How long do utility companies need to keep billing/account records for?

ElwoodBlues

How long do the utility companies need to keep billing and customer account records for? I was expecting them to go back at least 6 years, if not longer for current customers. My supplier (one of the big ones) has just admitted that they don't have any records from longer than about 2 years ago, which shocked me.

The background:

I'm currently in a dispute with my energy supplier. I was £1000 in credit last autumn, so I asked for a refund of it. They effectively replied with "hold my beer", and then promptly trashed my billing history, replacing 4 years worth of fairly accurate bills with a complete work of fantasy - every reading from 2021 to 2023 has been replaced with an estimate, and they've thrown away the opening meter reading and made up their own that's a lot lower (120,000 kwh lower). They've also freshly introduced a 'dummy meter exchange' to my history, dated 2023, effectively rewinding my meter readings by another 60,000 kwh of usage. And then freshly created billing history for the entire 5 years with estimated readings throughout. So now my credit balance has magically turned into a £7000 debt.

Supplier has been totally uncooperative in dealing with this - they didn't even provide me with these new bills or made up meter readings, it's only come to light because I complained to the ombudsman, and the supplier submitted these new bills as their 'evidence'.

Anyway, nothing makes sense on my account history any more, so I did a Subject Access Request to see if there was more information that they had kept from me. That came back a couple of weeks ago with a whole load of information, some expected, and some nuggets of missing detail along the way (including 5 attempts at manual billing that a so badly wrong it's difficult to believe - one of them had meter reading in m3, yet my meter is imperial, another said I'd used 75,000 kwh gas in 4 weeks). But all the account history they produced for the SAR only goes back as far as the end of 2023. They've been my supplier since 2021, so I asked them for the rest of it. Their response is that they can't provide that as it's on their old system which is no longer accessible.

Their lack of historic information goes some way to explaining how they've managed to make such a mess of my account (although why they think they can just recreate a fictitious billing history to replace it years later is beyond my comprehension).

But I would have thought companies were supposed to keep records for longer than this, for tax/vat/hmrc accounting purposes if nothing else?

TroubledTarts

As I understand it the minimum is 12 months, no rules for them to keep them any longer but many will.

They can however chase customers for money fgoing back 6 years so you would expect most to keep 6 years worth of data but that's not what Ofgem mandates.

WiserMiser

Sounds like BG…

Scot_39

Is the two year boundary related to a supplier who has moved accounting systems - and so thats the live system access on new system only (for you and normal customer services).

It seems unlikely they wont have access to old data archives - and the fact their going back to 2021 - suggests you have opened that can of worms up nicely.

QrizB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82019159#Comment_82019159

Agreed. BG changed billing systems around that time and we had lots of threads where they'd messed up transferring meter readings from the old system to the new.

Which sounds exactly the sort of thing that happened to the OP in their original thread, and which they are still trying to sort out:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6651791/credit-balance-refund-and-billing-mistakes

OP if you can confirm this is BG, and that this all dates to 2023-ish when they changed data systems, we can point you to some of the many other threads on the subject which might be helpful in your discussions with the Ombudsman.

brianposter

Our electricity supplier in Spain did this when we found an obvious fault with their metering system - simply invented a new set of meter readings.

There seem two be two possible approaches to sorting things out. First possibility (1) is to insist that accurate records are required and it is up to your energy supplier to access the old records which they obviously can do if pushed hard enough. The second possibility (2) is to demonstrate that your supplier hasn"t a clue and that you will do the calculation for them.

The latter possibility will probably go down better in court than with the ombudsman so it might be appropriate to start with 1 and if necessary move to 2.

ElwoodBlues

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82019202#Comment_82019202

It's EDF. Who did also change billing systems in 2023. My original bills were broadly correct from 2021 to 2023, and not too far off since. But a credit balance has accumulated on my account, and it's since I've asked for it to be refunded that they've decided to rebill to wipe out the credit. It's everything from their old system which they claim to no longer have access. They don't even appear to have copies of the old bills that they sent out before 2023. Luckily for me, I do, although I haven't had to play that hand yet.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82019277#Comment_82019277

How "obviously they can do" is it though? They've literally guessed at my entire billing history pre 2023. I've done a Subject Access Request and they didn't supply anything pre 2023 (even though I specifically asked for records going back to when they started my supply in 2021). I've then gone back to their SAR team and pointed out that they haven't supplied prior to 2023 and their response is that they can't. I've raised a complaint with the ombudsman about my billing irregularities and EDF have only supplied evidence from 2023 onwards despite recently rebilling me manually back to 2021. So it seems pretty clear that either they're being deliberately evasive (which isn't in their interest in my case), or that they can't practically access historic data from their old billing system. I suspect it's for business/commercial reasons - the old billing system has been decommissioned, and whilst they hold an archive of the data, they can't access it without handing a suitcase full of cash to SAP.

brianposter

As you suggest finding the old records may well be expensive and inconvenient but that is EDF"s problem.

It actually sounds as if you put forward a good case for reclaiming your credit that would be OK with a court and possibly with the ombudsman.