Anomalously high gas bill - from British Gas

CazeryBird

Is this normal?

"I’ve checked the details, but unfortunately, we’re unable to locate the switch request in the national database. It’s unclear who raised the request."

brianposter

You appear to have reached the point at which you need to go to court, but to do that you have to have paid the disputed bill - specifically that bill. Is it possible to claim that you have done so ?

northernstar007

or have you got legal cover on your home insurance 

CazeryBird

brianposter said:

You appear to have reached the point at which you need to go to court, but to do that you have to have paid the disputed bill - specifically that bill. Is it possible to claim that you have done so ?

I've paid a chunk of the total outstanding, enough to cover the queried part. I'm not sure how they allocate payments though.

CazeryBird

I also chased my SAR again and asked how long they define a 'minimal delay' as and it arrived two days later...

Trying to work out what the screen grab below means, from the relevant time period. Does anyone understand how these things are noted and what makes an actual get marked as invalid?.

The excel meter reading log only starts from the 8th July 2024, so just after the disputed period. They have noted 'no readings held' from December 2022 to then, so I don't get to see any evidence of a potential large consumption which would explain the jump. Seems terribly convenient.

CazeryBird

northernstar007 said:

or have you got legal cover on your home insurance 

I think so, but I might sort out a repayment schedule and join my work union - I get free legal support through that after three months of membership. Going to double check the details now. I agree though, court is the only way at this point.

CazeryBird

British Gas have said they won't consider any new evidence, even if it proved the reading was erroneous.

CazeryBird

So convenient that all the periods of evidence which I need are unavailable. Suspect I'll have to go down the small claims 'stress' route and try to get compensation which matches roughly the amount they've billed...

brianposter

The SAR does seem to indicate that some thing was wrong in the appropriate period - you have suddenly got a readng which is way above their estimate and is actually described as invalid.  I suppose the first thing to do is try to get an explanation of the relevant part of the SAR, which seems to suggest that your meter reading jumped by 1700 units on the same day that someone read your meter.

Maybe start with the fact that surely the SAR should include some explanation of the invalid readings.

Overall the SAR looks good enough for you to start preparing your court case.

brianposter

It also looks like they have provided an estimate of for much you have been overcharged.... 8784 - 6890 units.

Use that figure to work out how much you really owe (assuming there is no good explanation for what has happened) and once you have paid £100 more than that figure you can reasonably go to court to reclaim the overpayment.