Being charged by British Gas 4 yrs after moving house

Strugglingwithexecutivefunction

Please no judgement.
So, as the title, I moved house 4yrs ago, and apparently didn't cancel the British Gas direct debit. 

I realised I was being direct debitted by British Gas, but I hadn't twigged that we were paying gas and electricity from another supplier.

I've written to the help centre to check what I'm being billed for, but I'm 99% sure that I've been paying all this time for my old house.

What are my rights/chances of getting this money refunded? (I think it would be in excess of 3k totalled up) 

DE_612183

If you moved and the new owners took over the supply, it could be your payments have just been accumulating against a "final" account which is now in credit.

Do you know your old account number? That's the place to start.

If however the people who moved have just left you to pay for their supply things could be trickier...

Strugglingwithexecutivefunction

I don't know what my old account number was. I've tried logging in online, but I don't appear to have an account there either 🫣

DE_612183

doesn't your account number show on your DD reference?

Strugglingwithexecutivefunction

No, it's just showing a British Gas

DE_612183

Strugglingwithexecutivefunction said:

No, it's just showing a British Gas

Phone your bank - there must be a reference of sorts somewhere.

Strugglingwithexecutivefunction

BG replied, and we're unhelpful (just told me who my current electricity provider is 🫠). I've asked them for my customer ref, but will try the bank too. Can't hurt to ask. 

MeteredOut

OP, since the DD kept on coming out, I presume you did not tell BG you were moving and thereafter did not get a final bill? 

That makes things more complicated.

Do you have any previous correspondence from BG? eg, with readings, or your account number.

What you need to do is prove you moved out on a certain date, and somehow come to an agreement on what the meter readings would have been on that date. BG *should* then issue a final bill on that basis and refund you any amount due. You DD amounts will have been building up in your BG account.

Make sure you've got an official complaint logged with BG over their lack of refund, and that allows you to take the issue to the Ombudsman after 8 weeks. I suspect you'll have to go down that route to get anyone at BG to actually investigate where your money has gone.

The new owners at your old house should have received a new BG account number (or they may have switched elsewhere), but if they moved in and BG never contacted them, then it is most likely you've been paying for their energy. But, I'd say that's between BG and them - you should focus solely on getting enough information to allow BG to produce a final bill from the date you moved out. Did the property have a smart meter?

One option is to contact the current owners of the house and ask them if they're paying their bills. You can also find out who their current supplier is via: https://www.findmysupplier.energy/. If not with BG, that points to your DDs being building up in your dormant account. You can also confirm who your current supplier is here.

An additional complication is that BG introduced a new billing system in the last few years.

Strugglingwithexecutivefunction

To be honest, I'm not sure. I had an awful lot going on with my health at the time of moving, so it's possible that I overlooked telling them that I moved.

I don't have any correspondence or an email. 

Thank you for the advice 

MeteredOut

Strugglingwithexecutivefunction said:

To be honest, I'm not sure. I had an awful lot going on with my health at the time of moving, so it's possible that I overlooked telling them that I moved.

I don't have any correspondence or an email. 

Thank you for the advice 

If you have nothing (have you 100% checked, paper and emails?), you need to:

- Confirm who your current supplier is via the link i gave above
- Assuming its not BG, and because you know you're paying BG, you need to get onto BG to ask for your money back (I very much doubt your bank will be able to help you). 
- There should still be an account in your name, either dormant, or currently being used to pay the new occupiers of your old house
- When BG don't resolve the issue on that first call, get a complaint raised
- When that doesn't get resolved, escalate it to the Energy Ombudsman

You'll needs BG help to estimate the final reading when you left the property. The totality of the DDs you've paid since you moved out does not necessarily equal the refund you will be due. Your account could have been £100s in debit when you moved out. BG should (hopefully) know readings from on or around the date you moved out, and hopefully can use that to rebill you to that date, then refund any surplus.

outtatune

1. Sell your property
2. Agree with new owners that you won't notify the energy provider
3. Agree that the new owners will repay you their energy costs minus a 35% discount
4. Pay for the new owners energy for a few years
5. Demand a full refund from the energy company because you were paying for somebody else's energy
6. (Almost) everyone profits!