British Gas (old billing and new billing)

NorbieG

During the financial crisis, I was involuntarily transferred back to British Gas after having switched to a different supplier a year earlier due to unsatisfactory customer service.

Correspondence with British Gas - self-explanatory.

To British Gas:

Thanks for getting back to me.

How do you explain the irregular monthly and quarterly payments as shown below?

Payment History:

20 September 2024  Amount: £152.51

Transaction type: Variable Direct Debit

21 June 2024  Amount: £73.99

Transaction type: Variable Direct Debit

17 May 2024  Amount: £66.37

Transaction type: Variable Direct Debit

25 April 2024  Amount: £359.85

Transaction type: Variable Direct Debit

21 December 2023  Amount: £361.41

Transaction type: Variable Direct Debit

 29th Sep 2023    £115.73

 27th Sep 2023    £29.11

 23rd Jun 2023    £290.30

 23rd Mar 2023    £542.61

 27th Jan 2023    £105.05

 29th Nov 2022    £366.54

 28th Oct 2022    £30.82  (Bill cancelled & replaced)

Also, can you explain (above) why the 28th Oct 2022, £30.82 bill was cancelled & replaced; and then a month later 29th Nov 2022 my account was debited by (a massive) £366.54 - for just a month's energy use?

I would like to raise my concern about my discount on the government winter fuel payments, which I understand should be applied automatically.  I need to see evidence of that.

Response from British Gas:

Thank you for contacting British Gas to enquire about the invoice where you were charged massively and the fuel payment. I will be looking after you to ensure things go smoothly.

I am sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. We will work to get this resolved for you as a priority.

What I have done

I have taken the following steps in resolving your case about the huge bill and the alternate fuel payment :

I have checked the account and I can confirm that the bills which you are referring to was created when the account was with our old billing team and I am from the new billing team.

The details which we have on the account is post 07/09/2023 anything before this period is being held by our old billing team.

Your account has been transferred from our old to new billing system within British Gas.

I am pleased to inform you that I will help you with the contact details for correct service as we do not have access to old accounts. Kindly contact them and they will help you. 

You can reach them at 0330 100 0056. The specialist team is available to assist you from Monday to Friday from 8 am - 6 pm and Saturday 9 am - 2 pm.

I can also confirm that you are a part of our priority service register, if you wish to make any changes to this please get in touch with us.

I’m happy to let you know that it's all done for you. If you require any further help, please let us know.

Thanks for being with us for your energy.

To British Gas:

Dear British Gas Team,

Thank you for your response.

I have reviewed your email, and I must clarify that it is not my responsibility to contact the previous team. This matter should be resolved between your new and old teams. Additionally, making such calls incurs costs for me, which is unacceptable.

I have previously addressed this issue with your new team earlier this year and was assured it was resolved. Therefore, I expect you to liaise with the old team and resolve this matter promptly.

If this issue is not resolved, I will have no choice but to escalate the matter to Ofgem and other relevant authorities. I feel I am being overcharged for the energy used, and my Winter Fuel Discount has not been applied.

Please address this issue urgently.

Gerry1

• When you joined the Priority Services Register, BG should have advised you of their 0800 number.

• You'd need to contact the Energy Ombudsman, not Ofgem.

NorbieG

@Gerry1, thanks for the info. It looks like they expect customers to resolve their own issues to avoid the hassle.  This is one of the reasons I left them before!  With the number of complaints against British Gas, they either have significant problems or are deliberately neglecting customers.  They didn’t even handle the ECO4 scheme for me; I had to go to another energy company to get it sorted.

knightstyle

Surely the first thing to do is to check your meter readings against their estimated readings?  This will show if they are billing for actual uasage or some fictional amount.

NorbieG

@knightstyle, I have a smart meter, so my bills shouldn’t be estimated. However, the problem lies with my quarterly Direct Debit (DD) contract, which they are not adhering to, as they are debiting my account monthly.  It appears that their new payment system has me on a monthly payment plan, while their old system still has me paying quarterly. This means I might be paying twice for the same energy usage.

Since I was transferred back to British Gas (BG), they have persistently pressured me to switch to a monthly DD, which I have consistently refused. Could their actions be deliberate to push me towards monthly payments instead of quarterly? BG seems to profit more from monthly payments, whereas they lose money with quarterly payments.  So I believe this is why they are pressing me to pay monthly.

knightstyle

OK so what contract did you agree to? Monthly or quarterly?  Plus have youchecked the actual meter readings against their smart meter readings if your meter is working and sending your readings to BG.
I have just moved and am now with BG on a monthiy DD, so far all seems in order but only been here for 5 weeks.

NorbieG

@knightstyle I possess a quarterly contract that was transferred from my previous supplier to BG. Nevertheless, BG blames the complications on their newly established {old and new} billing teams. Recently, I was assured that the deductions from my account align with the energy consumed (both quarterly and monthly DD). Still, I intend to verify this personally against the meter readings, provided it's not too cumbersome.