Billing issues with BG

northernmam13

I have been with British Gas after my previous supplier stopped existing and haven’t had issues with bills until now. My balance showed healthy credit over £300 in July and then jumped showing a debit of nearly £2500! I contacted them, they looked in to it and explained the issue being transfer from their old billing system to the new one and some readings having been estimated. I have had a smart meter for ages, no issues with it and therefore I was not happy with their response especially when it was still showing a negative balance. I raised a complaint and it had been ongoing for weeks now. They are insisting that numerous statements relate to them correcting estimated readings over numerous months however surely they should not be estimating anything when readings are via smart meter. I can also see usage on their app and compared to what I have used and what I have paid, there is a big difference. They are ignoring my question about the app readings saying they are not accurate anyway. I have no way of verifying what they are charging and feel I have been treated unfairly. What can I do next? 

Mark_d

You can switch supplier if you're not happy.  BG will be forced to calculate your exact usage and bill/refund you accordingly.

EssexHebridean

How many weeks has the complaint been ongoing for? You know that once it hits 8 weeks without resolution you can escalate to the Ombudsman? 

Alnat1

Have you checked your previous bills to see if BG have been using actual smart reads or if they were unable to obtain them and used estimates? This is something you should always be keeping and eye on.

If they don't have actual reads, then give them some and ask for your bill to be reissued using real readings. Then you can be sure that you will only be paying for what you have used.

Gerry1

BG have form for wrong bills.  I left Neon Reef long before they went bust, but quite some time later BG charged me for several months' usage for a period before I'd even joined BG.  They kept extremely quiet about this, the only clue was a new bill that showed a start date that I happened to recognise as incorrect.

Fortunately I always download all energy bills immediately so I could prove the double charging, but most users wouldn't spot such a well hidden mistake.  Even if they did, they'd find it difficult to prove because BG deleted all my previous online bills every time they issued a revised bill.

Eventually BG agreed they'd overcharged and issued a corrected bill that was accurate.

However, that was far from the end of the matter — they kept repeating the same mistake four times !

They said they couldn't stop their billing system repeatedly making the same mistake forever, so they had to issue a one-off refund payment instead.

They offered £50 compo but I held out for £100 - and got it ! 😀

Always download utility bills immediately and keep them safely.

BarelySentientAI

northernmam13 said:

I have no way of verifying what they are charging 

You have your meter readings.  What does your meter say now and what does their bill think it says?

It is perfectly possible that they have made a mistake.  It is also perfectly possible that they are correct.

Just feeling like things are unfair doesn't mean that they are wrong, just like them saying "it's right" without writing it down properly on bills doesn't make you wrong.