the evil electricity company vs the Scouts....

[HattiFattner]

Hello Legal Eagles, Im hoping you can advise....

We have a very old dilapidated scout hut. Many many many years ago (10+) it had some gas heating or water heating facilities. Now we prefer to serve our scouting chilled to keep bills down. We are in a poor area. We play lots of robust games to keep them warm and use electric heaters when necessary.

This month we have received a bill from British Gas for "standing charges" allegedly for "the rental of a gas meter" - which will cost us £31 a quarter.

Small money I know, but that equates to an extra quid per child, at a time many can ill afford the subs as it is.

My legal question is this....can the gas company suddenly start charging for something that they have not charged for previously? They have also stated that they will charge us the equavalent of 1 year's rental to take out the meter.

I wondered if there is something , like in employment contracts, where there is a presumption of certain terms if things have been done a certain way for long enough. I dont know if this applies to business "contracts" as well.

We do have a friendly barrister in our group, but I thought Id ask you all before making a twit of myself in front of the lovely Mr X (QC)

Many thanks.

And Boo Hiss to the baddies at British Gas.

Erm, don't you mean Gas company in your thread title?

butterfly (former Akela, so empathy)

I do. I am a muppet! Yes...GAS company.

HAve you tried ringing Gilwell and asking for their advice ? They have legal department there.

Gilwell legal....hmmmmm.....having dealt with them over a lease issue (still to be resolved) , we would rather not go there in the first instance!

What about your Regional Development Officer then?

RDO? No idea who that would be. SHall ask the DC.

In the meantime, would still be interested in knowing our legal position - as the treasurer says "At least Dick Turpin wore a mask"

You should be able to move to a tariff with no standing charge. Legally, they are entitled to change their terms from time to time so 'established custom or practice' which is what you are looking for as a legal concept is not going to help you negotiate a tariff going forward. You are lucky they haven't sent you a bill for the last 10 years!

Boo hiss too by the way.

bloke at British Gas yesterday told me that if a person or organisation used BG as their supplier then they have to be using a minimum of £200 a year in gas, so if you aren't using this then it seems like they are trying to recoup costs from you. I suppose it's a bit like BT- you have to pay the line rental even if you make no calls

Not sure if he was correct about the £200 minimum though as I'm sure we don't pay that (gas used to heating water only)

I am no gas expert but meters can be 'capped' to prevent any gas following from the pipes into appliances.

If you do not use any gas at all, and the meter is capped I personally would argue that they cannot charge you a standing charge or charge you to remove the meter. If they want to do the latter it should be at their own cost.

Good luck.

Also it might be worth shopping about, as other suppiers may not charge you in these circumstances, so all you'd have to do is swap to a new supplier, then carry on as normal.