British Gas - Ignoring Ombudsman Decision Help!

Initialr3

On 12/06/2024 I changed my electricity tariff to British Gas Electric Driver v7 tariff. I switched as I was due to take delivery of an electric vehicle shortly after that. I took the tariff as it promised a heavily reduced rate of tariff between 12am and 5am to charge my vehicle. The tariff was successfully activated (according to the email I received), my home charger was installed by a third party company.

On 21/08/2024 I logged onto my online account as I had realised I had not had an electricity bill for a few months.

I contacted British Gas via their online chat facility. The agent advised this was a simple fix and produced me a bill there and then – which I didn’t ask for. The bill was for a dramatically huge amount compared to my usual prior three month average. When I looked at the statement the agent had created, I discovered that I had been charged from 12/06/2024 – 21/08/2024 at the peak rate. Any vehicle charging completed between 12am – 5am had been charged at the peak rate and not the off peak rate that was supposed to be part of the Electric Driver V7 tariff.

So begins the saga of me going back and forwards with British Gas advising them ‘the bill is wrong’, ‘I have been overcharged’ etc. British Gas kept advising they were going to resolve, then doing nothing and not calling back. I opened a complaint with them – that did nothing, and the complaint ran well over its response time.

On 16/10/2024 after months of nothing happening I finally got my evidence together and submitted an Energy Ombudsman complaint. On 29/10/2024 thanks to the Ombudsman, British Gas responded and offered an initial resolution consisting of five remedy actions;

• Credit energy account with a daily credit of £1.34 from xx/06/2024 to the date EV tariff will be updated on account.

• Update information on meter details and apply EV tariff. (an incorrect date was inputted during the meter register update. Instead of xx/xx/2023, xx/xx/2024 was submitted blocking the EV tariff from updating and any tariff from recording the 2 rate usages. )

• Credit energy account with £200 for inconveniences caused and shortfalls in service received.

• Bill account up to date to reflect the correct charges for the peak and off-peak periods.

• Issue a letter of apology.

I accepted – wanting the whole thing closed. Following my accept, nothing happened.

Randomly on 29/11/2024 British Gas issued (via the Ombudsman Portal) a ‘Supplier Conclusion’ document which basically detailed their response to the Ombudsman complaint.

It finally showed why this all went wrong from the start. Apparently when my house was built and the meters were commissioned in 11/2022, British Gas set the electricity meter up incorrectly on their systems as a single-phase meter.

In/around 29/11/2024 a £200.00 credit was applied to the account – further to that nothing else has been done. I contacted the Ombudsman again and they issued their final decision at the end of December.

The final decision from the Ombudsman sided with me that British Gas have not done what they promised and there has been a huge shortfall in service. The Ombudsman issued an ultimatum for them to complete the other remedies by 20/01/2025. I have tried contacting the case handler (or anyone) regarding my issue and they will refuse point blank over the phone to do anything other than ‘email the case handler to contact me’.

Which brings me to my question – again – I apologise for the length.

When 20/01/2025 comes and British Gas fail to complete the other 4 remedies they agreed to – what can I do next to get this resolved?

Can I take British Gas to a small claims court and if so, what would it be in reference to? Or do I just have to wait this out.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I do not know where to turn to. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. 

MeteredOut

You certainly have the right to take BG to the small claims court. I'm not far off doing the same with EDF in similar circumstances - the supplier has only partially implemented the Ombudsman's final ruling.

Petriix

You likely can take them to court, but... are you actually out of pocket or is it just that your online BG account shows a large debit which you haven't actually paid?
The longer the saga drags out, the better your position will be because, if they've never sent you an accurate bill for the usage, anything older than 12 months becomes exempt under back billing rules.

If you are actually out of pocket because they've taken money that you contractually do not owe then you may need to resort to court. You will need to work out exactly how much they have overcharged you by. The ombudsman finding in your favour will help your case but doesn't guarantee you'll win. Knowing BG's incompetence, however, you'd probably stand a pretty good chance.

The next step is to give them an ultimatum and look for mediation to see if you can get a resolution with the threat of court action if they don't resolve things. A judge could even end up awarding punitive damages and costs of they deem BG to have acted 'unreasonably'. There is minimal case history for such things so it's hard to give much advice other than to look at whether you have legal protection on your home insurance. There was one high profile case where BG settled out of court.

Good luck!

Initialr3

Petriix said:

You likely can take them to court, but... are you actually out of pocket or is it just that your online BG account shows a large debit which you haven't actually paid?
The longer the saga drags out, the better your position will be because, if they've never sent you an accurate bill for the usage, anything older than 12 months becomes exempt under back billing rules.

If you are actually out of pocket because they've taken money that you contractually do not owe then you may need to resort to court. You will need to work out exactly how much they have overcharged you by. The ombudsman finding in your favour will help your case but doesn't guarantee you'll win. Knowing BG's incompetence, however, you'd probably stand a pretty good chance.

The next step is to give them an ultimatum and look for mediation to see if you can get a resolution with the threat of court action if they don't resolve things. A judge could even end up awarding punitive damages and costs of they deem BG to have acted 'unreasonably'. There is minimal case history for such things so it's hard to give much advice other than to look at whether you have legal protection on your home insurance. There was one high profile case where BG settled out of court.

Good luck!

Thank you for this and a very good question - I am actually heavily in credit because no bill has been produced since June. I'm just over £600.00 in credit as I have continued to pay my DD. 

It looks like court probably wouldn't apply to me in this situation - yet.

I'm technically not out of pocket yet and until they produce me accurate billing from 06/2024 onwards and I can test them to assess if they are accurate. Thankfully my EV charge app tracks to show my usage and charges based on the tariff I should be on. 

I think I will give them to 20/01/2025, contact the Ombudsman again then provide an ultimatum. The problem is British Gas will not engage with me at all. Again, thank you for your help. 

Smilinghamster01

This is interesting. I am currently waiting for the Ombudsman to review my account. After sitting with over £1000 in credit for 10 months and BG refusing to issue a statement, I decided to leave and move to another supplier. When I got my final bill through, they had recalculated my bill for the previous 18 months, superseding all previous statements they had issued. My account now said I owed £700 and it was due immediately, not that I was due the credit back as I was expecting. I have queried this and BG just will not engage. BG just say the bill is "correct" with no substantiation of the rates used. They have admitted they have made mistakes but I now have a significant mark on my credit references and they have passed it on to their debt collection agency (BW Legal, dont get me started on them!). Over Christmas they hounded me, I had 11 communications from them including out of hours phone calls, text messages and emails, threatening legal action if I didnt pay immediately, despite me advising them I was referring it to the Ombudsman. It was horrendous.

I was a mandatory switch over to BG after the collapse of Peoples Energy and I have a feeling I wont be the only one suffering this issue. I have set up a payment plan through BW legal to start in February in the hope that they would remove the mark on by credit reference but they are refusing. Anyone else experienced this? Can they back date accounts that far? Is it actually a "default" if the sum is being disputed formally? Also, how long does it typically take to get a decision from the Ombudsman? Any help really welcome, this has been so stressful and has affected my opportunity to secure a decent mortgage when i move.

brianposter

Keep very careful details of your mortgage application so that you can reclaim any extra costs that BG cause.

Chrysalis

Smilinghamster01 said:

This is interesting. I am currently waiting for the Ombudsman to review my account. After sitting with over £1000 in credit for 10 months and BG refusing to issue a statement, I decided to leave and move to another supplier. When I got my final bill through, they had recalculated my bill for the previous 18 months, superseding all previous statements they had issued. My account now said I owed £700 and it was due immediately, not that I was due the credit back as I was expecting. I have queried this and BG just will not engage. BG just say the bill is "correct" with no substantiation of the rates used. They have admitted they have made mistakes but I now have a significant mark on my credit references and they have passed it on to their debt collection agency (BW Legal, dont get me started on them!). Over Christmas they hounded me, I had 11 communications from them including out of hours phone calls, text messages and emails, threatening legal action if I didnt pay immediately, despite me advising them I was referring it to the Ombudsman. It was horrendous.

I was a mandatory switch over to BG after the collapse of Peoples Energy and I have a feeling I wont be the only one suffering this issue. I have set up a payment plan through BW legal to start in February in the hope that they would remove the mark on by credit reference but they are refusing. Anyone else experienced this? Can they back date accounts that far? Is it actually a "default" if the sum is being disputed formally? Also, how long does it typically take to get a decision from the Ombudsman? Any help really welcome, this has been so stressful and has affected my opportunity to secure a decent mortgage when i move.

As always need details of the bills, you have examined it beyond the headline price right?  Compare usage and also whether estimated or actual, unit rates, SC between old and new bills.  Otherwise you cant just assume its wrong.  Although the aggressiveness they are doing to chase this money is unreasonable, especially as you are disputing it and engaging.

KtsingoZ123

I have always been in credit with bg...now a bill appeared on my account for £1460 I rang and they said its back billing and would be removed. I contacted them about 9 times thru chat and complained twice and still saying I'm in debt. My dd is now coming off the debt so I'm not now paying for my bills now. All they say is case handler will contact you....but no one does its been 3 weeks now  any advice anyone as I'm being ignored

Gerry1

KtsingoZ123 said:

My dd is now coming off the debt so I'm not now paying for my bills now.

Welcome to the forum.

If you're saying you've cancelled your DD and aren't paying your bills then that's a serious mistake.  It'll damage your credit rating and could make it difficult to get a mobile phone contract, let alone a mortgage.

Ask for a deadlock letter.  Go to the Energy Ombudsman upon receipt, or after eight weeks if they fail to send one.

Initialr3

Initialr3 said:

Petriix said:

You likely can take them to court, but... are you actually out of pocket or is it just that your online BG account shows a large debit which you haven't actually paid?
The longer the saga drags out, the better your position will be because, if they've never sent you an accurate bill for the usage, anything older than 12 months becomes exempt under back billing rules.

If you are actually out of pocket because they've taken money that you contractually do not owe then you may need to resort to court. You will need to work out exactly how much they have overcharged you by. The ombudsman finding in your favour will help your case but doesn't guarantee you'll win. Knowing BG's incompetence, however, you'd probably stand a pretty good chance.

The next step is to give them an ultimatum and look for mediation to see if you can get a resolution with the threat of court action if they don't resolve things. A judge could even end up awarding punitive damages and costs of they deem BG to have acted 'unreasonably'. There is minimal case history for such things so it's hard to give much advice other than to look at whether you have legal protection on your home insurance. There was one high profile case where BG settled out of court.

Good luck!

Thank you for this and a very good question - I am actually heavily in credit because no bill has been produced since June. I'm just over £600.00 in credit as I have continued to pay my DD. 

It looks like court probably wouldn't apply to me in this situation - yet.

I'm technically not out of pocket yet and until they produce me accurate billing from 06/2024 onwards and I can test them to assess if they are accurate. Thankfully my EV charge app tracks to show my usage and charges based on the tariff I should be on. 

I think I will give them to 20/01/2025, contact the Ombudsman again then provide an ultimatum. The problem is British Gas will not engage with me at all. Again, thank you for your help. 

Apologies for the delay in this all - think the post has went onto a different tangent however just a quick update. 

I am still no further forward, the Ombudsman has sent multiple requests for contact and nothing. I'm still giving them a ring once a month to show I'm trying - however I'm just going to stop caring and let it run. I'm fairly confident this will keep going into June after which I'll start putting in back billing cancellation letters. 

Gerry1

Initialr3 said:

Initialr3 said:

Petriix said:

You likely can take them to court, but... are you actually out of pocket or is it just that your online BG account shows a large debit which you haven't actually paid?
The longer the saga drags out, the better your position will be because, if they've never sent you an accurate bill for the usage, anything older than 12 months becomes exempt under back billing rules.

If you are actually out of pocket because they've taken money that you contractually do not owe then you may need to resort to court. You will need to work out exactly how much they have overcharged you by. The ombudsman finding in your favour will help your case but doesn't guarantee you'll win. Knowing BG's incompetence, however, you'd probably stand a pretty good chance.

The next step is to give them an ultimatum and look for mediation to see if you can get a resolution with the threat of court action if they don't resolve things. A judge could even end up awarding punitive damages and costs of they deem BG to have acted 'unreasonably'. There is minimal case history for such things so it's hard to give much advice other than to look at whether you have legal protection on your home insurance. There was one high profile case where BG settled out of court.

Good luck!

Thank you for this and a very good question - I am actually heavily in credit because no bill has been produced since June. I'm just over £600.00 in credit as I have continued to pay my DD. 

It looks like court probably wouldn't apply to me in this situation - yet.

I'm technically not out of pocket yet and until they produce me accurate billing from 06/2024 onwards and I can test them to assess if they are accurate. Thankfully my EV charge app tracks to show my usage and charges based on the tariff I should be on. 

I think I will give them to 20/01/2025, contact the Ombudsman again then provide an ultimatum. The problem is British Gas will not engage with me at all. Again, thank you for your help. 

Apologies for the delay in this all - think the post has went onto a different tangent however just a quick update. 

I am still no further forward, the Ombudsman has sent multiple requests for contact and nothing. I'm still giving them a ring once a month to show I'm trying - however I'm just going to stop caring and let it run. I'm fairly confident this will keep going into June after which I'll start putting in back billing cancellation letters. 

Remember that back billing is designed only to protect customers from having to make an unexpectedly high payment at short notice, so the protection is much weaker than many people realise.  However, suppliers are allowed to use a credit balance to settle a back bill.