Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

[SXGuy]

Hi guys, wonder if someone can give me some advice regarding a friend of mine.

Some background history first.

My friend telephoned british gas a few months back and advised that he could no longer afford to pay a direct debit of £145 per month.

He currently owes them 2k because the original direct debit wasnt covering the usage. (they lowered his DD last year when he was paying to much and had not increased it since to cover the future shortfall)

The guy on the phone suggested he cancel the direct debt for 1 month, and reinstate it the following month. At which point they will discuss paying off and reducing his payments.

My friend did this and after the following month, reinstated the direct debit, British gas imformed him the direct debit would now be £240 per month, to which is said, i can not pay this each month so you cant.

They then suggested they enter the communial part of his flats and replace his meter with a charge key meter instead, my friend said, i dont want that type of meter, i just want to reduce my payments.

They kept insisting this was the only option.

We come to now, where my friend this month has received a warrant to enter the property using the 1954 Utilities Act.

According to my friend, he spoke to the court which issued this warrant, and they basically said they issue them like confetti.

He wishes to know if theres anyway he can get this warrant cancelled because he believes, that they have not made any attempt to allow him to repay the money he owes which he wouldnt have owed had they increased hes DD sooner when he could have afforded it, and he also believes that wanting to replace the meter is not a valid reason to obtain a Warrant.

Any help would be great?

EDIT: i should also note he has until the 31st July to get the warrant cancelled before they gain entry.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

I'll ask Paul to pop in - he might know

[SXGuy]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

Thanks Niddy

[SA Gold]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

This isn't going to help your friend unfortunately but thought i would mention it anyhow. Get a Horlicks and a biscuit ready

I lived in a flat about 8 years ago with a communal entrance and it was common for post getting jumbled up.
On a spring clean a cupboard literally full of letters addressed to the occupier of my flat were found. Prior to this i saw the odd one come through but ignored them as there was no Gas in the property and assumed it was mail shot crap.

I called them up to explain that i was living there and to stop writing to the address as there was no Gas in the property. All they wanted was my name which i refused. I explained i had moved in to the property which has no Gas and eventually had to hang up on them as they wanted my name.

A few months later there was a knock on the door. I answered it to a Policeman, British Gas Representative and a locksmith who said they were permitted to enter the property to remove the Gas meter. I smiled and said i could have saved you the hassle of coming here if your company would have listened but go ahead and take a look because there is no Gas meter.

They all walked in looked around and left. We all saw the funny side of it, but wonder what on earth goes on in these utility companies. Apparently the Flat originally had a Gas supply but the original occupier ran up a massive bill and legged it!

[SaltnVinegar]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

Hi guys, wonder if someone can give me some advice regarding a friend of mine.

Some background history first.

My friend telephoned british gas a few months back and advised that he could no longer afford to pay a direct debit of £145 per month.

He currently owes them 2k because the original direct debit wasnt covering the usage. (they lowered his DD last year when he was paying to much and had not increased it since to cover the future shortfall)

The guy on the phone suggested he cancel the direct debt for 1 month, and reinstate it the following month. At which point they will discuss paying off and reducing his payments.

My friend did this and after the following month, reinstated the direct debit, British gas imformed him the direct debit would now be £240 per month, to which is said, i can not pay this each month so you cant.

They then suggested they enter the communial part of his flats and replace his meter with a charge key meter instead, my friend said, i dont want that type of meter, i just want to reduce my payments.

They kept insisting this was the only option.

We come to now, where my friend this month has received a warrant to enter the property using the 1954 Utilities Act.

According to my friend, he spoke to the court which issued this warrant, and they basically said they issue them like confetti.

He wishes to know if theres anyway he can get this warrant cancelled because he believes, that they have not made any attempt to allow him to repay the money he owes which he wouldnt have owed had they increased hes DD sooner when he could have afforded it, and he also believes that wanting to replace the meter is not a valid reason to obtain a Warrant.

Any help would be great?

EDIT: i should also note he has until the 31st July to get the warrant cancelled before they gain entry.

When was the last time your friend received a bill from British Gas?

Did they ever go more than 12 months without receiving a bill?

[SXGuy]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

No i dont think he did, but i will double check.

Its always hard relaying via 3rd party as some info may be slightly wrong.

But from what hes told me so far, it appears as though, originally he had a direct debit set up to pay the same amount each month, at some point last year they reduced the payment as he was paying to much, or rather not using as much.

Since then, at what point i dont know, the direct debit payments became to little, and subsequently, they increased the payments to £145 per month, this was for energy used plus repayment of the now arrears of 2k, as a result of not increasing the direct debit back in line or indeed because they lowered it to begin with.

Hes now at a point where he can not afford £145 per month, and because of some bad advise i feel, was made to cancel the direct debit, then reinstate it a month later, before they would help to reduce his payments.

He has no objection to repaying the arrears, but cant afford to repay £240 per month which is what they are now asking him to do since following their instruction to cancel the one for £120.

Hes asked if they will lower the amount hes paying, and they have since said no, the only option is to pay off the 2k, and install a payment meter.

He doesnt want a payment meter as he feels its more expensive in the long term, and because hes refused this, and they have refused any other help, they have since obtained this warrant to gain entry and replace the meter.

He feels the warrant has been obtained so they can force him on to a payment meter, not because he owes them money, which is probably what warrants are issued for.

[Paul.]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

I honestly do not know what the best option is here.

It seems to me the most apt option would be to have a pre payment meter if he is in arrears. I dont think he can really oppose them changing the meter if he cannot afford to pay for what he is using.

[SXGuy]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

Thanks Paul. I do see your point, i guess he feels frustrated because he wouldnt have had an arrears had they not lowered his DD.

And now he cant afford to repay the arrears they have come in all guns blazing.

[Spent2much]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

a pre-payment meter will take 10-15 pounds a week on top of the gas he is using to pay off the arrears, they want the meter in as they know the arrears will get paid no matter what happens, because you have to top up the gas card . I know this because when we were only bringing 40 quid a week from the business we were behind in our payments and they fitted a meter and were paying back 15 quid a week, its a lot of money to pay out and we often went cold during the winter just because we were paying back the gas debt .

[SXGuy]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

Its crazy, I know my ultilities company keep trying to lower our direct debit from £45 to £35, but when we do the math, we can see that we will be short in the winter, at which point they will have to raise it again (or not and leave a shortfall) so my wife keeps changing it back to £45 so it covers the winter months.

[Spent2much]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

I think getting a bill and paying what you have used is the best way and the old way, paying by direct debit is a big con they bribe you into paying this way by telling you they will knock so much off your yearly bill just so you pay them monthly and they get your money sitting in their bank and you pay in advance.

[SaltnVinegar]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

The reason I was asking about the bills was because if memory serves if BG have not provided a bill in 12 months they are only allowed to bill you for 12 months in arrears.

Therefore if they have issued a bill for more than 12 months usage then its possible your friend may find their balance is incorrect, hence the dd amount will also be incorrect.

Worth checking out....

[SXGuy]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

thanks SnV I will speak with him today and find out.

[SaltnVinegar]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

thanks SnV I will speak with him today and find out.

No problem. Have a look here on more info for your friends rights.

10 things you didn’t know you’re entitled to from your energy firm Consumer Focus

Also - British Gas should NOT install a pre-payment meter if your friend is unable to "physically unable to get to a payment outlet".

Therefore if your friend needs to find out where their nearest payment outlet is, and if it is an unreasonable distance, or if they are physically unable to get to it for whatever reason they can argue this.

Unfortunately now BG have got the warrant they will probably do what they like but fingers crossed we can do something if they haven't been billed in 12 months.

Best
SnV

[garlok]

Re: Help with British Gas illegally obtaining a warrent to enter

The reason I was asking about the bills was because if memory serves if BG have not provided a bill in 12 months they are only allowed to bill you for 12 months in arrears.

Therefore if they have issued a bill for more than 12 months usage then its possible your friend may find their balance is incorrect, hence the dd amount will also be incorrect.

Worth checking out....

It is worth checking out. As far as I know the utilities companies MUST read physically once a year with an accredited member of their own staff. It lies somewhere in the bowels of the Statutes which allowed publicly owned utilities boards to be sold and privatised, in the vain hope of course that most of us would not know its there. However British Gas are a nightmare of ineptitude and incompetence. We have always had a quarterly bill regardless of what incentives they have offered to go DD.

When my aged mother (in her nineties) died we discovered that she had been paying British Gas for her electricity (no gas supply to the sheltered accommodation she was in) as well as paying for her electricity to the electricity company. This was because there was a communal entrance and a "meter" room for all the units. They just read the lot and billed everyone in the units whether they had a contract or not. My mother had been paying this all on DD for about five years when we examined her papers. We put up a load of flak and brouhaha. BG's answer was that the "Banks get away with it why shouldn't we?" It was only under the direst of threats of legal Armageddon and exposure in the tabloid press that they capitulated in the end and they repaid the estate based on the figures we provided from her bills.

BG are pretty dreadful people and we monitor our own meter on a monthly basis, do the calculations and then tell them a week before the bill arrives what we are going to pay. This then forces them to justify any increase they may want to make to the bill enabling a challenge if necessary.

regards
G