British Gas requesting repayment of a refund they gave

pringle35

I had a dual fuel fixed rate deal until June 2025 when I switched providers. In December 2025 I received an email from British Gas with a final bill stating I was in credit by £1482.55 and they duly refunded this. I have now received an email from them stating that my final bill shows I am in debit by £1598.87 and are requesting payment by 20th April.

I do not have this money to hand to repay this so how do I stand with this. It has been a big shock as I believed the statement in December that I had built up this credit and duly used the money. Can the force me to refund this?

TroubledTarts

They can force you to pay the amount due for the energy you used.

How does the readings on your bill match your readings from your meter

MWT

I would start by determining if the original bill or the new bill is correct…

If the new bill is correct then a lot is going to depend on how the Ombudsman reacts if you challenge it, as historically they will mostly rule that money paid to the supplier can be used to cover charges regardless of the back-billing rules, and similarly any refund given can be reversed.

Keep_pedalling

if they made a mistake yes they can make you repay the amount you owe them but if that is actually the case they should offer you a repayment plan rather than paying it all offf at once.

QrizB

I would start by determining if the original bill or the new bill is correct…

I think this is the important place to start. Look at your old bill and the new one, and compare them both to the meter readings you gave during your time with BG and the readings your new supplier used when opening your account.

WiserMiser

Make sure that the end date of the old supplier is the same as the start date for BG.

Make sure that the final meter reading(s) used by the old supplier are the same as the opening meter reading(s) used by BG (BG has had form in getting these wrong).

Note that there may be some variance betwen the readings on the bill and the readings given by you, a smart meter or a meter reader. That doesn't matter, providing the losing and opening readings are exactly the same.

Are the most recent readings estimated? If so, send new readings tonight and request a revised bill.

Finally, if the meters are not wholly within your property, do the Meter Sanity Test.

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