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

Scot_39

If you can show BG have been taking debits - the last shown in Apr 23 for £391 in your 8:56pm post , like you mention there is one in your July 24 bank statement for £175 - In post at 7:23pm and if they are not even crediting to your new account that's great.

But from later bill images I cannot tell.

Your past DD levels have been far higher but energy rates maybe 20-30% higher then than Jun rates.  But as based on long series of estimates that means very little in reality.

And they do have 1 set of actual readings but curiously they included for both fuels on 25 Jan 24 - but extra on gas  1 Feb 2024 and that's over 450 cu m over 5000kWh different for just 6 days. 

A misreading correction - do you know which is or was more real ?

That set of readings should have in theory updated your account to an accurate account balance at that point though - but there are far too many estimated numbers on bills before and after - to confirm relative to current demand.

[Once this is resolved -You really need to get into habit of sending in meter readings more regularly - say 3 monthly etc like on cap changes at least (next change 1st Oct).
My sis still with SGas - they request readings every 3 m - before every bill cycle end. Don't BG email you?
You could / should enter the ones today as well as a start. To get an updated estimate of true balance.]



The today readings

Electric 6995 are c770 kWh lower than Jun 23  estimated 7764 electric - and compared to Jan - estimating 750 pm - they might be 2000kWh - order of £450-500 depending on your July rates - out by now.  
.
The estimated bill reading  - gas today c240 cu m higher than Jun 23 - c2700 kWh - but it is 2 months later. 


Actual Costs - Taking the two sets of real readings  Jan and ones posted tonight

Electric

4001 25 Jan  6995 26 Aug if today's  electric = c3000 for c7 months - 430 kWh per month.
at ave say 27.3p = £819 / £117pm +15pm SC

Gas - depends on which base 25 Jan or 1 Feb

25 Jan 24
20113 cu m vs 21715 today = 1582 = 226pm
17600 kWh at  7p say (basing towards winter) = £1200  / 7 = £176 pm + £10pm SC.

1 Feb 24
20580 vs 21715 = 1135 = 162pm
12655 kWh at 7p = £885 / 7 = £126 + £10 SC pm. 

Nearly £50 different

That suggests a total cost of either approx. £320 or £270 on average per month for the period - and past DD have been as high as £391.66 - and as based by what appears to be a series of estimates - it's difficult to know if really representative or  not. But electric about 20% cheaper and gas nearer 30% now.

I would guess you might be underpaying.  Unless you wee say £1200 in creditbwhe  they calculated that DD payment on reestablish it.

But the section of Mar - Jun bills showing estimated cost vs payments vs opening closing balances appears missing (*) .

Can you tell us the opening and closing balance for that 3 month period bill - so can compare to c£970 estimated usage.

That should confirm if BG being adding multiples of the July £175 or £177 direct debits from your bank account to them (why difference ?) To your new energy account.

And again same for preceeding 23 Jun to Mar 24 (* - at least clong balance and total use charge missing).  And worryingly that's an abnormal period and clearly a correction re-issue.

Those questions may seem intrusive - but as @ there have been a few reports of DD problems when people move to new account / billing system here )

Oops justvre read some other of your other posts again -

When do you think they re-established your DD if it is now working - and how many months was that after you were moved to new system --can you see when old DD stopped if it did  ? 
Did they actually stop taking from bank account or were they taking from bank and not crediting your new BG  account ?

You might want to write yourself a table in date order from bills and bank account, readings estimated or real,  payments on energy account, credit/debit balances, payments taken out of bank etc.

I note your struggling and as have a debt court threat - you probably should seek help - like e.g. Citizens Advice, Energy debt charity etc.  To help you structure and analyse data - to liase with BG or debt agency etc

But you probably wont be able to see much on BG site - for old system account - if werent keeping own downloads / paper copies if issued - but if have - try to check any credit / debit before/ after as well.
 

molerat

Scot_39 said:

And that appears to be a reissued bill - it has several cancelled billing lines - why ?.
 

It will be a recalculation of the estimated bills after actual readings have been supplied.

Scot_39

molerat said:

Scot_39 said:

And that appears to be a reissued bill - it has several cancelled billing lines - why ?.
 

It will be a recalculation of the estimated bills after actual readings have been supplied.

Makes sense - it was the Jan 1st section - but looking at likely OPs 3m cycles - probably thr bills upto Dec 23 2023 - re issued at once.

fatbelly

LuisDiaz said:

Hello,

I've now received a ''Claim Form'' from ''Civil National Business Centre'' and this looks like they are taking me to court for the amount of  ''£4,982.22'' which they believe is owed to them.

I am totally broken. I honestly don't know what to do.

I have worked extremely hard all my life for my family - I have always paid my bills on time and have always setup direct debits for the ease of ensuring I was never late on my bills.

I am really not sure what to do. Can anyone help ?

You should acknowledge service within 19 days of the issue date.

You should lodge a defence within 33 days of the issue date.

LuisDiaz

Hello all, I'm trying to read all your amazing responses and digest the information you are providing - I will post some responses shortly...thank you.

LuisDiaz

Scot_39 said:

If you can show BG have been taking debits - the last shown in Apr 23 for £391 in your 8:56pm post , like you mention there is one in your July 24 bank statement for £175 - In post at 7:23pm and if they are not even crediting to your new account that's great.

But from later bill images I cannot tell.

Your past DD levels have been far higher but energy rates maybe 20-30% higher then than Jun rates.  But as based on long series of estimates that means very little in reality.

And they do have 1 set of actual readings but curiously they included for both fuels on 25 Jan 24 - but extra on gas  1 Feb 2024 and that's over 450 cu m over 5000kWh different for just 6 days. 

A misreading correction - do you know which is or was more real ?

That set of readings should have in theory updated your account to an accurate account balance at that point though - but there are far too many estimated numbers on bills before and after - to confirm relative to current demand.

[Once this is resolved -You really need to get into habit of sending in meter readings more regularly - say 3 monthly etc like on cap changes at least (next change 1st Oct).
My sis still with SGas - they request readings every 3 m - before every bill cycle end. Don't BG email you?
You could / should enter the ones today as well as a start. To get an updated estimate of true balance.]



The today readings

Electric 6995 are c770 kWh lower than Jun 23  estimated 7764 electric - and compared to Jan - estimating 750 pm - they might be 2000kWh - order of £450-500 depending on your July rates - out by now.  
.
The estimated bill reading  - gas today c240 cu m higher than Jun 23 - c2700 kWh - but it is 2 months later. 


Actual Costs - Taking the two sets of real readings  Jan and ones posted tonight

Electric

4001 25 Jan  6995 26 Aug if today's  electric = c3000 for c7 months - 430 kWh per month.
at ave say 27.3p = £819 / £117pm +15pm SC

Gas - depends on which base 25 Jan or 1 Feb

25 Jan 24
20113 cu m vs 21715 today = 1582 = 226pm
17600 kWh at  7p say (basing towards winter) = £1200  / 7 = £176 pm + £10pm SC.

1 Feb 24
20580 vs 21715 = 1135 = 162pm
12655 kWh at 7p = £885 / 7 = £126 + £10 SC pm. 

Nearly £50 different

That suggests a total cost of either approx. £320 or £270 on average per month for the period - and past DD have been as high as £391.66 - and as based by what appears to be a series of estimates - it's difficult to know if really representative or  not. But electric about 20% cheaper and gas nearer 30% now.

I would guess you might be underpaying.  Unless you wee say £1200 in creditbwhe  they calculated that DD payment on reestablish it.

But the section of Mar - Jun bills showing estimated cost vs payments vs opening closing balances appears missing (*) .

Can you tell us the opening and closing balance for that 3 month period bill - so can compare to c£970 estimated usage.

That should confirm if BG being adding multiples of the July £175 or £177 direct debits from your bank account to them (why difference ?) To your new energy account.

And again same for preceeding 23 Jun to Mar 24 (* - at least clong balance and total use charge missing).  And worryingly that's an abnormal period and clearly a correction re-issue.

Those questions may seem intrusive - but as @ there have been a few reports of DD problems when people move to new account / billing system here )

Oops justvre read some other of your other posts again -

When do you think they re-established your DD if it is now working - and how many months was that after you were moved to new system --can you see when old DD stopped if it did  ? 
Did they actually stop taking from bank account or were they taking from bank and not crediting your new BG  account ?

You might want to write yourself a table in date order from bills and bank account, readings estimated or real,  payments on energy account, credit/debit balances, payments taken out of bank etc.

I note your struggling and as have a debt court threat - you probably should seek help - like e.g. Citizens Advice, Energy debt charity etc.  To help you structure and analyse data - to liase with BG or debt agency etc

But you probably wont be able to see much on BG site - for old system account - if werent keeping own downloads / paper copies if issued - but if have - try to check any credit / debit before/ after as well.
 

Thank you so much for taking a lot of your time out and writing this to help me, it means a lot.

I will try my best to answer your questions, please do bear with me.

When I spoke to BG beginning of this year, they informed they had moved me to a new system a few months ago, around approx September 2023 and they said the DD looks to have been stopped as a result of being moved to another system. I of course did not instruct my DD to be cancelled. 

Also a side note, I was going through redundancy, so a lot of my focus was trying to recover from that news and find a new job (plus Covid recovery) - not looking for sympathy but it has been tough, as it really puts you out.

Anyway - I'm sorry but I don't have access to my online bank account, BUT from the statements I have access too, I can see they have taken DD from my account this year in March 2024, April 2024, June 2024, July 2024 totalling around £700..I couldn't find the other months. But I will call my bank and confirm what other months they have taken payment from me. 

I can also see they have taken a whopping £391 in Dec 2022, Jan 2023, Feb 2023, March 2023, April 2023 - other months I have missing statements so I am not sure if they continued to do so - but I've attached a snippet of the BS statement which shows some of these payments they took from me (between Nov 2022 till April 2023).

I cant see any payment taken from Nov 2023 but they have taken their DD for the boiler/repair service cover - which I only mention to prove my account was working and they were taking payment from the same account my Gas/Electric would have come out from (something they have been doing for years as per the DD).

I am really confused about how they have hiked my bills in the first place, my usage would not have changed and I except I should have taken a closer look at the time however the redundancy really did take my focus away.

LuisDiaz

In terms of the next steps, is it wise to speak to BG ?
Should I call them ? Or email ? 
What should I be asking ?

I just don't understand how they have made such a huge bill and taken this to court...especially when they set me up on a new payment plan earlier this year... and which was because they had moved to me to a new system which cancelled the previous plan and DD. 

EssexHebridean

Put everything in writing at this stage would be my suggestion - although that could be by way of a live chat as long as you ensure that you get a transcript of the chat at the end of it. 

BarelySentientAI

LuisDiaz said:

In terms of the next steps, is it wise to speak to BG ?
Should I call them ? Or email ? 
What should I be asking ?

I just don't understand how they have made such a huge bill and taken this to court...especially when they set me up on a new payment plan earlier this year... and which was because they had moved to me to a new system which cancelled the previous plan and DD. 

I would be ignoring almost everything prior to May 2023.  It's only going to confuse you.  Everything before that has usage and payments (that broadly match) and is nothing to do with the debt.

They have made "such a huge bill" because you are, according to your meter readings and bills, a heavy user of both gas and electricity (there's no evidence at all that they have 'hiked' anything) and they haven't credited any of your direct debit payments to the account since May 2023.

Ask BG where your direct debits have been going.

And bear in mind the timelines that fatbelly pointed out.  Ignoring court dates is a bad thing.

LuisDiaz

EssexHebridean said:

Put everything in writing at this stage would be my suggestion - although that could be by way of a live chat as long as you ensure that you get a transcript of the chat at the end of it. 

Ok, thank you.