Fiona Porter is a former customer of British Gas. Now, she’s stuck in the crossfire of a billing battle that has lasted more than a year. What ensued was a rapid and unnecessary escalation. Instead, British Gas suddenly sent her an estimated bill for £3,000, despite the fact that her account had a large credit balance. Porter caught this mismatch and determined to escalate her case to the energy ombudsman. In failing to recognize the challenge she was facing, her utility provider had offered her the wrong payment plan.
After the ombudsman’s intervention, British Gas paid Porter £1,201 and cleared her account balance. But things got complicated when a year after she sold her home, a debt of £2,650 reappeared out of the blue. Second, an agency dropped the ball on adopting the ombudsman’s recommendations. This one mistake caused the majority of the billing problems she was encountering.
Prior to migration to the new billing platform, Porter’s account had consistently indicated a credit balance of £1,525. She flagged this credit to the company, resulting in additional investigations by British Gas. After completing their investigation, the firm decided that it had overcharged her £2,650 because of past errors in billing. Softened by this good news, the promised British Gas cheque never arrived.
Porter’s ongoing struggles with British Gas have caught the attention of media outlets, including The Guardian, which highlighted her plight amid broader issues surrounding the company’s billing practices and recent price increases. Instead, the rollout of the new billing platform has magnified these longstanding system problems. In turn, consumers are suffering through technical glitches and even unauthorized withdrawals from their accounts.
The matter has still not been settled, as now Labour MP Porter tries to get guidance and arrangement from British Gas. But despite the energy ombudsman’s intervention she still has not received a satisfactory resolution to her account fallacies. As the dispute continues, it raises questions about the efficiency and reliability of energy billing systems and the impact on consumers.