfer

It has taken me 3.5 years to find my new electric supplier that was given to me by Ofgem (3.5 years ago !) YES, I have not had an electric bill for 3.5 years. I have contacted Ofgem and all they did was tell me to go away, someone would notify me. Well... 3.5 years later British Gas sent me a letter saying I owed them money, even though I have never had a bill after my old company went bust on me owing me money !

Since then, I managed to get hold of a bill showing their estimated bill for 3.5 years, and I have been put on a variable rate, which I believe is their highest rate (Electric) by British Gas. I have had no chance to switch, or any input in the rate I want, and have not been allowed to pay for what I have used in 3.5 years !

BG fail to help me, after phone calls, letters, emails. They refuse to answer my questions, well, their customer support in another country just fobs me off, refuses to connect me with a supervisor, and supplies no help.

Anyone know a contact in the UK ?

Also, 

1) I am trying to locate a full tally of all the payments the government approved for this time period ?

2) A list of the lowest tarrifs that were available, as I have been unable to have any input on this for nearly 4 years.

3) Anything else anyone can think about anything else that might be helpful please

Any help would be appreciated, and please, do not confuse me with silly stupid replies if you cannot help me.

Thanks

Qyburn

Are the meter readings correct? Accepting that you might not have recorded an exact figure on the day your previous supplier went broke, you should be able to make a pretty accurate estimate by comparing with your last bill.

LinLui

do not confuse me with silly stupid replies if you cannot help me

That's really rude from someone who is asking for help. I would suggest that you refrain from insulting people whenever you post https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6517701/pop-telecom-internet-contract-do-i-have-a-case#latest


You do owe them money - it's not them "saying" you owe them money. I presume that you will have a healthy savings account with the money that you put away against the day that you knew you would have to pay for your energy? 

The energy bills support scheme provided £400 per household over last winter I believe, and there were some additional payments for people on certain benefits.

BarelySentientAI

solardurfer said:

2) A list of the lowest tarrifs that were available, as I have been unable to have any input on this for nearly 4 years.

The standard variable rate has been their cheapest tariff for most of that time.

solardurfer said:

3) Anything else anyone can think about anything else that might be helpful please

Not being rude to the people you are asking for help?  

You probably would have got the £400 EBSS, although British Gas have likely already taken that off the bill.

You might, but only might, be covered by backbilling regulations.  It probably depends if they can show that they ever tried to bill "the occupier" or something like that.  If you are, then lucky you, we all get to pay a big chunk of your bill off for you.

Did you not notice that you weren't paying for electricity, or is this one of those "I'll see how long I can get away with it for" situations.  Which supplier took over each one that went bust is easy to find public knowledge, so leaving it for three and a half years seems kind of deliberate.

LinLui

(Removed by Forum Team)

You cannot get things removed simply because you do not like the answers. As you were told ,the last time that you posted in similar vein. I presume you do have a healthy savings account with a substantial sum, bearing in mind that you knew you were not paying for your electricity? If there is fault on the side of the supplier, being able to offer a good payment might make the discussions go easier.

It might help if you could also explain why you couldn't find your supplier, because I just tested the system to identify suppliers online, and it took me minutes at most, without speaking to a single person. 

solardurfer

BarelySentientAI said:

solardurfer said:

2) A list of the lowest tarrifs that were available, as I have been unable to have any input on this for nearly 4 years.

The standard variable rate has been their cheapest tariff for most of that time.

solardurfer said:

3) Anything else anyone can think about anything else that might be helpful please

Not being rude to the people you are asking for help?  

You probably would have got the £400 EBSS, although British Gas have likely already taken that off the bill.

You might, but only might, be covered by backbilling regulations.  It probably depends if they can show that they ever tried to bill "the occupier" or something like that.  If you are, then lucky you, we all get to pay a big chunk of your bill off for you.

Did you not notice that you weren't paying for electricity, or is this one of those "I'll see how long I can get away with it for" situations.  Which supplier took over each one that went bust is easy to find public knowledge, so leaving it for three and a half years seems kind of deliberate.

HI

Contacted Ofgem about 6 times, in the end they told me to stop calling them, as my new supplier would contact me, which did not happed.

No idea how to find my new supplier if Ofgem couldn't.

The first I knew about my new supplier is when I got a letter (Not a bill) for 3.5 years. No bill included with letter. Then got a demand a couple days later from their legal department, who after 6 weeks dismissed the claim from BG as not legitimate, but didnt say why.

BarelySentientAI

solardurfer said:

BarelySentientAI said:

solardurfer said:

2) A list of the lowest tarrifs that were available, as I have been unable to have any input on this for nearly 4 years.

The standard variable rate has been their cheapest tariff for most of that time.

solardurfer said:

3) Anything else anyone can think about anything else that might be helpful please

Not being rude to the people you are asking for help?  

You probably would have got the £400 EBSS, although British Gas have likely already taken that off the bill.

You might, but only might, be covered by backbilling regulations.  It probably depends if they can show that they ever tried to bill "the occupier" or something like that.  If you are, then lucky you, we all get to pay a big chunk of your bill off for you.

Did you not notice that you weren't paying for electricity, or is this one of those "I'll see how long I can get away with it for" situations.  Which supplier took over each one that went bust is easy to find public knowledge, so leaving it for three and a half years seems kind of deliberate.

HI

Contacted Ofgem about 6 times, in the end they told me to stop calling them, as my new supplier would contact me, which did not happed.

No idea how to find my new supplier if Ofgem couldn't.

The first I knew about my new supplier is when I got a letter (Not a bill) for 3.5 years. No bill included with letter. Then got a demand a couple days later from their legal department, who after 6 weeks dismissed the claim from BG as not legitimate, but didnt say why.

Who was your old supplier?

Reed_Richards

Customers of a supplier that went bust were not allocated to random new suppliers willy-nilly, they all went to the same new supplier.  Here is a helpful list on the Ofgem website:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/check-whos-taken-over-your-energy-supply 

The publication date of this list is 22 February 2022 so it's been there for two and a half years.  And it took me well under a minute to find the list.  

LinLui

Reed_Richards said:

Customers of a supplier that went bust were not allocated to random new suppliers willy-nilly, they all went to the same new supplier.  Here is a helpful list on the Ofgem website:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/check-whos-taken-over-your-energy-supply 

The publication date of this list is 22 February 2022 so it's been there for two and a half years.  And it took me well under a minute to find the list.  

And the Ofgem website here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/finding-your-energy-supplier-or-network-operator

Seconds to google to find this page, follow link to https://www.energynetworks.org/customers/find-my-network-operator, put in your address, that tells you the network operator,  and then follow the link again and on the front page is a search tool to find your supplier. Minutes to do. So I would ask again, why was the OP unable to do the same thing? The explanation  would be very helpful in people advising them, because I cannot understand why they were even talking to Ofgem.

xeny

solardurfer said:

BarelySentientAI said:

solardurfer said:

2) A list of the lowest tarrifs that were available, as I have been unable to have any input on this for nearly 4 years.

The standard variable rate has been their cheapest tariff for most of that time.

solardurfer said:

3) Anything else anyone can think about anything else that might be helpful please

Not being rude to the people you are asking for help?  

You probably would have got the £400 EBSS, although British Gas have likely already taken that off the bill.

You might, but only might, be covered by backbilling regulations.  It probably depends if they can show that they ever tried to bill "the occupier" or something like that.  If you are, then lucky you, we all get to pay a big chunk of your bill off for you.

Did you not notice that you weren't paying for electricity, or is this one of those "I'll see how long I can get away with it for" situations.  Which supplier took over each one that went bust is easy to find public knowledge, so leaving it for three and a half years seems kind of deliberate.

HI

Contacted Ofgem about 6 times, in the end they told me to stop calling them, as my new supplier would contact me, which did not happed.

No idea how to find my new supplier if Ofgem couldn't.

The first I knew about my new supplier is when I got a letter (Not a bill) for 3.5 years. No bill included with letter. Then got a demand a couple days later from their legal department, who after 6 weeks dismissed the claim from BG as not legitimate, but didnt say why.

Who is "their" in "their legal department"? Are you saying BG's legal department dismissed a claim from BG as not legitimate?

Neil_Jones

solardurfer said:

It has taken me 3.5 years to find my new electric supplier that was given to me by Ofgem (3.5 years ago !) YES, I have not had an electric bill for 3.5 years. I have contacted Ofgem and all they did was tell me to go away, someone would notify me. Well... 3.5 years later British Gas sent me a letter saying I owed them money, even though I have never had a bill after my old company went bust on me owing me money !

Since then, I managed to get hold of a bill showing their estimated bill for 3.5 years, and I have been put on a variable rate, which I believe is their highest rate (Electric) by British Gas. I have had no chance to switch, or any input in the rate I want, and have not been allowed to pay for what I have used in 3.5 years !

BG fail to help me, after phone calls, letters, emails. They refuse to answer my questions, well, their customer support in another country just fobs me off, refuses to connect me with a supervisor, and supplies no help.

Anyone know a contact in the UK ?

Also, 

1) I am trying to locate a full tally of all the payments the government approved for this time period ?

2) A list of the lowest tarrifs that were available, as I have been unable to have any input on this for nearly 4 years.

3) Anything else anyone can think about anything else that might be helpful please

Any help would be appreciated, and please, do not confuse me with silly stupid replies if you cannot help me.

Thanks

So 3 and a half years ago is roughly February 2021, that sort of time.

As you've had correspondence from British Gas presumably you were with Simplicity Energy, who went bump in January 2021 and everybody was moved to British Gas at that time.  There were other suppliers that went bump later in 2021 and were moved to BG.

1) Ful tally of what exactly?  If you were on the price cap it would have been capped at the rates of the period where the price cap was in effect.

2) Not really available as this period everything went through the roof, there was no "lowest" tariff, you were almost certainly on the price cap.  And you'd have had £400 credit during this period as well.

3) Helpful for what exactly?  You've used the electricity and just because nobody contacts you doesn't mean you don't owe the money.  Did you seriously think you were getting free electricity?