Bl@@dy British Gas

[thehouseofmirth]

We've lived in our house for almost 2 years and up until recently paid our gas bill by direct debit. I had a dispute with BG because they continued to take DD out of my bank account for our previous address which took 18 months to resolve and so I cancelled all DD to them and paid the quarterly bills as I didn't want them having access to my bank account. The other day a man came to read the meter for the first time since we moved in and they've sent me a bill for over £500! We can't pay this (last bill was £135 and we were paying £40 per month on DD before I cancelled it). Is there anything I can do? Help!

not if it has been estimated bills up to this point i'm afraid.

No - I had the exact same problem and argued it left right and centre. I was only told about the excessive amount when I decided to change providers otherwise who knows what the figure would have been. I was told by their customer services that I should have been told on several occasions that my direct debit was not meeting my usage (it always had and no new appliances etc) but there was nothing on my account to say Id been told so their fault. Still had it to pay. Always worth mentioning to their governing body - is it energywatch ?

No - I had the exact same problem and argued it left right and centre. I was only told about the excessive amount when I decided to change providers otherwise who knows what the figure would have been. I was told by their customer services that I should have been told on several occasions that my direct debit was not meeting my usage (it always had and no new appliances etc) but there was nothing on my account to say Id been told so their fault. Still had it to pay. Always worth mentioning to their governing body - is it energywatch ?

but it does say on the bills that if it is an estimate you should give them a meter reading to make sure you are paying enough, doesn't it?

am sure you can ask them to spread it out over a year or so