No gas bill for 5 years

[pelham9]

Newbuild again!! I have written this post for gas supplies only but electric supplies are just the same.

 

First thing to do is to ring National Grid. Have ready your correct postal address and your meter number. Ask them who supplies your property and ask for the MPAN number.

 

It is fairly likely they will have a problem with the address! Less likely but not rare is incorrectly recorded meter numbers and this can be a very real problem in apartment blocks. If they have your correct address on their database ask them when they changed it from the plot address.

 

(Do the same for electricity but make a separate call. You are looking for errrors before they correct them.)

 

When a builder wants a gas supply for a property he first contacts a distributer - usually National Grid. The distributer owns all the pipework up to and including the meter. If it possible to supply gas to the property National grid fits the pipework and the meter. NG sit in offices so they use agents to fit the pipework etc. If the builder has the correct qualifications it is common for NG to use him as an agent to do the work. The builder gives the address of the property and the meter number. NG records this on their computer database and gives the meter an MPAN number. Then it is up to the builder to choose a supplier - the utility who reads the meter and bills and expects payment - in your case ?Scottish gas. The builder will supply the address and the meter number to the supplier who will contact NG to tell them they are supplying and then commence billing the builder.

 

Fine so far but how can it all go wrong?

 

Address.

 

The address on NG's and the supplier's data base is that given by the builder and to start with it will be a 'plot number' address used by the builder to identify the property. At some time usually before the property is sold the Royal Mail get into the act and give the property a full postal address and this may be completely different from the builder's address.

 

Meter number.

 

Not surprisingly the builder who has fitted the meter somtimes makes errors when giving this information to NG.

 

NG do not seem to make any checks (nor do the suppliers) so it is quite possible that everything goes wrong thereafter and the utilities do not appear to have the systems in place to pick up these problems.

 

In your case you would have given Scottish Power your postal addrees. They only have the plot number address so they cant find you. They may have asked you for your meter number or MPAN number but it is unlikely you had these to hand so nothing happened . No change when you rang again later.

 

The rest of your story can be explained by a meter numbering problem as well as the address problem. The obvious solution is for NG and the suppliers to make checks of the correct address and meter numbers on-site but they say that 'we cannot do this'. There may be problems all over the estate particularly if there are apartment blocks.

 

It needs sorting -but that is their problem not yours. If you do ring them make sure they have the correct address meter and MPAN numbers and that these are correct on the bill i.e. is a bill for your property. No harm in setting up an account if all these are correct but do not let them apply incorrect information to the account. You may not have to pay for any gas that you have used since moving in !!

 

Are the meter readings on the bill estimated? Are they consistent with your actual meter reading?

[pelham9]

Newbuilds are covered by the billing code.

 

Ringing NG is crucial as what you will have to pay depends on whether or not there is a MPAN number for your meter.

 

No MPAN number will mean that you only pay from thr date you set up the account. This unlikely as SG and NG will likely have got their story straight by now. In this case NG makes the loss.

 

If their is a MPAN number then the billing code will apply and SG will be the loser of all but the year before the bill.

 

Check your bill

 

 

a) Is it for the correct meter? The meter number must be on your bill. They appear not to have taken a meter reading fom the correct meter for five years. If this is the case you will not even have to pay the year that they have billed.

 

b) Is the first meter reading on your bill also estimated? This is very likely as though you have had a meter reader that was before the start of this bill and there was a problem then ? correct meter. That will mean that the year's usage is a complete guess and should be challenged.

 

 

c) SG or is it BG? You have used both.

[pelham9]

Gas industry regulators.

 

National Grid: UK Gas Distribution

 

The first time you rang NG you were told that nobody supplied your address.

 

The second time you rang you were told that the pipes were put in by XOserve who were therefore the distributor and incidentally would not answer your queries. These people laying pipes and independent distributors!?? Until 01/05/2005 thery were a department of NG! At that time amongst other functions they took over the databases of the other distribitors to make one central reference database. You can access this by ringing them on a O870 number - not exactly what you were told.

 

Having read the above references do you not smell a damage limitation exercise going on. If you were not registered with NG then NG would lose the cost of the gas you have and will use until you do register correctly. If SG can recover for five+ years nobody loses. If SG can recover 1+ years (billing code) then NG only loses 4 years gas. Either way collusion between NG and SG means that something is recovered. You have NGs first reponse and I would be sure that this is correct - you were not registered at that time. NG would have used XoServe's database. So your second contact is fantasy and you are being conned. It is alleged that the suppliers are at loggerheads but these people will talk to the devil where money is concerned. Remember that when you first contacted SG they siad they had no record of you -when did they suddenly find you -I would suggest just before the first bill otherwise you would have been billed sooner.

 

You ask what you should do about the £800 of which you have paid £100. The first thing to do is to cancel your direct debit mandate at your bank. Otherwise it is quite likely you will find they will take the whole £700 from your bank account in one go which could be embarrassing for you.

 

If you agree that the £700 owing is correct then ask them for a reasonable instalment plan paid by standing order. Even if you feel you should not pay anything (as I do) you may be heartily sick of all this and take the line of least resistance and pay up.

 

Otherwise keep investigating.

 

You have never stated whether the start reading given on the bill they have sent you is an estimate. If so the whole bill is a total guestimate. They realise that they are supplying you and send a first bill at that time -on what do they base their figures?

 

Should you inform them that you have been in the house 5 years? No what good will that do? The 4 years they have not billed you for is not recoverable so why provoke a possible bill for the whole five years. The fact that they have not billed you until now proves to me that you were not registered. It would be interesting to find out who they consider was living in your house during the four years that they think you were not.

 

One of your problems is that your communication both with NG and SG has been by phone which can be denied. Why not get proper evidence by writing to them and refusing to talk on the phone?