Scottish Gas keep forgetting to bill me

[physicsgraduate]

Hi, I recently moved to a new address and as soon as I moved in I registered with Scottish Gas. They sent me a bill for the electricity for £2 and £0 for the gas, so I set up a payment on the internet. So they have a record that I registered with them as living here.

 

However since then around 2 months have passed without me receiving any more bills, and I think they are supposed to bill me monthly. Instead they keep sending demands for the previous tenant who has an outstanding debt with them, and I send the letters back saying not known at this address.

 

My question is, bearing in mind I have contacted them and have a record of paying at least 1 bill, if they continue to fail to bill me (so far they have failed to bill me for 2 monthly periods) am I therefore no longer liable to pay them for those periods?

 

A similar thing has happened to my aunt, she has consistently contacted them to say she lives there and they forgot to bill her, and every time they forget to bill her, so she has her heating on full 24 hours now for free!

[nottslad]

If this situation continued for over 12 months, then you would be protected by the Billing Code; an energy supplier cannot back-bill for a period of more than 12 months.

 

It could be that they have set your account to be billed quarterly, which is quite often the case, and you will receive a bill in the next month or so. I would suggest that you set aside money to pay for the bill when it does arrive to protect yourself from any nasty surprises.

 

Also your aunt is playing a dangerous game; she could well find herself receiving a bill covering a whole 12 month period