can British Gas disconnect me?

[pelham9]

The Indian call centre operative in their debt collection wing threatened me with (a) experian and (b) having my gas supply cut off.

 

If this was done whilst you were negotiating a payment plan this was an unfair practice.

 

If after a plan was negotiated it is nuts and shows that BG have still not got their internal communications sorted.

 

They can off course threaten disconnection if you are not paying but a warrant of entry for disconnection etc must be heard by a magistrate, If you turn up in court to defend the application wil be withdrawn. They are only interested in getting easy warrants by default - which means that no defence case has been offered. The idea that applications will always be granted by the court stems form the fact that very few customers actually turn up to court so default warrants are the routine (dealt with at the rate of 40-60 an hour!!!).

 

Why the mega bill? - if you look into this you may well have grounds to dispute it. e.g. Estimated bills sent for more than 2 years. No bill sent for longer than one year. Poor or no monitoring of a direct debit plan. Have you checked the bill fully and compared it to your own meter reading and meter number

[pelham9]

Trouble with that approach Nottslad is that they have vacated the flat!

 

Seems to me that there was a meter reading given to BG at the beginnung of the tenancy because the OP arranged a supply with BG (blank meter??? does he mean 0 most unlikely) so his bill must have based on actual readings by the OP.

 

MOZZ1

 

How big was the 'megabill'? Does it seem reasonable to you? Maybe there are reasons that it is large - for instance an old neter reading in cubic feet but charged in cubic meters.(around 9x larger bill) Are you sure that the first bill was not based on an estimate of your start reading. What does a blank meter mean?

 

BG can only disconnect gas for arrears if you are actually in residence so that guy in India was talking double nonsense.

[pelham9]

You are dead right about the litigant in person thing. DJs hate lay people turning up to defend themselves and the solicitors who send their clerks along to get repos, CCJs, warrants, injunctions etc also hate litigants in person at the district courts.

 

You have got your courts mixed.

 

Warrants for entry to disconnect are heard in the magistrate courts. These courts set aside a short session (about 20 mins) to deal with applications from one utility. There may be 30 to 50 applications "heard" at these sessions and default warrants are simply rubber stamped by the magistrate. If you turn up to defend this cosy system is not possible so the application is withdrawn and the utility will try something else.

[pelham9]

Depending on the property and occupation these amounts are not excessiive. Certainly they are too low for a mis- conversion of a cubic foot meter. If this had been the case the bills would have been 27x higher than expected - my 9x factor in my previous post was an error.

[pelham9]

Steve

 

Of course you are right that one of the other things a warrant officer can do is to leave the application in but withdraw it fom the rubberstamp session and request a later hearing. That could happen but not often.

 

My experience is that warrant officers are not properly briefed - they know this - and cannot possibly present a case at one of these default sessions should there be by chance time enough to hear a case properly. To be on the safe side they withdraw the application from the session. When they then investigate the case (the defendant is present) with a proper hearing in mind they most often find very good reasons not to proceed.

 

The very high frequency of default warrants (i.e. undefended) has encouraged utilities to think that poorly prepared ( sometimes completely mistaken) cases will do and their customers to think that granting of warrants is automatic. Most of the cases on these forums are complicated and applications will be withdrawn totally if the customer is present to defend - there is little possibility of actually going into court at that time.

[pelham9]

turning up at court can be the right thing to do.

 

Turning up in court is nearly always the right thing to do. Unless you know that the arrears are completely fair, that the repayment schedule is semsible for you, that you are not classified as vulnerable and that the utility is putting a fair case how can you let them get away with a default warrant?

[pelham9]

turning up at court can be the right thing to do.

 

Turning up in court is nearly always the right thing to do. Unless you know that the arrears are completely fair, that the repayment schedule is semsible for you, that you are not classified as vulnerable and that the utility is putting a fair case how can you let them get away with a default warrant?