Friend not paid gas bill in 3 years

[huggybear]

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were discussing bills when she casually dropped in that she hasn't paid her gas bill for 3 years! The story is she moved into her house 3 years ago and wrote to goodness knows who and said hello, please bill me. No one did... So she just left it. Other friend thinks it will be written off as it's the "company's fault". I think she will end up with a massive bill one day.

Anywhere I've ever moved in I've chosen my provider and given them a meter reading to set up my account.

Who is right?

I’m currently going through this with eon & edf! One says it’s with the other & vice Versa. Iv been in my house for 20 months & no bill from either company

We received 4 years of free electricity courtesy of NPower many years ago due to their complete failure (despite repeated requests) to work out which meter was ours (block of flats) and send us a bill.

Has happened to us twice!! 6 months in rented new build, never got a bill for the electric.

And in this house we didn’t get billed for gas for the first year. It’s a dual fuel account so we got a massive bill eventually... we’ve just finished paying it off (was spread over 3 years)

Why don't things like this ever happen to me? I wish my electric company would just lose me, but billing seems to be what they do best.

I know people who have had bills for 10s of thousands due to this sort of mix up. Its taken ages to sort out.

We had similar once, moved set up direct debit, turns out nothing taken for a year. I'd just had twins so wasn't really checking. We complained because we had registered and had proof of the direct debit arrangement. In the end we agreed to pay half the amount in installments.

When we moved into a house 22 years ago I got in touch with British gas (there was no one else back then) and they insisted the house had no gas supply, even though it did. The young man on the end of the phone quietly suggested we just enjoy our house and forget about it! Eventually they were persuaded and sent us a bill for "Business Gas"

My MIL managed to convince her water board there she shouldn't have to pay for drainage. Turns out when we came to sell her house that she really should have been paying, but had got away with it for about 20 years!

We got a letter a few months ago for what appeared to be a rental company at our address (we have been here 10 years) from Npower business for £1000s and £1000s owed. We sent it back not known here, for another letter, rang to say they had the wrong address. Then I can Home one day to a letter posted through the door (hand delivered ) from a bailiff saying they were going to cut our supply if we didn’t pay etc, bailiff came round and was very apologetic and said he could see it wasn’t a business address etc and he would report back, spoke to blower who said no way would the meter be able to be cut off as would be a different meter number etc. Anyway after several calls etc we ended up getting a check for £250 for our trouble. Literally a week after the cheque we got another bill!! DH rang up and we got another £100 sent to us! I’ve now decided they can keep sending bills as long as they keep sending cheques too!!

happened to me and massive bill eventually came

I had this when we bought our house - the previous owners closed their accounts but the electric/gas company kept supplying us but never sent us a bill. Finally caught up with us about 16 months later and we got a big bill for the outstanding amount, luckily I’d been putting some money aside each month for it just in case so it wasn’t a problem. I would advise your friend do the same!

We had this with British Gas in a new build, we chased frequently in the first 18 months, they insisted we weren't their customer etc. They realised at the five-ish year mark, back billed the lot but reduced that to the allowed 12 months when we complained. We complained again and they wrote off the lot. This was a few years ago.

I had a colleague in a new build who hadn't paid for gas for 12 years. That was ten years ago, I wonder if they've caught up with her?!

I used to live in a house separated into 3 apartments. I never paid gas (I was 19 and didn't care) turned out my neighbour was paying for all 3 of us

Happened to us. Moved in, called company to inform, waited for bill...didn’t arrive.
Eventually got a mammoth bill that we couldn’t pay and had to arrange to pay in instalments.

Your friend is being naive. They won’t write it off as their mistake and let her off for free. They will want their money and will take her to court to get it if that’s what it takes.Tell her to face it sooner rather than later. The cost will only get more.

This happened with my water bill.

Our house was originally the schools caretakers house and we bought it from the school. So the water bill used to be included with the schools water bill.

Took me ages to get it sorted because they just kept telling me that the house didn't exist.

I still had to pay every Penny and rightly so because I had used the water

We had a similar thing happen with Anglian Water. We moved in to our current home just over 5 years ago and told them the new meter reading etc,even had a letter back saying thanks for setting up the direct debit for it. Then a couple of months ago got a letter addressed to us saying that they didn't think anyone was using the utilities at the address for the water and they now think we are. It did say on the letter that they wouldn't be billing us but we needed to set up direct debit which my husband phoned up and did. It then got cancelled again,not by us. So he rang again and 🤞it's sorted now. Luckily we had kept all the paperwork.

I know someone who's never had a gas bill since they moved into their new build about 15 years ago.

If they haven't billed her then they can only charge for the past 12 months. If they have billed her - even if she doesn't think they have - then she will be liable for it all. She doesn't have a leg to stand on. My DP spends his working day chasing up people who think they can get away without paying their utilities bills. You can't outsmart it...people end up coming crying back that they can't afford it yet were happy to ignore it for as long as they could get away with it!

My Ex did this with gas and electric. He never got any bills or calls in till 18 months later...

He now has £3k debt to pay off.

This sounds so crazy to me. Years of no bills? The 22 years is astounding I wouldn't say anything, though, if she has tried to contact them. I would bank money to pay the 12 months worth they can legally backbill for, however.

It really isn't her fault how disorganised they are. But it just would never happen where I live (not in the UK).

When we moved into our new build neighbours talking about gas bills. I had nowt..called British gas .you don't have gas..eh yes I do.. they tell me .call Transco..they.supply all meters in Scotland

Called them.they said you don't have gas..only electric..I have a gas cooker..no you don't.they said ..i.do..

They told me there was gas at no 30 and at no.26 ..we are 28!
I said so if there is no meter there will never be any charges.. correct she says!!
That lasted till they read the meters..found my meter funnily enough

Same happened to me when I moved into this house 6 years ago. I tried to get send me a bill I tried to pay them, did end up with a backbill of a couple of years then when the 12 month thing came in they just stopped it and have paid normal payments since. In fact I’m currently in credit.

This happened with my water bill. Lo and behold a huge bill appeared on the doormat 18 months later 🙄

It is a flat which used to be one house which has probably confused things somewhat!

@Stardustmemories

Scottish Power are shocking. They were dreadful when |I moved, a catalogue of errors and a total lack of logic or simple maths.

I took them to the ombudsman, who sorted it out, I got £61 compensation - and in the meantime moved to a more sensible provider (though they also had problems with SP doing the move).

I'd raise an ombudsman complaint if I were you.

This happened to me with npower. I split from my husband and notified them. They refused to open an account for me. I was stuck in limbo. It took about a year to sort out. They recalculated the bill - gas only for approx £1,000.

I made an application to the Charis fund which paid the majority of it. Soooo if you get a huge energy bill and can’t afford to pay it look into the Charis fund.