British Gas

[jockness]

We were having billing problems in 2006, with our summer bill, recieved in September, totalling almost £800. As we live in a two bedroom bungalow and are both out at work all day, we challenged the amount and weeks went by where I had to take meter readings daily. It was never sorted, and so we tried to change suppliers, but were told we couldn't until the bill was paid.
Then, in December 2006, we recieved a welcome letter from Atlantic, who we were switching to. Our first bill from them was over £700, but we paid it as we thought it was a remnant of the British Gas fiasco and wanted rid of them. Now however, we have recieved another bill from British Gas, in January 2008, demanding we pay the full amount or they will take us to court! Am I right in believing we must have settled with them in order for us to switch to another supplier? And isn't there a law which states that we can only be pursued for one year after a bill is issued?
Your advice would be welcome!

[Clare_L]

First thing is to check to see if the bill was estimated? Did you get a final bill from British Gas? If so, what reading did they bill you too? Did Atlantic start billing you from that reading?

What you are refering to is the Billing Code. This wouldnt apply in your case as they had billed you. The only time they cant bill beyond a year is if they had never billed you at all whether it was a reading by a meter reader or an estimated bill.

Clare

[jockness]

There was so much confusion around that time - we had a meter change, which threw up errors over billing as we were having to deal with old readings and new, and we also had a new boiler fitted and were monitoring it's performance. The one thing which Atlantic have confirmed is that we shouldn't have been able to transfer to them unless all bills had been settled with British Gas. It is all rather confusing!