HELP REQUIRED PLEASE 3.5 years now a bill from British Gas

Brie

rudeness and unhelpful answers aside (not that any of them were in my opinion) I do accept that not everyone is a whizz when it comes to googling for info.  I'm pretty good but at times I completely fail at it.

meanwhile i'm wondering if this would fall under the "no back billing" rules.  If they haven't sent you a bill within a reasonable amount of time you aren't necessarily required to pay it.  

What to do if you get a back bill | Ofgem

BarelySentientAI

Brie said:

rudeness and unhelpful answers aside (not that any of them were in my opinion) I do accept that not everyone is a whizz when it comes to googling for info.  I'm pretty good but at times I completely fail at it.

meanwhile i'm wondering if this would fall under the "no back billing" rules.  If they haven't sent you a bill within a reasonable amount of time you aren't necessarily required to pay it.  

What to do if you get a back bill | Ofgem

Maybe, although it's not quite as simple as that makes out.

Also, given that the first contact appears to be a legal letter and not a bill, I have a suspicion that there have been previous bills that for some reason haven't got to the OP.  In which case, there is no application of back billing at all 

Neil_Jones

  I think you need to ask for bills and keep asking for bills and basically pull out as many stops as possible to get the supplier to give you a bill.  If they don't do that then you may have a case for back billing.

As presented the OP has a bill for 3 and a half years usage, the energy companies that failed were highly reported at the time as and when they failed (and there were a lot of those in 2021) and apart from a weak argument of "I didn't know who my supplier was" and that ignorance is no defence, I don't see how this can fall under back billing.  The OP would have been transferred to somebody as per SOLR, and not just left in the wilderness as it were.

Qyburn

BarelySentientAI said:

Also, given that the first contact appears to be a legal letter and not a bill, I have a suspicion that there have been previous bills that for some reason haven't got to the OP.  In which case, there is no application of back billing at all 

Wouldn't that depend on why the bills didn't reach the customer?

MP1995

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.

The OP is clear on what they see the state of events.

We can all presume other things happened but going on the above back billing rules apply imo

They should only pay an estimated bill for the past year and need to raise a complaint to BG now and follow that up with the ombudsman service if BG do not agree.

If any further information comes to light that may change my opinion.

BarelySentientAI

Qyburn said:

BarelySentientAI said:

Also, given that the first contact appears to be a legal letter and not a bill, I have a suspicion that there have been previous bills that for some reason haven't got to the OP.  In which case, there is no application of back billing at all 

Wouldn't that depend on why the bills didn't reach the customer?

Yes, sort of.

But the part of the rule that deals with it sort of says "can't charge for something that they haven't tried to charge within 12 months" - so bills to "the occupier" and things like that would count.

coupleuk

How can you NOT know who your supplier is?

Just about every energy price comparison website will tell you the supplier and usually the tariff you are on - just enter your postcode and select your address.

At least you've got 3.5 years of savings (earning a nice 5% interest) to pay the debt.

BTW Ofgem are 100% useless - we can agree on that 

Reed_Richards

solardurfer said:

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

Thanks

Although the thread continues, I think we quickly scared-off the OP by not being unquestioningly supportive.

Ectophile

Reed_Richards said:

solardurfer said:

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

Thanks

Although the thread continues, I think we quickly scared-off the OP by not being unquestioningly supportive.

Now there's an understatement!

MattMattMattUK

Reed_Richards said:

solardurfer said:

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

Thanks

Although the thread continues, I think we quickly scared-off the OP by not being unquestioningly supportive.

I always find it amazing in threads how OPs come here displaying an obvious lack of knowledge and asking for help, yet when they do not get the answers they want they are suddenly very knowledgeable and everyone replying is either an idiot or an industry shill and obviously wrong. Usually followed a few days later by a return post where "I told you that you were wrong, Ofgem gave me what I wanted and awarded me lots of compensation" on a timescale that we all know Ofgem does not work on, on a level that it does not award compensation at and for things which are obviously not the way Ofgem would rule, whilst also refusing to link to the published case.