Hello

I've recently discovered that my grandmother, who is 85, is in arrears on her gas account. On investigation, it turns out that for well over a year she has only been paying £5 per month for gas. During this time she has obviously been using more gas than that, however she's not completely aware of what's going on, unfortunately, and hasn't noticed that there's a problem. It was Scottish Gas who reduced the payment to £5 per month, and they have since admitted that this must have been a mistake. But they are now saying that she owes them more than £400, and have increased her monthly payment to £125.

Anyway, my question is this... I suspect that gas rates are higher now than they will have been at any point over the last two years. Are Scottish Gas charging her for the excess gas that she's used at the current rate? And if so, is this really fair (since much of it will have been used when gas prices were cheaper) and is there anything she / I can do? Keep in mind that she did not reduce her monthly payment to £5 herself, it was done by Scottish Gas in error, therefore it's not her fault that she's accumulated this debt.

Any advice on who to contact or what to do would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks :)
James

Hi,

If the debt has been growing over the last 12 months bills then she has been charged correctly, as she would have been if she was paying the correct amount. If all the charges "appear" on her most recent statement, its probably a catch up and therefore all her charges are at the new rates. At the very least, they should "apportion" or spread the charges out over the last year to give the benefit of the previously lower prices.

If the have adjusted the direct debit to £5, and caused your grandmother to fall in arrears, they really should take some responsibility for it. Don't expect the whole bill wiped however.

If you get no luck with them directly, try to contact Consumer Direct (http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/). If your gran is that old (no offence intended) they will probably refer her to Consumer Focus, which it like a step up from direct. They would get in contact with B/gas customer relations, who should make more of an effort. You could also approach the Energy Ombudsman (http://www.energy-ombudsman.org.uk/), who has a vulnerable customer referral process. The Ombudsman also has a bit more clout.

Hope this helps

Thanks, Gabriel, for the good advice. Just thought I'd let anyone who happens to read this post know that having been in touch with Scottish Gas directly, on the advice of Consumer Direct, they have agreed to reduce the outstanding bill by £110. Not bad, eh?! So, well worth making the enquiries :)

James