I have had a very similar experience with the old bills that were in credit being wiped from the web & replaced with new ones that had me in debt by thousands!!!

You can imagine how many kittens I had. Followed by over 3 weeks of sleepless nights!!

Although I contacted BG staight away & they said it would be rectified that day the saga continued for over 3 weeks & I am still not through with them. I did luckily have a few old bills & could quote the meter readings on certain dates so that helped. I contacted energy watch who were on my side & happy to take up the complaint if they didnt change them back to the originals. Ok they havent put them back to the originals but I am back in credit. It is a long stressful process getting through on the phone or doing the online complaints, although they always said they would call me back that same day they never did.

Eventually someone did call out of the blue & apologised profusely but that doesnt take away the worry & stress you suffered. As you can imagine i'm not staying with them & they still havent sorted my final bills.

Give any readings you know for sure in your emails & mention good old energywatch so that they know you wont just roll over.

Things I have learnt:

Print every single bill & file.

Write down the name & number of whoever reads your meter, the readings & the date.

Also submit your own bills each month & keep reacord of this. The more info you give them the less room for imaginary numbers!

Never be complacent ever again!!!

Good luck in your quest!

Hi there,

From what periods does this bill cover you for? And does it show your meter reads on there? Do you still have the meter reads you took? Have you had the meter exchanged at any time, check on the bill that the meter serial number matches your meter serial number, usually displayed on the meter.

What I would do is contact the BG on the complaints number, what I have found is these people actually know what they are doing, and would go out of their way to help.

Hi KM.Carter,

Sorry to hear about your trouble with BG but honestly I am not suprised but I know thats not what you want to hear.

Firstly there are new rules concerning the back billing of accounts, and from 1st July 2007, energy companies are only allowed to back bill you for a period of 12 months. However this rule doesnt cover, i dont think and sure will be corrected (!) it covers they have to keep your statements for a period of 12 months, realistically as you get your bills quarterly, as you pay quarterly, you really should keep them yourselves (something I am sure you may be told from BG).

However I find it also strange that your past accounts have also been wiped from your internet account. I am with ScottishPower on their online account. You can see every statement ever sent you, whether estimated, then replaced with an amended statement based upon your own reading for over 18 months.

First thing first I would see if you have kept any of your invoices, clearly, they would have had a giroslip on them and you would have either detached those to pay, or paid online.

I would also explore the point of you mentioning you have been keeping your own readings, do those that you have taken reflect such a massive jump? or on a more common level, for example if you have an E7 meter which has two readings, day and night, have they in the past tranposed these readings, thus charging your day time usage at your night time price, as usually when this is realised and corrected the bills do leap up.

If you cant realistically get any answers to the above then I would contact their customer services again, and ask them for a statement of account, usually you may find this might be chargeable, but will give you a full breakdown of payments you have made against consumption and see if it matches up with your records. Ask to speak to a customer service manager or ask for their complaints proceedure and mention you intend to go to Energywatch, this usually *** the ears up of a customer service advisor.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on

My bill has a £500 difference!

I would like some advice please...

We started doing our own meter reading around 3-4 months ago after British Gas kept on estimating our bill. When we next received our bill (we pay quarterly) to our surprise we was £279 in CREDIT!!.

We was in credit on 1^st August this year. We have since now received a bill for £304.27! they are saying we have used £583.27 of electric in 19 days! Bare in mind we have been abroad for a week and work all day in a two bedroom house.

So British gas have told us that they have re billed our account and have no records of previous statements/bills (which have vanished from our online account). They have no records of us ever being £297 in credit.

They can not provided us with previous bills because when they re bill your account everything gets wiped, Do they not keep records for a year or two by law??