After a week away at various conferences, I am now back for the next round of battles!
An email from British Gas reached me on October 2nd:
Thank you for your recent enquiry to Consumer Focus, which we received on 1 October 2009. The details of your enquiry have been passed to me to investigate.
You previously approached the Energy Supply Ombudsman and upon their recommendations you were under the impression that all your bills had been settled. After we carried out the final recommendations agreed by the Energy Supply Ombudsman you still do not feel this matter has been resolved.
I confirm that your gas and electricity accounts have been placed on hold whilst your enquiry raised by Consumer Focus is being investigated. I understand that you were under the impression that your gas bill up to 2 December 2008 was £673.51 after you received confirmation from two of our agents. In addition to this, the Energy Supply Ombudsman awarded you £125.00 to be credited to your gas bill, leaving £548.51 to pay. I confirm that we have received your payment for this amount.
As you requested copies of your bills, on 16 April 2009 we sent you a new gas bill covering your consumption from 10 May 2006 to 27 March 2009. I have looked at this bill and calculated how much of this bill was for gas used after 2 December 2008. I have attached a copy of this bill and highlighted (see red box) the gas charges between 2 December 2008 and 27 March 2009; please consider this excludes VAT.
Between 2 December 2008 and 27 March 2009 you used £245.75 (before VAT); as we charge VAT at 5% your charges for this period would be £258.04. As you were under the impression that a payment of £548.51 would cover your gas up to 2 December 2008 and you used a further £258.04 up to 27 March 2009 your outstanding balance would be £806.55 (excluding your payment).
Your bill dated 16 April 2009, shows an outstanding balance of £935.41. To resolve the problems you have had with your gas account I propose that we remove £128.86 from your gas bill dated 16 April 2009. This would leave your outstanding balance up to 27 March 2009 at £806.55, which consists of the amount you expected to pay up to 2 December 2008 and the further amount you used up to 27 March 2009.
After 27 March 2007, we sent you two further bills which I have also attached for your information. Your bill dated 31 May 2009 covers the gas you used between 28 March 2009 and 24 April 2009, the amount you consumed was £32.58. The second bill dated 29 September 2009 covers the gas used between 25 April 2009 and 29 September 2009 and amounts to £134.54. During the same period that these two bills cover you paid us £31.03 on 15 June 2009. A late payment charge of £14.00 was also added to your account on 4 June 2009 which I will be willing to remove as a goodwill gesture.
To summarise the above please refer to the details below,
Your outstanding gas balance used up to 2 December 2008 as advised by our agents: £673.51
Compensation payment awarded by Energy Supply Ombudsman: – £125.00
Gas Used from 2 December 2008 to 27 March 2009 (including VAT): + £258.04
Gas Used from 28 March 2009 to 24 April 2009 (including VAT): + £32.58
Payment received on 29 April 2009: – £548.51
Payment received on 15 June 2009: – £31.03
Gas Used from 25 April 2009 to 29 September 2009 (including VAT): + £101.96
———————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Outstanding Balance: £361.55
If you are satisfied with my calculations then I will add £142.86 (includes the £14.00 late payment charge) credit to your gas account to leave the outstanding balance at £361.55. Please can you contact me or reply to my email to confirm if you accept my offer? I am available on 0800 107 0184 from Tuesday to Friday 10.00am to 8.00pm.
I have also fully investigated your electricity account and I have also attached copies of your electricity bills demonstrating how your outstanding balance has accrued.
On 12 August 2006, your electricity account erroneously left us on a ‘final’ meter reading of 25186. It was not until 12 September 2007 that your electricity account was reopened due to a technical error with our systems.
Your new electricity account started on 12 September 2007 with the meter reading of 35333. Therefore, we did not charge you for any electricity used between 12 August 2006 and 12 September 2007. This also means that we did not charge you for the 10147 units between your meter readings on 12 August 2006 and 12 September 2007.
When we reopened your electricity account your first bill was sent on 8 December 2008 and has since been cancelled and replaced. Due to the delay in billing you for electricity, we added a credit to your account under the back billing guidelines of £350.57. In total, we have written £350.57 off your electricity bill and not charged you for 10147 units (over a year’s consumption).
To clarify what you have used and paid, please refer to the information below. Please consider that since January 2009 we have used estimated meter readings. To get a more up to date and accurate bill please provide me with an up to date electricity meter reading when you reply to this email or contact me.
Bill Dated: 25 March 2009
Billing Period: 14 August 2006 to 26 January 2009
Electricity Used: £1600.35
Payments received: – £282.53
Credit allowance: – £350.57
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Outstanding Balance: £967.25
Bill Dated: 26 August 2009
Billing Period: 27 January 2009 to 23 May 2009
Balance Carried Forward: £967.25
Electricity Used: + £82.71
Late Payment Charge: + £14.00
—————————————————————————————————
Outstanding Balance: £1063.96
Bill Dated: 27 August 2009
Billing Period: 24 May 2009 to 25 August 2009
Balance Carried Forward: £967.25
Electricity Used: + £1445.52
—————————————————————————————————
Outstanding Balance: £2509.48
By paying direct debit you can save up to £8.75 (including VAT) per quarter off your gas bill and £10.00 (including VAT) per quarter off your electricity bill. Over a year you could save up to £75.00 off your bills. We will also be able to spread your outstanding balances over a year.
I am sorry for the problems you have experienced with British Gas. This is not the experience we aim to provide our customers. Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention and for your continued co operation.
Yours sincerely
xxxxxxxxxxx
Customer Relations
Fascinating! Let’s look at some of the specifics:
The first thing that annoys me is the cheek of £14 late payment charge British Gas would like to raise against each of my accounts. How tempted am I to apply £14 inconvenience charge for every phone call I have had to make and every email I have had to write for them to deal with this case! British Gas agents get paid for all this admin; it’s their job. I, on the other hand, have had to invest all of my unpaid own time, in some cases take time off work, in order to deal with this mess. – In fact, I am so tempted, I might just go through my list of emails and write up an invoice of admin fees. I bet it would exceed any amounts that British Gas claim I owe them.
Also notice that this new agent comes up with a final gas total of £361.55. Can anyone explain to me why British Gas have been harrassing me for anything up to £419.48 over the past few weeks and months? Is this so that if I do pay them the £361.55 they can immediately send me a bill the following day claiming I owe them some more money? Remember that British Gas never issued me a bill that detailed exactly how they actually came up with the £402.45 total. All this aside, £361.55 is a completely new figure that has never featured in this saga before – the closest we got to this amount was a threat letter in May which demanded £386.90.
And of course none of the above (apart from the late payment charge of £14) matches up with the Estimated Invoice I was sent on the 29th Sep.
The agent’s reinterpretation of what happened to my electricity account makes interesting reading, too, and rather than clarifying matters, things appear as confused as ever:
On 12 August 2006, your electricity account erroneously left us on a ‘final’ meter reading of 25186. It was not until 12 September 2007 that your electricity account was reopened due to a technical error with our systems.
Ok, so what happened to the two invoices I have from Feb 2007, when I queried once again British Gas’s overestimates and provided new actual readings to them? If the ‘final’ was in August 06 and the account was only reinstated in September 07, the invoices I have here in front of me must be a figment of my imagination!
Your new electricity account started on 12 September 2007 with the meter reading of 35333.
I am intrigued where this new customer service agent gets the figure of 35333 from, because I have the 8th December 2008 invoice here that states a meter reading of 31292 on 26th Oct 2007.
Therefore, we did not charge you for any electricity used between 12 August 2006 and 12 September 2007. This also means that we did not charge you for the 10147 units between your meter readings on 12 August 2006 and 12 September 2007. [...] In total, we have written £350.57 off your electricity bill and not charged you for 10147 units (over a year’s consumption).
If this is the case, then that means that my annual consumption of electricity is less than £350.57, correct? This then raises the question why British Gas are trying to charge me £1445.52 for their billing period of 24 May 2009 to 25 August 2009. Could it possibly be that their figures are still incorrect?
Further, if 12 months worth of electricity have been written off, why does the period of 12th Aug 06 and 12 Sep 07 still feature on the breakdown in the form of an outstanding £967.25? What precisely is this amount for? Let’s remember that according to British Gas my annual consumption appears to be less than £350 (see above) and therefore £967.25 would cover around 2 years and 8 months worth of electricity. Something here does not add up!
Taking it even further, the sum of £1,600.35 over a period of 28 months that the agent quotes would work out as an electricity consumption of £57.16 per month, which is a completely ludicrous amount given my low-energy circumstances – especially when the agent confirms himself that my consumption is less than £350 a year , ie something closer to £29 per month.
Fascinating is also how all common sense is suspended in the bit of the billing breakdown where between 27th Jan 09 and 23rd May 2009 I am said to have used £82.71 and between the 24th May 09 and 25th August 09 I am supposed to have used £1,445.52. Here we have two similar time periods and no change in any electricity consumption in my home (in fact, I was away for a period in August where my home was empty!), so why the huge difference?
But of course the whole issue of sums for the electricity account is quite irrelevant anyway: British Gas gave it to me in writing that my account was paid off in full with the payment of £282.53 in January. British Gas did not challenge this when the Ombudsman acknowledged the account as paid in full in their March 2009 report.
Just one final thing to question:
Please consider that since January 2009 we have used estimated meter readings.
So what exactly happened to the various readings I provided over the telephone and by email since Jan 09 in the process of this long investigation?
