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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

British Gas backbill

103 replies

Ryderneedsus · 17/03/2022 11:21

I sold a house on the 18th of March 2021
We received a refund cheque of £30 in April 2021 for a credit on the electricity account.
On the 14th of March 2022 we were sent a bill for £667 for unpaid electricity.
British Gas are insisting we pay this. We have had no correspondence from them before this. It sounds wrong.

OP posts:
amusedbush · 17/03/2022 13:38

@mumwon

you get a single statement & dd if you pay for dual fuel with BG not 2 bills We have dual fuel (is it duel or dual???)
Dual.

A duel is a fight. Duel fuel would be much more entertaining, I guess Grin

Chely · 17/03/2022 13:39

DD's are normally separate for gas and electric. I would think they have sent other correspondence about this (may not have reached you) and not just sent a final demand through. You should either find the money to pay it or ask if they are willing to give you a payment plan with them to spread the cost. That much for 10 years is not a bad deal.

Trainbear · 17/03/2022 13:39

Contact citrus energy. They are not an energy company, they are a social enterprise charity set up as an advocacy to help people with gas and electric problems.

BarbaraofSeville · 17/03/2022 13:41

Surely you must have known what you were paying for?

Reading of one or two meters, statements, the amount you were paying.

It's a bit incredible to claim you lived in a property for a decade and not notice you weren't paying for any electricity.

If that really was the case, I'd quietly pay the £667 and celebrate your good fortunate about getting away with not paying the other 90% of what you used.

mumwon · 17/03/2022 13:43

(re duel dual it was a joke Grin !)

dementedpixie · 17/03/2022 13:47

@Chely

DD's are normally separate for gas and electric. I would think they have sent other correspondence about this (may not have reached you) and not just sent a final demand through. You should either find the money to pay it or ask if they are willing to give you a payment plan with them to spread the cost. That much for 10 years is not a bad deal.
I have never paid 2 separate direct debits for my gas and electricity. You pay 1 amount and then they are allocated to the 2 accounts by the provider
HopefulProcrastinator · 17/03/2022 13:47

Legally I'm not sure if you need to pay for a full year back bill from the date you ceased to be a customer or the date they identified that you hadn't been paying.

You really are better off getting expert advice like CAB because British Gas like most companies will escalate debt to as far down the recovery path as possible without justifiable reasons to stop.

Call British Gas and ask for a block to be placed on the account because you believe they've made a mistake which you need legal clarification on. The block will stop them registering your debt escalating down the recovery route for at least a little while whilst you get legally binding advice.

AndSoFinally · 17/03/2022 13:47

Were you sending meter readings for both gas and electricity for the 10 year period? If so, then the fault is with BG for failing to bill

Nicholethejewellery · 17/03/2022 13:48

They can bill for up to the past 12 months.

You should ask for proof of the start and end readings for the period that the bill is based on, plus the other readings between 2011 and now. They need to be able to demonstrate that the units they claim were used in the past 12 months are representative of the use over the entire period, otherwise they could just "estimate" you suddenly used more last year.

Years ago British Gas sent a couple a bill for £50k when a gas leak blew up their house. (They obviously didn't pay & BG drew back the bill in the end).

I remember the one where they sent a bill for thousands of pounds to a person killed in a gas leak explosion, addressing it to "Mrs S. Jones (Deceased)"!

dementedpixie · 17/03/2022 13:48

@Ryderneedsus

Just to clarify:
  1. We did not pay electricity for 10 years
  2. We did not know this. BG didn’t spot this
  3. We sent BG payments for Gas that we thought were for both.
  4. We sold the house on 18th March 2021.
  5. On March 14th 2022 BG have sent a demand for £677
  6. Do we have to pay this? Considering that they still have not issued a proper bill and the rules on back billing.
I am not interested in peoples view of if I should morally pay it. Does anyone know if I have to legally pay it?
Do you have utility statements showing both gas and electricity? How much was your payment?
Namechangehereandnow · 17/03/2022 13:52

I would ASSUME you have to legally pay it. I’m not sure why you’re quibbling if you’re getting away with 9 years free Confused

137765User · 17/03/2022 13:52

As others have said, there is a time limit on how far back they can charge you. This happened to us previously. They can only charge you for up to 12 months ago. They will not volunteer this info, look at the citizens advice website (I don't think I am allowed to post a link).

Choccorocco · 17/03/2022 13:52

Sorry I haven't read the thread. But I do know that you can only be billed for energy used in the last 12 months. www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/energy

Speak with the ombudsman about it.

Good luck!

Squeezita · 17/03/2022 13:54

READ THE THREAD PEOPLE. THEY ARE ONLY BILLING OP FOR THE LAST YEAR

mumwon · 17/03/2022 14:01

on-repeat we have dual fuel WITH British Gas we have one statement which shows separate amounts for gas & electric they work out how much we use for both parts & deduct a SINGLE amount monthly to pay for them (for years & years) the only time we have separate dd re british gas is the bill for a servicing for our boiler
out of interest op any idea how much your dd was?

Mamamia7962 · 17/03/2022 14:06

I still don't understand how the OP was unaware that she wasn't paying for the electric. Even with dual fuel you get one bill that will be broken down into gas and electric. So you would notice if the breakdown cost was just for gas only. Did you have paper bills in the last 10 years OP?

Gonnagetgoing · 17/03/2022 14:06

If they're only charging you for the last year and they made a mistake and haven't charged you for electricity for the past 10 years (but you assumed you'd paid it in a combined bill) then I think I'd probably pay the bill you just got. But query it with Citizen's Advice too etc.

Gonnagetgoing · 17/03/2022 14:07

@Mamamia7962

I still don't understand how the OP was unaware that she wasn't paying for the electric. Even with dual fuel you get one bill that will be broken down into gas and electric. So you would notice if the breakdown cost was just for gas only. Did you have paper bills in the last 10 years OP?
@Mamamia7962 - agreed - can't recall who I saw had this - but think it was an older relative who needed help paying bills and yes it's broken down into 2 bits for gas and electric. They had paper bills and it would be on electronic e-bills too.
dementedpixie · 17/03/2022 14:08

I'd still want to see some proof that they hadn't billed me for electricity. Do you have any statements showing a breakdown of gas/electricity? We need more info

Calennig · 17/03/2022 14:12

I have never paid 2 separate direct debits for my gas and electricity. You pay 1 amount and then they are allocated to the 2 accounts by the provider

Same for us - but it should say on the bill - or even on-line account what went to each bit.

www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules - you need to read through the back dating bills to see if you need to pay 12 months they want off you OP.

Original poster
Ryderneedsus · 17/03/2022 14:12

So if I can only be billed for the last 12 months they can only charge me for a week maximum?

For everyone else, no I didn’t realise I wasn’t paying for electric. Yes I have checked and I was only paying for gas. I would rather have paid all along. I just care about the legality and I will not count myself lucky to be landed with an unexpected bill of £677.

OP posts:
Unsureaboutit9 · 17/03/2022 14:14

I don’t understand why you would think you can legally not pay it. It’s your electricity bill, for electric that you used, so yes you legally have to pay the bill! Have you got copies of your old bills? It’s always a break down, and given that you’ll have provided meter readings I can’t see how it’s happened that nither you or they noticed you hadn’t paid for electric for 10 years.

mumwon · 17/03/2022 14:14

if your hard up can't you request to pay it off monthly?

Calennig · 17/03/2022 14:17

I don’t understand why you would think you can legally not pay it.

They can't back bill beyond a certain point - I suspect it to stop companies not billing correctly in the first place.

www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules

Contact your supplier if you get a bill for energy usage that’s for more than a year ago.

Explain that you understand you are protected by the back-billing rules. You should only be charged for up to your last 12 months' energy use if you haven’t had an accurate bill in over a year.

Original poster
Ryderneedsus · 17/03/2022 14:18

@Unsureaboutit9 because of the back billing rules I would rather not pay it if legally I don’t have to.

@mumwon I would rather not pay it at all if legally I don’t have to.

OP posts:
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