I haven’t paid for any gas for 3 years. How to get out of it?

[Gastheif]

I know I have been unreasonable, looking for advice.
had a smart meter fitted 3 years ago since then and despite the company sending out meter readers all bills I have received for gas say £0 usage.
I want to get out of this situation, ideally without having to pay it back and before the price hikes mean that I may have a debt I can’t even afford, also before government help starts.
if I switch supplier, do you think this will fix itself?
WWYD?

If I were you I'd just keep my mouth shut personally. If they've overlooked it maybe they'll never pick up on it, making you the luckiest person ever!!-& you can't be charged back past 12 months. I wouldn't flag it now as you'll have 12 months plus God knows what increase suddenly hitting you.

@cecilthehungryspider Brilliant, well done! :-)

Have they written to you @Gastheif ?

@Cansheblockitin No. I haven’t had any letters or emails.

Dd tried to register a place we have just bought with the local council yesterday for council tax. She was told to come back with the proper address.
there are 4 other flats on the block and they just said the door number doesn’t exist.
I am so done with trying to do peoples jobs for them in order for me to at a bill they can go whistle for their council tax.

I just don’t have the energy or time to walk them through their job.

They can't. If you look at Guardian money things, once it's over 12 months they lose the right to reclaim it.
That said, I think you are a little bit silly.

my mum has a flat with no apparent meter for 20 years. She asked initially, as she does have a gas supply, they didn't do anything about it and then she read about the rule of one year so has just left it. as an aside, I work in a support organisation and there are plenty of tenants who for various reasons would not understand that their bill is v low or even non existent, it isn't unusual to be oblivious to these things.

But you have however benefitted from the resource knowing full well there had been a mistake. That's the part I think you're going to struggle to explain when it does hit the fan.

They'll write it off and set up a new account. It's just happened to us. A new connection, a new meter, originally agreed on a dd. The app was always stuck as was the online site. I called every month. No change.
Then I spent 4 hrs on the phone and waiting. Finally, I understood the system was rejecting the account, gave them the meter number, etc. 3 months after I received a welcome notification.
The previous 18 months were written off.

I don’t think so. I explained to the meter reader the other week that we use gas. I don’t get a paper bill and pay a combined DD for gas and electric and it does include a standing charge for gas. There’s only me and DH and he showers at the gym so bills wouldn’t be very high anyway. I just didn’t notice 🤷‍♀️

Just had the meter reader again. He said your meter doesn’t look right, anyway it’s not my problem, smiled and left. 5.5 years and counting….

This is correct. We had an issue with meters and they could only charge for a year.

thanks @Kitkatfiend31 😊. I’m aware. Just thought I’d update as I started this thread in 2022

I definitely do feel the cold more though! You get used to a warm home very readily.

I got a nearly £13,000 bill for electric. That wasn't my fault, either!

Wow how did that happen?

I had forgotten about this thread! Our gas meter did eventually get fixed after DH got an electric car and an engineer had to come out to do something with the meter to make sure the car would charge overnight at a cheaper rate.

What seemed to be happening was that in the colder months, the meter didn't work but as soon as it got warmer again, it did. It was communicating over wifi to the energy company, telling them we were not using gas. Numbers on the meter were not changing. So in effect we were getting free gas October - March for 2 years.

I totally recognise the attitude from the company employees that the OP describes, they're not interested, not their problem, too difficult to sort out, no incentive to sort it out.

@Gastheif They put a new meter in. Unfortunately mixed them up & mine was put in an empty cottage further down the lane. They would NOT listen when I tried to tell them, until one day that bill arrived..

You didn’t end up paying though?

@Gastheif As far as I remember, they were only allowed to charge me for two years' worth of fuel. But you have to find these things out for yourself, they don't tell you! An energy charity paid a portion for me, & I paid the rest, but when I phoned to discuss, the young lad there told me they'd charged me for three years.. I said that's illegal.. but who would have listened? We know the law.. proving it is something else. The big firms (it was npower) can afford better lawyers than I.. best just to move on, it had caused me enough stress.

You cannot be asked to pay for anything more than 12 months ago, in situations where you have never been billed for it.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/what-do-if-you-get-back-bill

@WhereAreMyAirpods Things could have changed since then, or maybe I've remembered wrongly - but when you're IN that situation, it's difficult to be level headed & google everything - & as I said, they have much better lawyers!