Back Billing

Sonny_Chasca

Hello,
I had a complaint with my energy supplier in April 2023 following which they refunded £900 to my account which reduced the amount I still owed them. There followed 2 further statements in April 2023 and another statement in May 2023. The additional April and May statements all displayed the previous amount outstanding and then the new amount which included all charges for the period being billed less the £900 credit.

As an example £900 credit left me with £300 still outstanding.
The next April bill displayed previous amount outstanding =£300. New charges for energy used = £100. Total new bill = £400.
The next April bill displayed previous amount = £400 previous amount owed plus new charges of £50 = £450. Similarly in May 2023 the same principle was applied as were all future bills until September 2024

In September 2024 I received a bill where the previous amount owed had followed the same principle as it had for nearly 18 months BUT there was an adjustment of £900 which had been added to the bill making the new amount owing £900 more than I was expecting. 

When I queried this with the company they advised me that all the bills in April 2023 had been cancelled which included the £900 credit I had received as they were all in error . 

At no time prior to September 2024 had I been made aware that the April 2023 bills were in error and at no time prior to September 2024 have any of my bills since April 2023 reflected either a previous amount owed or new amount owed which included the £900. 

Is anyone able to advise if am able to claim a refund based on back billing rules. I should also add that at no time have the company explained why they refunded me £900 which they obviously felt was correct at the time or why they now feel that this was an error.

Thank you

MeteredOut

Which supplier?

It's not 100% clear whats going on here, but I'd certainly be going back to the supplier asking them to remove usage from your bill for dates prior to September 2023 (12 months from bill date). Mention back-billing to them.

Note that does not mean you can claim a refund, but would be a credit on your bill. If that left you in overall positive balance on your account, then you could claim that as a refund if it was more than a few months worth of direct debits.

Back billing is in place to avoid bill shock, and it could be argued that an additional £900 on a bill could result in that.

Sonny_Chasca

Thank you for your comment. 

The supplier is BG. 

In November 2022 BG changed to a new system. A new bill was then sent from their new system in January 2023 but I didn’t take too much notice until April 2023 when the new tariffs were announced. It was then I  raised a query about the January 2023 statement and was awarded the £900 refund. The £900 has never been added back into my account until September 2024. I have raised the query with BG who claim as I was originally charged the correct amount and the refund was a mistake back billing does not apply even though they didn’t tell me it was a mistake for nearly 18 months.

MeteredOut

When you say "refund", do you mean a credit to your account, or a refund to your bank account? 

Have you got a complaint open? If not, do that, wait 8 weeks (or get a deadlock letter), and raise it with the Energy Ombudsman.

Sonny_Chasca

It was a credit to my account which reduced the debt. The debt has now increased again as a result of the £900 being added back onto my account. I have already raised a complaint but because they say it’s not back billing they have closed the complaint which I am still disputing. I was hoping someone  on the forum might be able to help as I am getting nowhere.

MeteredOut

Sonny_Chasca said:

It was a credit to my account which reduced the debt. The debt has now increased again as a result of the £900 being added back onto my account. I have already raised a complaint but because they say it’s not back billing they have closed the complaint which I am still disputing. I was hoping someone  on the forum might be able to help as I am getting nowhere.

The Energy Ombudsman is your next step. Gather all the evidence and provide it to them. Note that they are not on your side, they will not help you put a case together. They look at your evidence, the suppliers evidence, and make a decision.

I assume you were providing regular meter readings to BG?

From what you've described here, I beleive your scenario should fall under back billing rules. But, that's just my opinion. Here's what Ofgem say:

Our back billing rules

These rules set out when a supplier can charge you for any shortfalls in payment for energy you’ve used.

You cannot be charged for energy used more than 12 months ago if:

• you have not had an accurate bill for it before, even though you asked for one
• you have not been informed about any charges due via a statement of account before
• your Direct Debit amount was previously set too low to cover any charges due

Suppliers must make these rules clear in their contract terms and conditions.

The rules apply to domestic energy consumers and microbusinesses.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/what-do-if-you-get-back-bill

Sonny_Chasca

Unfortunately I have been down the Ombudsman route as well and I tend to agree that they are not necessarily on my side or helping with my case.
I feel that the Ofgem rules almost contradict each other in that they state “you have not had an accurate bill” and also “ you have not been informed about any charges via a statement before”.
In my instance I was informed about the charges in January 2023 but I disputed these and they refunded my account. Following that I didn’t receive an accurate bill showing that the refund was an error for 18 months.

 

QrizB

Fundamentally, if they've given you a refund in error then they're allowed by the rules to ask for it back.

MeteredOut

QrizB said:

Fundamentally, if they've given you a refund in error then they're allowed by the rules to ask for it back.

Does that include an account credit (which is slightly different to a refund), and even if that credit took place more than 12 months before it was pointed out to the customer?

My reading of back billing rules does not really clarify which way this should fall.

Sonny_Chasca

In my particular instance it was an account credit, Based on the numerous responses to this post and several others on the same subject there appear to be multiple different opinions as to exactly what the back billing rules are.  

MeteredOut

Sonny_Chasca said:

In my particular instance it was an account credit, Based on the numerous responses to this post and several others on the same subject there appear to be multiple different opinions as to exactly what the back billing rules are.  

That's because the rules, as written on the OfGem website, are pretty badly written and therefore open to interpretation.

Which is why getting all your evidence together and submitting it to the Energy Ombudsman is the only way you'll likely get this progressed. No-one here will be able to 100% tell you what the result will be.