British Gas issues

chr15hewitt

I’m currently in dispute with British Gas. They back billed me to July 2023 but I only took over payments for my late wife’s account in January. At the time the account was in almost £2000 credit which I asked if I could maintain direct debits for until account was settled with her estate as her bank was closing her accounts. They did not balance or give a final bill and let it run (estate still not settled as of yet). I had access to account online and saw her direct debit was reduced in July 2024. This August I was informed that the direct debit was to practically double to just under £200 a month which they claimed our energy usage had gone up significantly. According to the online account electricity usage was way down and gas smart meter was not working so most of all readings were marked as estimates. (They did not ask for meter readings from me at any point which it states they’ll request one if they need it). I called in and they said I was right and they dropped the direct debit back to original amount. I mentioned again that the credit on the account needs to be balanced and sent to my wife’s estate (I’m not executor). In hindsight I feel they have failed direct debit hike may have been to covertly cover them not billing correctly in the past.

A week or so later they billed me for almost £500 pounds claiming the account was in debt. This is when they billed me as far back as 2023. I explained when I notified of my wife’s death that I was unsure of how things worked but they should have balanced the account then (they didn’t) and give me option to have the account passed to her estate and either start again with them or I get a new supplier.

Instead they claim I agreed to take on all credit and all debt from my wife? I’d told them any credit in my wife’s name needs to be sent to her estate and it only showed credit. I cannot agree to a debt that isn’t shown. I am not trying to dodge a bill as I am the sole beneficiary but I was her carer before she passed and I’m struggling to get back on my feet. All money is tied up in her estate. If the account was in debt they could have easily claimed it off the estate instead they have taken 9 months to do nothing then wipe all credit and claim a debt against me.
they have now decided to split the bill from my wife’s death and despite receiving direct debits for 2 months after her death they are billing me from the day after.
The original final bill total was at £500.48 for July 2023 to September 2025 (it appears they never produced a bill until August 2025)

The two payments made after death (£197.74) they are keeping claiming it goes to her account debt and are claiming she still owes                                 £139.81
And they have also billed me                                            £442.84
this increases the new total to                                          £582.63

Their explanation for the new higher charge is ‘because they changed names on the account’ and that can change the tariff? (even though both bills were produced in my name).

Additionally to support their billing they coincidentally were able to discover an ‘ACTUAL’ gas meter reading for the day of my wife’s death and the same reading was also recorded the day after despite the smart meter never working? 

According to google “ An actual meter reading is the recorded, exact measurement of your energy (gas or electricity) consumption taken directly from your meter at your property, either by a utility representative, yourself, or electronically via a smart meter.” So they managed to do this on two consecutive days just coincidentally they matched my wife date of death but they were not available until around ten months after those dates? Not to mention they have also removed previous electricity smart meter ‘actual’ readings and replaced them with estimates on the new bill. why?
The bill data is a mess and they have changed the data throughout. Some usage data has dropped but they’ve increased the unit price inflating the bill higher than previous.
During this whole time they have insisted on what I have said, that they were acting under my instruction and what I had previously agreed to. One conversation the call handler arrogantly said they had the transcript and started reading it to me. She quickly stopped and said “that’s not supposed to say that” I don’t know if she was thinking out loud, saying it to me or a colleague. Either way she refused to discuss it again.
we are now in deadlock and cannot see this being solved soon. The stress is unreal I think they have taken advantage of my grief and the account has been left in managed appropriately by them since it began. The reduction in direct debit was due to the amount of credit but it turns out they collected the payments but never took the money off the account because they’d never billed it. This has put me in a difficult financial situation because my wife pension etc it tied up in her estate until I don’t know when. It is purely down to British Gas’s incompetence that this bill has been allowed to generate and to top it off they’ve now decided to increase the fees from the original state out of nothing more than spite as well as removing all previously claimed discounts. 

I genuinely feel they have failed to be open, honest and transparent. They have tried to compensate for their failures by bombarding me with inconsistent data and billing as well as trying to gas light me. They at one point offered to give me £100 towards the bill if I agreed to say it was my responsibility? And again but this time claiming it was compensation for the stress caused but they still wanted me to accept the bill. Now they’ve increased the bill with no valid explanation I consider this as nothing but bully tactics.

dever33

You're not liable for her account unless you were a joint holder or agreed in writing to take it over. The moment you informed them of her passing, that account should have been frozen and handled through the estate. Keep every bit of communication and ask them for all account data under a GDPR request, it'll help when you go to the Ombudsman.