I’m 25 and studying for a PhD. Over Christmas 2024, I was away from my rented flat for three weeks and when I returned, my British Gas electricity bill was huge which didn’t make sense.
I contacted British Gas and it transpired that my flat was wired up to the meter of a different flat in the building.
I’d had been giving manual readings for an account that was not mine and paying for someone else’s energy. The neighbours were also getting bills for my usage.
Six months later, though, British Gas still hasn’t billed me correctly. This is despite me complaining to the Energy Ombudsman and it upholding my complaint.
British Gas previously said I owed more than £900 but now the figure is £630.83. I think I owe nothing, or very little.
I feel I’m being treated like a criminal and threatened with marks on my credit score, even though this wasn’t my fault. Can you help? K.N, Cardiff
Crossed wires: This reader and her neighbour were charged for each other’s energy use
Helen Crane, This is Money’s consumer champion, replies: With the memory of 2022’s energy price surge still fresh in our minds, not being in control of your own electric bill is a scary prospect.
As you only moved in last year, you have no idea when the meters were wrongly wired up.
This could have been going on for years and affected any number of previous residents, before your extended period away caused you to notice.
It’s also concerning that because of this mistake, your neighbours, who you didn’t know well, could see when you typically use energy through their account.
Both properties were on a smart meter, which allows minute-by-minute breakdown – though you didn’t have the corresponding in-home display when you moved in so you assumed you were on an old-style meter.
That data could let them know when you are likely to be at home or not, which could raise a security risk.
I have to say I admire your tenacity. You have spent months fighting British Gas on this, making a complaint to the Ombudsman and then appealing that complaint because, while it was upheld, you still didn’t think your bill was right.
This included painstakingly going through your meter readings and making calculations, so you could compare the bills you were being sent with what you thought you actually owed. And this is all at the same time as studying for a PhD.
This is quite the saga, so I won’t give the full catalogue of errors but will share some highlights – or rather, lowlights.
Firstly, British Gas said it wasn’t possible to swap yours and your neighbours’ usage records, even though you were both customers.
Instead, you were asked to take readings for seven days to determine what your bill should be for the past year.
This was in early January, and you raised concerns that this was one of the coldest weeks of the year.
British Gas said it would take this into account, but based on future bills you received, don’t think it did.
A year is the maximum amount of time for which energy companies can ‘back-bill’ a customer for, if they weren’t previously billed correctly for it.
You were then told your smart meter wasn’t working and an appointment was made to send someone to fix it, but this was subsequently cancelled as British Gas decided it was working, but that the readings were still being sent to the other flat’s account.
You then got a bill in early February, two weeks later than you were told it would arrive. However, this was for a period of more than a year which isn’t allowed.
You questioned this, then say British Gas cancelled the bill and promised to send another. This still hadn’t happened by 11 March, so you called again and made a complaint.
On 20 March, after eight weeks trying to resolve this, you opened a case with the Energy Ombudsman – a cumbersome in the middle of your PhD work.
On 8 April, you received a bill – but you say it appeared to still be charging you for some of your neighbour’s usage. You called British Gas, but it said it couldn’t speak to you as you had engaged the Ombudsman.
A couple of weeks later, the Ombudsman upheld your complaint, telling British Gas to do four things: apologise; make a £200 goodwill payment; back-bill you at a rate of 14.7 units per day, and amend your opening meter reading, from when you moved in, to 5185.
You wanted to speak to the Ombudsman to discuss this, before deciding whether to appeal. But before you could, you received a text from British Gas saying you had accepted the recommendation – which you had not – and your complaint was closed.
Unresolved: British Gas said it had re-billed K.N based on data from her meter, but she was still convinced it wasn’t right
The next day, you received a text from British Gas demanding a payment of £730. It said you could arrange a payment plan but this would mean a mark on your credit file.
You complained, and were given a further £100 compensation because this person had the wrong information.
In the end, British Gas did all of the things the Ombudsman asked, except from amending the starting reading. It said it would not do this, as you had by then decided to appeal the Ombudsman decision and things could change.
You still didn’t feel it was sorted. You still didn’t receive an accurate bill, and believed you were still being charged for more than 12 months.
You also felt the units-per-day reading was unfair, as it was taken in freezing January – and that British Gas still hadn’t addressed your concerns about your data security being breached by the mix-up.
This is when you contacted me. At this time, the amount British Gas was asking for was £630.83. You didn’t know how British Gas arrived at this figure, and said it wouldn’t explain.
You showed me the calculations you had run based on your own usage, and the unit rate on your bill, minus the payments you had already made.
You were convinced you owed £369.67, which minus the £300 in goodwill payments you had been promised, would leave you owing less than £70.
But when I asked British Gas to look into these, it said you owed £620.48 – and that was after taking off the money from the goodwill credits.
This was partly because of it had not changed the starting meter reading, but I thought it was still charging you for a period beyond what was allowed under back-billing.
Then, the Ombudsman came through with its decision. It said it had worked out exactly what you could be back-billed, based on your actual usage as recorded by the smart meter.
It also clarified the exact date before which you couldn’t be back-billed, which was in March 2024.
You recently received your final bill, which showed you owed British Gas £51.24. A huge difference from the £934 it initially claimed – and even less than your calculations which put it at about £70.
It seems you were right all along – and I’m glad you stuck firmly to your guns.
A spokesman for British Gas said: ‘We understand that this has been a frustrating time for K.N, which stemmed from the meter at her property being incorrectly registered.
‘Following her appeal to the Energy Ombudsman we have implemented the required actions, apologised to [her] for her experience, and have applied a gesture of goodwill to her account.’
As a student, you say you simply couldn’t afford to pay hundreds of pounds and felt you had no option but to keep complaining, and ultimately go to the Ombudsman and then to appeal.
However, that takes tenacity, and I really do applaud you for persevering.
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