Not paying gas bill, how long do I let it rumble on for?

[Champagneforeveryone]

We moved 3 months ago into a new build property, advised that both gas and electricity are with British Gas.

I dutifully contacted them, they ran a little assessment to determine how much we should pay monthly, DD's set up and off we went. At the time they did say there wasn't a gas meter on site, I said there was and passed meter numbers and appropriate readings and didn't think anymore of it.

The first billing date arrived and they took the electric but not the gas payments. I contacted them and they said that our switch had been declined by our previous supplier. I explained again that this is a new build and supplied meter numbers again, to no avail.

We're now 3 months in and I've spent several hours on various calls and live chat functions with absolutely zero success. Nobody seems able to grasp the problem and they just keep repeating that there is no gas meter present and we are not British Gas customers.

Now while I'm happy not to pay gas, morally I know I owe it. Is it enough to just stick money into an account until the day they demand it, or should I be doing more to sort it out (even when you consider it's absolutely not my problem)? I'm concerned they may decide to switch us to a pre-payment meter or something once they twig there's a problem. I also have a job where good conduct is very important. I'm sure I could satisfactorily prove I hadn't deliberately set out not to pay, but it's a hassle I could really do without.

OTOH I have records of all the calls / live chats so would it be terribly wrong to just leave them to sort it in their own sweet time?

British Gas were my supplier to my new build 2 years ago. They also denied being my supplier for gas. I never paid the bill for it. I switched suppliers 2 months later. And Iv never heard anything about it. They denied being the whole street’s supplier and I think it took them 3/4 months to sort everyone else out.

Morally you don't owe BG, if they don't recognise you as a customer, they're not buying gas for you or paying rates to the grid for you so you're not costing them anything. Legally you probably do though, so I'd keep the money aside in case it's asked for.

If you do want to chase it it might be worth trying xoserve on 0870 608 1524, they can't deal with your BG account but might be able to tell you why the meter number isn't being recognised (they manage the database of meters amongst other things).

Just keep the money aside and wait until they eventually bill you, I wouldn't waste anymore of your precious time with BG, as long as you are willing to pay when the time comes it will be fine, you can't pay a bill if they don't give you one and you have given all the information they need.

As DancingRabbit says it would be worth checking with the meter database people though

We had a similar situation with Thames water in a rented house-never did get a bill!!

BG helpfully gave us the number for XOServe and told us to deal with it ourselves 🙄. Nobody has ever answered the phone and frankly I lost my patience with it after a few hours.

My hairdresser was actually telling me about a neighbour who has a similar situation with the water board crikey. He says it's been 10 years now and she's eventually given up. Seems it's more common than you'd imagine.

I would send one final letter (snail mail) and keep putting the money aside then forget about it until they get in touch.

I had a similar situation with the water company in a new build. Never did get a bill despite multiple phone calls.

We had a similar situation in a new build we rented. Managed to register for electricity, but not gas or water. Despite submitting meter numbers, looking up water pipes etc. and calling several times.
We stayed there a year and never paid (was around 2008). There were also issues with post and stuff so I have a feeling that the flats were not properly registered! Could it be something like that?

You've told them. Keep a record of this, along with a year's worth of gas payments. They can only charge you for the past twelve months once they catch up with you.

As long as you've done what you can and you've not prevented them from accessing the meter etc., I'd keep quiet from now on.

Thanks all 🙂

Realistically there's nothing I can do as everyone I speak to seems to be in a call centre reading off a prepared reply. The very act of somebody demanding to pay them money doesn't seem to be covered in their call scripts!

We were assessed as needing to pay £50 a month but obviously have absolutely no clue if that's correct or not. I suppose we just wait and see <shrug>

Try switching supplier?

I had a similar problem with SSE. I wrote to their CEO, pointing out that I hadn't been billed for a year and their customer services manager was now refusing to speak to me because I was being so unreasonable as ask for a bill.

What I was really trying to avoid was a £5k bill when they did finally get their act together.

I said I'd give him a week to reply and then hand it over to my solicitor. Got sorted the following day. 😀

Look up the CEO or CMO online and send a really scathing letter.

I could mintjulia but it's really not my job to be chasing them up.

Im happy to put the money aside and I suppose if I take monthly meter readings I'll be able to tell roughly if it will be enough to cover any potential bill. Although, I don't think they can bill me because I'm currently using an unregistered meter and have no record of the initial reading 🙄