British Gas Hidden Debt

NaturalChemistry

I’ve been on PAYG gas with British Gas since I moved in to my house last year. I kept the meter topped up with regular payments when it got low.

Recently I initiated a switch to a different provider. I then received an email from British Gas saying I owed money and would have to make arrangements before I could switch.

I called up and was told I had a £43.10 debt. I asked how this was possible since I’m on PAYG. From what I understood (The person I was talking to was in a loud call centre) when I had been topping up British Gas had used the money to pay for the gas but not for the standing charge. They did not inform me of this, which I believe is because I made small top ups they assumed I was struggling for money and wouldn’t be able to afford gas if they included the standing charge.

I asked to get a bill which I was told would take 7-14 working days to produce. On the British Gas app and website my account says I am in credit, my meter also says I am in credit. Nowhere can I see anything about a debt.

Has anyone else had an issue like this?

EssexHebridean

When you moved in, did you set up your own account immediately, or did you continue using a card or key left by the previous occupant? 

NaturalChemistry

I set up a new account. The previous owner did not leave a gas card. There was a large debt on the meter (Much more than they say I owe) from the previous owner so someone from British Gas came out to clear it.

What really annoys me is their lack of transparency. 

grn99

NaturalChemistry said:

I’ve been on PAYG gas with British Gas since I moved in to my house last year. I kept the meter topped up with regular payments when it got low.

Recently I initiated a switch to a different provider. I then received an email from British Gas saying I owed money and would have to make arrangements before I could switch.

I called up and was told I had a £43.10 debt. I asked how this was possible since I’m on PAYG. From what I understood (The person I was talking to was in a loud call centre) when I had been topping up British Gas had used the money to pay for the gas but not for the standing charge. They did not inform me of this, which I believe is because I made small top ups they assumed I was struggling for money and wouldn’t be able to afford gas if they included the standing charge.

I asked to get a bill which I was told would take 7-14 working days to produce. On the British Gas app and website my account says I am in credit, my meter also says I am in credit. Nowhere can I see anything about a debt.

Has anyone else had an issue like this?

I have moved my parents away from BG due to their unhelpful CS and unecessarily complex/opaque billing. The online account doesn't necessarily tally with the monthly statements and the monthly statements look (to me) like quarterly bills that have been fudged to achieve monthly bills...each month being a series of debits and credit going back months depite timely accurate real readings being supplied.

The one good thing is, that after my formal complaint (upheld), exiting BG was very easy. I should perhaps add, that even when the bill was reviewed under the complaint, the manual calculation was wrong too - shocking arithmetic by the complaints person I spoke to.

I even had to explain how one calculated 5% on the new subtotal.

I got the final bill produced days later as I didn't trust them to do that correctly. We left with a debt of circa £70 to be collected by the final DDM payment.

Hoping you can get this resolved.

Gerry1

BG's old system wasn't much good, and they were hopeless in transferring the old accounts to the new system.  It remains to be seen how good the new system is.

If you have a credit account, always download and save bills the moment they are generated because they wipe all the old bills if they do a recalculation.  If I hadn't kept records I'd have been unable to spot that they'd billed me for several months' usage and standing charge before I'd joined them.