British Gas cheeky bill!

[SendHelp999]

Hi all

Just moved to a new home and previous tenant was with Octopus. Or what I thought. So I signed up with them and they're so far so good. It's still early days but their prices seems somewhat reasonable not That I really understand it all.

I received a bill from British Gas to "
The occupier" charging me £797 from a date way before I moved in til 23/08!

I can't get hold of the fuckers to tell them I'm not paying and I've gone with someone else. Can I just ignore it? What do I do with it?

Hi op, I had this from a different energy supplier when I moved house -addressed 'to the occupier' for a period before and after I lived there.

Firstly, write to the energy supplier (keep a dated copy) saying you have a received a letter to this address, but nobody living here has an agreement with British gas.

In my case the energy supplier went under and the 'debt' was passed to a debt collection agency, who sent a couple of threatening letters. I responded with a 'prove it' letter - I found a template online. The onus is on them to prove that you personally entered into a contract which has resulted in this debt before they can take any action to collect it.
Since sending the prove it letter I have heard nothing further, and it's been over a year.

Debt is with people, not buildings. They may have record that there is a debt associated with your house from somewhere along the line and so are trying to chase it up, but the person is not you so they have lost their debtor but that's not your problem.

Do not ignore this. They will pass it to the debt collectors who'll harass you over and over again.

We had to escalate things when this happened to us. They saw our tenancy agreement dates- which was evidence that the bill wasn't for us. And they still harassed us.

In the end, I had to threaten to call the police on the basis that I had supplied evidence to both British Gas & their debt collectors that my tenancy didn't run during the unpaid bill duration.

I asked for email confirmation once the case was closed as I knew it would get resurrected again. The debt collectors reopened the case 3 times - thankfully I had that email from British Gas to confirm I wasn't responsible for the previous tenants bill and eventually it went away.

It was the most stressful time of my life. They were so so so nasty.

I received a similar letter from a debt collection agency for British Gas. I contacted them via their website with all the info they gave on the letter and informed them I didn't live there then. They emailed to confirm I wasn't liable and it was the last I'd hear. Can you use a British Gas contact form online?

Thanks everyone it's all very helpful I'm going to call them. Such a pain in the ass to sit on hold for god knows how long

I don't even have an account with them irs been addressed to the occupier I've got a gas/electric account with Octopus?!

I moved in on 6th august and notified octopus straight away does this make any difference?

Were meter readings taken the day you moved in?

Are there meter readings on the back of the bill?

On the bill it looks like most of the amount was owed before May, so could the previous occupant have moved out without paying a bill? Hopefully meter readings will confirm this, and you will have readings from on or just after you moved in and BG will know to chase the previous occupant for anything earlier than that, although it could be a pain to sort out.

But it's not 'cheeky' as such. They don't necessarily know the previous occupant has moved on and it's not like anyone is just going to pay a bill they're not liable for, so it's not like they're trying to trick you into doing so.