British gas back billing advice

rommy · 12 October 2019 at 2:02PM

Good afternoon,

I need advice about my energy billing. I moved into a new build apartment 2 years ago. As part of moving in my developer took the final meter reading which they were going to provide to British Gas.

Since than I never received any bills from British gas and I never came around to setup my energy with new supplier.

Now today I have received welcome letter from British gas stating my gas and eoectricity accounts even though I never signed up with them. They also have my move in date to June 17 with both meter readings to zero. So it seems my developer have not supplied final readings when I moved in even though the supplies were already in use. It was 500 units on Electricity and about 100 unit on gas meter.

More importantly British Gas have put me on an expensive tarriff and I am worried I will have to pay 2 years bill on the current most expensive tarriff. I know its partially fault and I should have chased for my bill. But now I am in this situation.

I am willing to pay for my correct usage minus the initial reading at sensible unit price. What is the best option for me to solve this issue?The tarriff on BG letter has 19p per unit price for electricity which seems fairly high for me.

I would appreciate any advice on this matter. Thank you very much.

thorganby · 12 October 2019 at 2:40PM

It was your responsibility when you moved in to inform BG of the meter readings immediately at that time.

You have done nothing for two years and they have finally caught up with you, what did you expect them to do?

They have assumed that the meters read zero and as you did not provide the meter readings when you moved in, that is your fault.

Unfortunately you will be on the deemed standard tariff, their highest rate and you can't now demand that you should be charged on a "sensible" less expensive tariff.

An expensive mistake to make due to ignorance but you obviously have to pay, as you have not requested to be moved to a more competitive tariff.

Learn from your mistake and move on!

notbritishgas · 12 October 2019 at 2:59PM

Agree with above. You should have contacted BG when you moved in with your meter readings. They would have set up an account in your name and you could have requested a cheaper tariff than the deemed standard one, then everything would have been ok.

The back billing rule only applies if you have made an effort to get a bill, so I think you will have to pay. Ask if you can have a payment plan.

rommy · 12 October 2019 at 3:15PM

Thank you guys.

The letter states that I have 14 days to decide if the tarriff is not right for me so it does seem I can perhaps choose a different tarriff.

I will get in touch with them shortly to discuss this. Just wanted to get more information before making any contact with BG

polysia · 12 October 2019 at 4:42PM

rommy wrote: »

Thank you guys.

The letter states that I have 14 days to decide if the tarriff is not right for me so it does seem I can perhaps choose a different tarriff.

I will get in touch with them shortly to discuss this. Just wanted to get more information before making any contact with BG

I think you have as long as you like to decide if the tarriff is not right for you; there are no tie ins with any supplier's default tariff

Are you sure the 14 days does not relate to the price reduction due to the price cap that came in at the start of this month? Perhaps they were trying to offer you a chance to remain on their high priced tariff even longer?

rommy · 12 October 2019 at 5:58PM

polysia wrote: »

I think you have as long as you like to decide if the tarriff is not right for you; there are no tie ins with any supplier's default tariff

Are you sure the 14 days does not relate to the price reduction due to the price cap that came in at the start of this month? Perhaps they were trying to offer you a chance to remain on their high priced tariff even longer?

But I think the new tarrif will apply to new energy conumption only. What I have used in last two years will be charged at the most expensive tarrif?

spiro · 13 October 2019 at 7:45AM

rommy wrote: »

But I think the new tarrif will apply to new energy conumption only. What I have used in last two years will be charged at the most expensive tarrif?

Yes, it will be the cost going forward. As others have said you failed to make any attempt to contact your energy supplier when you moved in, it is your obligation to contact them not the other way round.

Cardew · 13 October 2019 at 9:45AM

You need to appreciate that British Gas - or any other supplier - are not aware your apartment even exists; unless they have been informed by the developer or yourself.

In fact I am rather surprised that the developer did not have an account with British gas for the whole block of flats and the 'common parts'. They would have used gas and electricity before owners or tenants moved in to their apartments.

Do you not have a management company? If you do it may be worth contacting them or the developer. Have you checked what the situation is with other flats. My experience of management companies is that they will do as little as possible whilst charging as much as possible.

Notwithstanding the above, you were clearly at fault for not attempting to sort out the problem.

rommy · 13 October 2019 at 10:01AM

Cardew wrote: »

You need to appreciate that British Gas - or any other supplier - are not aware your apartment even exists; unless they have been informed by the developer or yourself.

In fact I am rather surprised that the developer did not have an account with British gas for the whole block of flats and the 'common parts'. They would have used gas and electricity before owners or tenants moved in to their apartments.

Do you not have a management company? If you do it may be worth contacting them or the developer. Have you checked what the situation is with other flats. My experience of management companies is that they will do as little as possible whilst charging as much as possible.

Notwithstanding the above, you were clearly at fault for not attempting to sort out the problem.

Well that is not true. Its new build apartment and I was aware that the developer had a account with BG from very first day. Thats what my developers told me when they came to my apartment to take the final reading and I was told I will receive letter soon from BG with new account details. I was also in contact with BG to install Hive which they did and also asked them to install a smart meter in my apartment. BG refused my smart meter request saying the account for my property is under my developer name and they need to close it first before they can action request of new smart meter. Again that was in 2017.

Even the letter I have received form them yesterday have my full name and address details including the move in details so they must have received them from my developer and from my initial contact with them.

Talldave · 13 October 2019 at 10:02AM

It was your responsibility to supply the readings when you moved in. Do you have any record of them at all? E.g paperwork from developer, photos taken on move in day? If not, that's going to cost you about £150. However that'll pale into insignificance compared to 2 years on an expensive tariff.

Humility could be the appropriate route here, be honest with them that it's your fault you're in this situation and is there any chance of a compromise to get the last two years use at a rate that won't be so painful?

If you don't have any evidence of start readings could they perhaps see what start values similar properties occupied around the same time used?

Cardew · 13 October 2019 at 11:11AM

rommy wrote: »

Well that is not true. Its new build apartment and I was aware that the developer had a account with BG from very first day. Thats what my developers told me when they came to my apartment to take the final reading and I was told I will receive letter soon from BG with new account details. I was also in contact with BG to install Hive which they did and also asked them to install a smart meter in my apartment. BG refused my smart meter request saying the account for my property is under my developer name and they need to close it first before they can action request of new smart meter. Again that was in 2017.

Even the letter I have received form them yesterday have my full name and address details including the move in details so they must have received them from my developer and from my initial contact with them.

You should have put that information in your initial post.

In which case I would write to BG and attempt to invoke the 12 month back-billing provision. See rules here:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/who-contact-if-its-difficult-paying-energy-bills/energy-backbilling-guide-your-rights

Get the developers/management agent involved if possible.

British gas back billing advice

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free