Back billing/Inaccurate bills British Gas

ibrox1

Vulnerable customer who joined British Gas 28 October 2022 with supply ending 19 February 2025 and have smart meter.

Early 2023 raised concerns with supplier because bills being produced using estimated readings.

Supplier insisted I owed £1400 and placed me on a £325 monthly payment plan(nearly doubling previous payments) and an additional circa £25 on a debt repayment plan.

I took case to ombudsman and on 6 November 2023 ombudsman instructed supplier to rebill using actual readings.Supplier indicated they were receiving meter readings from both Gas and Electric meters.The bill showed I was in credit by £1800 after deducting amount from debt recovery plan.

During 2024 my credit increased to £3,500 and on 8 July 2024 refunded me £2,000 wanted to reduce my monthly payment from £325 to £15 which I declined and instead settled on a monthly payment of £110.55?which supplier indicated was sufficient for my usage.

2024 I was concerned as still getting billed on estimates so another formal complaint followed by a second Ombudsman complaint on 14 September 2024.During complaints process supplier indicated that:

Supplier gave the date of 7 August 2024 as METER VALIDATED nearly 2 years after supply started.On 8 October 2024 supplier again admitted incorrect estimated billing had been used and now rectified.Billing is now aligned and correct and we are also receiving your smart meter readings and will bill on this going forward .The Ombudsman case finalised 31 December 2024.

So disenchanted with British Gas I switched from them to Octopus 19 February 2025.On 4 April 2025 British Gas sent me a letter indicating a penalty of £40 on them for late billing and I was in credit.

On 3 November 2025 9 months after supply ended British Gas issued a final bill for £3,406.70 which was for updating billing from estimated to actual readings.

I submitted a third formal complaint asking the bill to be reviewed under Ofgem back billing rules and inaccurate billing.

Around 16 December 2025 British Gas revealed that they did not have any ACTUAL meter readings until supply ended on 19 February 2025 when I switched supplier.This means all my bills were estimated for the entire period of supply.

I then submitted a third complaint to Ombudsman in January 2026.

The Ombudsman ruled on 20 March 2026 :

Apply back billing to remove any unsought charges prior to 3 November 2024( which ties in with Ofgem back billing rules cannot issue catch up longer than 12 months prior to issue of bill).

However British Gas issued a bill covering period 28 October 2022 to 19 February 2025 with a back billing adjustment built in.All payments including those after 3 November 2024 have been according to them already been deducted from the resulting bill.

Ombudsman has accepted that bill.

I spoke to Ombudsman and asked him for the back billing calculation which applied to the bill.

The calculation bore no resemblance to the final bill which said

New charges £5308.36

Payments 28 October 2022 to 3 November 2024 £3442.16

Back billing £1866.20.

I also received a payment transaction history from supplier which showed payment of £4,722.49 and excludes substantial credits.My bank statements support this figure which Ombudsman had.

Went back to Ombudsman citing material factual error in calculation but Ombudsman simply shut down case.

Asked British Gas for a reconciliation of my account but they refuse to engage citing Ombudsman accepted bill.Supplier now threatening referral to debt recovery agency. I am now contacting Citizens Advice.

I believe I am only liable for charges 3 November 2024 to 19 February 2025 and payments during that period should be deducted from bill.

During the evidence stage the supplier made further admissions:

That contemporaneous billing displayed actual on face of bills but was estimates.

The supplier admitted their error with non validation of meter generated Data Communication Company readings sending out bills labelled invalid billing non billable.

Appreciate any help particularly about back billing.

After

TroubledTarts

Have you go the following information

• Meter readings for both gas and electricity for the start 28 October 2022 with supply ending 19 February 2025
• Evidence of all the money you have paid and all monies refunded
• Based on the above what is the difference on energy used and price paid
• Do you know what tariffs you were on throughout your time with British Gas

If you have this information there are people here that can help confirm you are correct and how much you owe or vice versa if British Gas owe you money.

Can you afford the final bill and pay this under protest, this means you do not agree with the bill but paying it to stop further action. This will be key if you take British Gas to court.

QrizB

Around 16 December 2025 British Gas revealed that they did not have any ACTUAL meter readings until supply ended on 19 February 2025 when I switched supplier.This means all my bills were estimated for the entire period of supply.

Not wanting to let BG off the hook (their billing systems are famously bad) but did you, the customer, take your own meter readings and check them against your bills at any stage during the two and a half years you were with them?

If you did take readings, do you have records of them?

ibrox1

Thanks to gpman, troubled tarts and qrixb for reply and will reply individually.

gpman.

Apologies for my post being so unclear but there was sadly a lot of information I felt I had to impart.

Firstly ,the EO was provided with evidence relating to every point I raised.

Estimated readings.

I had a smart meter for entire period of supply and expected the supplier to obtain actual readings from the smart meter. This is especially true when I made several complaints to British Gas about estimated billing as I needed to get accurate billing for budgetary purposes as an OAP. Also ,the Ombudsman was advised at the initial Ombudsman complaint on 6 November 2023 that they were receiving meter readings from both meters.

Critically, from evidence in the final ombudsman complaint the reason that my billing was estimated for the period of supply from 28 October 2022 to 19 February 2025 was that the supplier failed to validate my meter until 7 August 2024. In summary meter readings existed but the supplier failed to use them for billing purposes. Even when the meter was validated they still did not bill on actual meter readings and the only bill I received with accurate readings was on 3 November 2025 which was 9 months after I left British Gas.

You asked whether I took my own meter readings and the answer is no as I live with my wife and both of us are disabled OAP`s and the meter is in an inaccessible place in the house. You also mentioned why I was at the Ombudsman which was simply it was alleged I was £1400 in arrears, placed on a debt repayment plan and supplier started taking £665 monthly from my bank account which was unaffordable.

Ombudsman Decision- Back Billing

My understanding of back billing as indicated on Ofgem website indicates;

You do not have to pay for energy you used more than 12 months ago if;

• You never had an accurate bill for it before
• You have not been told to pay through a statement before.
• Your direct debit amount was previously set too low.

Exceptions is where the customer acted unreasonably by stopping supplier billing accurately including blocking access, ignoring requests for payment, stealing gas or electricity.

In my case I was never accurately billed, and supplier admitted in evidence contemporaneous billing displayed as actual reads on face of bills while estimated. In essence i never received any accurate bill during period of supply.

Also Back Billing (Standard Licence Condition 21BA)

Energy suppliers are generally barred from back billing customers for energy used more than 12 months ago if the supplier was at fault for not billing correctly. The rule still applies even if you received a bill previously that the supplier later admits was inaccurate.

My position is that the EO decision required the removal of unsought charges supplier before 3 November 2024 in accordance with back billing protection as per Ofgem rules.The supplier accepted during the EO process that the BB rules apply according to when the new charges were raised ( 3 November 2025) rather than when previous bills had existed. In essence the bill I received was correcting historic billing errors rather than issuing accurate contemporaneous billing.

Grateful if you could clarify why I would be liable for any charges prior to 3 November 2024.

Troubled tarts

Do I have meter read for Gas and Electric 28 October 2022 to 19 February 2025.I`m afraid I don`t but interestingly the supplier confirmed only had 1 actual meter read on 19 February 2025 when I switched supplier. However, the supplier has introduced an opening meter read, and previous supplier went into liquidation.

I do have evidence of all I have paid through bank statements.

The difference energy used is substantial .The BB calculation 28 October 2022 to 3 November 2024.

New unit charges £5308.36

Minus any payments in the period £3442.16

BB to be applied £1866.20

My bank statements supported by supplier payment transaction history indicates £4722.49 which excludes good will from Ombudsman Complaint 1 of £100 and Government Energy Support Scheme Payments 2022/2023 minimally £201.

In essence this disparity is a gas issue and the revised bill indicates kWh 9.786p per kWh and a series of recalculations for different dates.

Pay bill under protest. I sent an email to supplier indicating I was willing to discuss an interim payment arrangement solely to avoid collection activity while the dispute is being resolved, without admission that the balance claimed is correct, legally recoverable, or accepted by me. No response from supplier.

qrizb

No meter readings as disabled Oap and meter inaccessible.

QrizB

Thanks for taking the time to reply, and sorry if we seemed to pry but sometimes the extra details are helpful.

Regarding meter readings, do you have a working in-home display (IHD, the little screen that shows you your energy use)? Most of these will provide you with a meter reading if you can find the right part of the menus. This won't help with your dispute with BG but might be useful in future, eg. If you switch again and need to provide handover readings to your new supplier.

(The IHD will only usually provide the total meter reading, so if you have Economy 7 electricity or similar where there are two or more separate readings for high and low rate it's less useful.)

WiserMiser

Anyone unwise or unfortunate enough to be with British Gas should insist on getting paper bills. If something goes wrong they'll wipe out all the previous bills and re-issue a single new bill starting from scratch.

Without any history, that can make it very difficult to resolve issues.

That certainly was the case under the old system, and I doubt that the new one is any better.

ibrox1

troubledtarts

I managed to find out the tariff used for the bills from 28 October 2022 to 19 February 2025.

It was standard variable direct debit.

The final energy bill accepted by EO below.

Previous balance 25 February 2026 -£4192.01

Total energy costs - £1307.85

Other adjustments + 3305.15

Payments nil

Vat at 5% - £65.39

Your Final balance on 28 March 2026 -£2260.12.

Subsequently supplier deducted £250 goodwill arising from Ombudsman Case 3.

Included inside bill is back billing figure of £1866.20

Balance I am left with £2010.12.

I am at a loss to understand how this correlates to BB calculation of New Charges of £5308.36 and the substantial discrepancy of payments 28 October 2022 to 3 November 2024 of £3442.16 against a proven payment figure of $4722.49 excluding credits.

ibrox1

gpman.

Thanks for your comments.

Firstly the charges contained in my bill derived from a position of £4192.01 were never previously charged and I never received a bill during my period of supply from 28 October 2022 to 19 November 2025.

This is recognised in the EO decision to remove any unsought charges prior to 3 November 2024.

An obligation of the supplier is to provide accurate contemporaneous bills which never occurred.On multiple occasions the supplier confirmed was receiving smart meter data and billing was aligned and accurate.

The supplier stated on 10 October 2024 to the EO in evidence that my account was £151.85 in credit at that date .

Clearly I was not billed in a timely manner or accurately through their own system errors.

Interestingly when I moved to the new supplier they were given an AQ from British Gas that was more than double gas usage I consumed annually after leaving them which meant my new supplier wanted £700+ as a monthly payment.

As you say the BB rules are there and are a penalty on suppliers to bill who do not bill timeously.

Surely if the supplier has not billed accurately for the entire period of supply.

The actual contemporaneous billing was fundamentally flawed as not only was it estimated but displayed as actual on the face of bills.There was also differing bills for the same time period.

Their position is exacerbated by repeatedly telling the Ombudsman they were receiving readings from my Smartmeter and billing said to be aligned as correct and in credit.

As I understand the principle behind back billing is to prevent suppliers historically doing this and issuing huge catch up bills as happened with my account.The bill has never previously accounted for.

That is exactly what the supplier has done.

QrizB

A question for the OP: you've since switched to Octopus. Are Octopus now getting accurate automatic readings from your smart meter? Have you checked your Octopus bills?

ibrox1

QrizB

Yes Octopus from the onset received accurate automatic readings from my Smartmeter.No issues with Octopus bills.

I did encounter initial issues with the amount of money in monthly payments they requested as British Gas had given them an inaccurate Annual Quantity reading for Gas consumption more than double my real consumption. This was easily resolved.

ibrox1

To put it simply the bills I received could not be considered sought billing under Ofgem Licence Conditions. The EO instructed the removal of unsought charges prior to 3 November 2024.

Even the supplier indicated in evidence “the back billing rules apply to when the new charges were raised not whether earlier bills existed.Back billing may be eligible in this case,as the revised bill dated 3 November 2025 includes charges before 3 November 2024.”

The circumstances of the billing with the supplier not validating meters for nearly 2 years triggered dcc reads and bills being marked billing/non billable.Due to systematic billing error meant estimated billing was used predominantly for entire period of supply. Added to billing displayed actual on face of bills when the billing was estimated.Suppliers are obligated to bill accurately.

Correspondingly the bills cannot be considered sought billing and therefore charges should be removed in accordance with the Ombudsman decision and critically Ofgem back billing rules.

The £1400 bill you refer to was at the very start of the process and was the product of estimated billing as outlined.In short I was placed on a debt repayment plan based on estimated billing not accurate or actual billing.So there were bills but in the context of the billing dispute irrelevant in the sense of applying back billing rules.

And remember the supplier kept indicating during the period of supply that there were receiving readings from the meter and billing was correct and accurate,and a credit situation applied.

Hope this helps but feel free to post again if anything unclear.