A woman who took on British Gas and WINS after she was charged for energy she didn’t use is now encouraging others who have been unfairly charged to stand their ground.
News broke earlier this week that UK inflation has surged to 9% - its highest level in 40 years as the cost of living crisis continues to batter UK households.
An economist has said these figures will have been largely influenced by the recent surge in household energy bills, which has forced some Brits to turn off their electricity altogether.
With the rising price of fuel around the world, heightened by a greater demand for energy as society reopens post-pandemic and the war in Ukraine, more than 30 energy suppliers have gone bust in recent months.
Millions of households have been forced to move suppliers and many have had to figure out whether they had been overcharged in the switchover.
Sandra Wrench, 70, told The Express she had to battle hard to get a refund from British Gas, after her supplier People’s Energy ceased trading on 14 September last year.
Sandra, from Bedford, found after taking a meter reading that British Gas was charging her for energy used before she actually joined them.
She said getting through to British Gas wasn’t easy, as demand for the company’s customer service team was so high.
Sandra says: “I phoned every day for a week, but had no reply,” Sandra said.
“There was no internet chat available.”
“I then went to the complaints section, but couldn’t find an agent there either.”
When she finally got through to the energy giant’s online chat service, British Gas agreed to refund her £32.78 for gas and electricity - plus standing charges of £10.51.
Sandra said the total £43.29 refund she received “may not seem like a lot”, but pointed out that a family living in a larger house could “secure a much bigger refund”.
She is now urging other people to check if they are owed money.
“It is imperative that everyone who has switched checks their energy bills for charges prior to switching, and does not just accept what energy companies say,” she said.
If a query with the company didn’t work, a good next step was to raise a formal complaint, either directly with your new supplier or via the free tool on website resolver.co.uk.
Still on the crusade for energy bill fairness, Sandra was now questioning British Gas about the difference between the increase in the energy cap on April 1, and what she was seeing on her bill.
While Ofgem’s energy cap jumped by 54 percent to £1,971 a year, she said: “I pay monthly and British Gas has increased my gas tariff by 90 percent.”
While households may relax about their energy bills over summer, they should be ready for autumn, she said.
"The energy cap will rise again from October 1, possibly by as much as 40 percent, just as the weather turns colder."
Whether you have a smart meter or not, Sandra suggested keeping a clerical record of your meter readings at the end of each month, which would make it easier to complain to your energy company if you had any issues.
“There is a lot of doom and gloom in the media about energy bill increases, but it helps if there are cases where people take on these energy companies and win,” she said.
“As a responsible business, in the last six months we’ve stepped in to take over the energy supply of more than 700,000 customers from eight different failed suppliers,” they said.
“This is the largest proportion across the industry.
“Unfortunately, each of these suppliers has its own process in terms of how they share data, including around credit balances and we are reliant on their processes.”
