Being taking to court for extortionate Gas and Electric bill - please help.

elsien

With the caveat that they’re not going to let you swap while they think you still owe them money, so you will need to sort that first. 

LuisDiaz

elsien said:

With the caveat that they’re not going to let you swap while they think you still owe them money, so you will need to sort that first. 

yes, will need to sort this before any changes, thank you.

BarelySentientAI

You have actual readings on your bills of 4001 for electricity and 20113 for gas on 25 Jan 2024.

You told us your readings on 26 August were 6995 for electricity and 21715 for gas.

3000 units of electricity at a total cost of about £900
18000 units of gas at a total cost of about £1300
215 days standing charge at a cost of about £175

That means between those two dates of actual readings, seven months, you should have a bill for about £2375.  And you said that you have paid about £1000 in direct debits.

The rest of the bill is the usage from previous months, May-Dec 2023, which is all based on estimated readings (but since there is a newer 'actual' reading, that's just about ok).

It's not crazy impossible usage, it's just high.  As you haven't got any actual readings earlier, we don't know if things have changed.

As for if your meter is faulty, there are two things you can test - turn off the main switch at your fusebox and see if the meter counts up at all with it off, and then turn on only one thing where you know exactly how much electricity it uses and see if the meter counts up the correct amount.

Robin9

LuisDiaz said:

benparry1977 said:

I am looking to switch pre price cap increase. I looked at all the big name suppliers however, also found a new supplier called Tomato Energy. Tomato offered the best rates I have found to date at 19.46p/Kwh for fixed and agile rates between 2,8p/KWh and 18.8p/KWh. THis beats Octopus and E-On hands down [by circa 2p\KWh]. Definitely worth looking at.

Thanks Ben, I will consider this.

Until you have resolved the BG issues this is not an option - you will not be able to swop as long as you are in debt.


Sit down this evening and take all the advice in,

Did you give BG reading during this afternoons conversation ?

Scot_39

LuisDiaz said:

Hi all,
I wanted to share a quick update:

After a long 2+ hours and being transferred between 6 people (and being cut off too)

-  BG advisor said I owe them (BG) 4.5k for services between Jan and Aug - which is impossible in my view. I appreciate the cost of utility services have gone up, by my consumption levels have not exceeded - (could I have faulty metres ?)
- BG advisor eventually agreed to look at the bank statements and said they could see the payments have been taken (in 2024) but by the ''Business'' department (another BG issue). they want me to call BG business department to resolve.
- advisor said migration happened mid-2023
- they said the DD automatically cancelled (by BG)

they are closed now. I have to try again tomorrow 

2 hours - thats stamina.

1) was that 4.5k for their current estimatation - or were they updated by you giving them yesterdays pair of readings and them recalculating to date ?

If not - I'd give them readings - I forget to say - but if not already taken copy of current bills - you might want to download - they could get deleted and replaced with a re-issue version with new readings.

Find out what you true estimated costs are - even without the £1000 missing payments - you can subtract that yourself.

2) try not to get destracted - focus on key issues in front of you.  

BG are not the agency directly now threatening you with a potential county court judgement.

I'd gnore the faulty meter idea - your perhaps grasping at straws a little - for such a large household of 8 - I just dont see £170pm - and we now have 7 months gap sets of measurements not estimate to calc approximately a more realistic monthly payment.

Firstly - history - your previous DDs were increased to c£300 and c£400 in the past  - albeit based on estimates - prices are bit lower now - but nowehere near enough to justify the current £170 for last 6 months - especially after a gap of 8-9 months (May 23 to Jan 24 ) - so likely starting with a large debt - which would have perhaps added another £200 (8*300/12) plus to amount required if the c£300 pm was real. 

As @BarelySentientAI update - £2375 - thats £340pm so you have been close to double for last 7m between two sets of readings than the £1000 taken £170pm (but not credited).  Basically I can almost see the £4500 usage number from that pair - taking the last 7m - as above - as a guide - I'll use £300 pm as makes the maths easy - and closer to my estimate from the higher 1 Feb 24 reading for gas - over 15m since May 23 -Aug - 15x300 = £4500 - even when they subtract the £1000 paid - thats still £3500.  

3) Are you in formal complaint

The DD Cancellation was their issue - the fact they haven't been crediting you once re-instated - again is their issue.

If you didn't make it clear you wanted to record those issues as a complaint - do so in writing.

If didn't today Id be tempted to go into formal complaint mode - and in writing - if not registered as such.

Id argue its up to them to resolve the missing £1000 - they have taken - and not credited.

As part of the complaint you could ask them if possible to freeze the debt action - but they might not be able to now (sometimes once it goes external - it's external)

4)  Did they say anything hopefull about the debt action - was it raised at all ?

5) I know it goes without saying - but don't forget the debt online action letter.

Seek help urgently from a debt advisor - as it appears your now pretty limitted in responses.

You have - via bank and your call with BG now got a pretty decent grasp of the key dates and issues etc.  Just try to get the back-up documents together.

There is also debt section of the forum - including advice from people experienced in general debt issues.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe

The court action claim side of things is pretty much outside the scope of the energy forum.  Although some posters read across many sections - you might find get more experienced and direct help on the proposed action there.

Now you know the core facts - claim, DD cancelled, DD reinstated - taken but not credited to energy account etc  

You don't need the full history of bills etc posting there - just a brief intro - core facts etc. 

If nothing else they might have a bigger list of where to seek help on a potentially short timescale.

We can track your threads by your name.

Qyburn

Focusing quickly on the court claim ..
(a) Did you receive any sort of Letter Before Action before the court claim?
(b) Have acknowledged service indicating intention to defend?
If you don't they could end up with a default judgement against you.

LuisDiaz

hello all, a quick update.

I had to call BG again today, sometimes I was cut off. I've spent another 2.5hours speaking to multiple people, each time having to explain what has happened. They keep transferring to different departments, a team which deals with ''old system'' and other team that deals with the ''new system''. 

Asking to speak to a manager doesn't really help, they are a off shore team and with the greatest respect, the customer support is limited at best.

Out of the 11 people I have spoken with, 2 have been helpful.

They both have updated thier system to confirm payments have been collected by BG.
The advisor said they spoke to the 'business'' department but apparently its not for them to deal with.
Escalation was raised.
advisors have tried to call the legal team to cancel the legal proceedings, but both times could not get through.

Complaint submitted.

I dont know how much of this I can stick with but I'll keep pushing. I am tired.

Thanks very much for your support and kind words everyone. 

LuisDiaz

Qyburn said:

Focusing quickly on the court claim ..
(a) Did you receive any sort of Letter Before Action before the court claim?
(b) Have acknowledged service indicating intention to defend?
If you don't they could end up with a default judgement against you.

Hi Qyburn,
I cant any ''letter before action''.
I haven't done so yet - I need to look at that, I will do today. Thank you. 

LuisDiaz

Scot_39 said:

LuisDiaz said:

Hi all,
I wanted to share a quick update:

After a long 2+ hours and being transferred between 6 people (and being cut off too)

-  BG advisor said I owe them (BG) 4.5k for services between Jan and Aug - which is impossible in my view. I appreciate the cost of utility services have gone up, by my consumption levels have not exceeded - (could I have faulty metres ?)
- BG advisor eventually agreed to look at the bank statements and said they could see the payments have been taken (in 2024) but by the ''Business'' department (another BG issue). they want me to call BG business department to resolve.
- advisor said migration happened mid-2023
- they said the DD automatically cancelled (by BG)

they are closed now. I have to try again tomorrow 

1) was that 4.5k for their current estimatation - or were they updated by you giving them yesterdays pair of readings and them recalculating to date ?

If not - I'd give them readings - I forget to say - but if not already taken copy of current bills - you might want to download - they could get deleted and replaced with a re-issue version with new readings.

Find out what you true estimated costs are - even without the £1000 missing payments - you can subtract that yourself.

I did give readings and they said they have over charged by a few hundred, Ive not seen the breakdown yet

2) try not to get destracted - focus on key issues in front of you.  

thank you, I'll focus on the court proceedings as I am not getting anywhere with BG but I dont know what to do. I'll read through your comments and others tonight.

3) Are you in formal complaint

I submitted a formal complaint via their website and have a ref too...thank you.

4)  Did they say anything hopefull about the debt action - was it raised at all ?

they said they have tried to call the legal team twice, to cancel the legal proceedings, but each time they have not been able to get through. 

5) I know it goes without saying - but don't forget the debt online action letter.

is that the court proceeding letter I must respond too ? if the legal team do respond will they be able to cancel it or would the court proceedings still go ahead ?

thanks for your detailed responses, very insightful and helpful.

updated comments under your questions. thank you.

born_again

Scot_39 said:

LuisDiaz said:

I've managed to speak to my bank.

They have said the DD to BG was cancelled in May 2023 and it wasn't by the bank (nor myself), which leaves BG - which points to the system transfer BG carried out last year - I've asked the Bank if they can send something in writing to prove it was not either of us cancelling it (which I know it wasn't).

The new DD was setup in Jan 2024 and 6 payments have been taken since then totalling over 1k.

I've managed to get online and the last payment taken by BG was in May 2023 but there looks to also be what is showing as a ''reversal'' what does that mean ?


Prior to that, monthly DD have been taken on a regular basis, as far back as 2020.

If the DD payments to BG stopped in May 2023 and restarted in Jan 2024 (they began retaking DD payments this year, which the Bank statements clearly show),  BG are charging close to 5k for services between May 2023 - Dec 2023 ? (There maybe some overlap on either side ?) - that doesn't seem correct, does it ??

And, if the DD with BG, started again in Jan 2024, why have they issued court proceedings ?
It doesn't make any sense ?

Good.

But your total debt is not only the period they stopped taking payments (May 23 to Jan 24) but that added to any debt or credit before that date - and any debt due to the amount of the new direct debit being too low afterwards - edit which as warned above it appears to be.

So compare that 6 total Jan to now c£1000 DD vs the end Jan to Aug actual readings - my fag packet estimates above - suggest £100-£150 per month too low - lets say £100 and the 1Feb24 gas reading was correct..

And the date on the debt notice is for service until 14/08/24  - so goes beyond the last to Jun23, 2024 bill posted on page 3.

And @BarelySentientAI estimate based on June bill and estimates so includes more by nearly 2 months.  

Regarding the BG numbers.

On DD there was already something looking strange in May 2023  - the two DD attempts taken and refunded (see your image with red ring on 2440 image post)? - c 15th and c30th were those refused by your bank  - did the £391 go to and from your bank twice - or some internal BG glitch ?

If they "lost" the bank account details of bilking account - would their attempts be shown as such ?

Re you cannot see any payments since on BG  - can you confirm that's on both old and new accounts ?

AND/OR As one of my posts above can you supply opening and closing balances (and for * total energy usage charges) for the bills ending Jun 2024 and possibly Mar 2024(*)

For Jun It should be easy to spot if the DDs - 2 or 3 at c£170 are offsetting the c£970 usage charge - on the difference in  opening and closing balances.

It will either have increased by the c£970 - or less by n DD payments credited properly.

And that new DD at c£170 (£1000/6=166) were the 6 dates Feb to July  - so all consecutive - and taken before or after 23rd month ?

And remind me - exactly when did you move to new account system from old ?

No, as with no account details, BG have no way to request any payments from a bank.

DD's are requested by retailer, not sent by the bank 👍