Raw Deal: Energy firm kept sending Gary demands for £2,000

Gary Roxburgh(Ross Johnston/Newsline Media)

WHEN you open your mail there are often unpleasant surprises – and a pretty bad one is an unexpected bill for nearly £2000.

That’s what Gary Roxburgh faced.

To make matters worse, energy company First Utility reckoned Gary owed £1909.90 for gas and electricity used at a house that he didn’t live in any more.

Gary and his family moved from Crossgates in Fife to Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire, in February 2015.

When they left, they gave First Utility final meter readings and paid their bills in full.

After a month First Utility decided this wasn’t quite right and billed Gary for another £7.

That seemed to be the close of the matter. However, six months later the energy firm got in touch with Gary again to say he owed it money.

Gary explained that he had left the house several months ago, given final readings, paid his bill in full. And then paid the extra £7.

What was First Utility talking about?

First Utility was talking about a £1909.90 bill for gas and electricity paid at the wrong tariff. But then it changed its mind and decided it wanted to be paid for energy used between March and December 2015.

Gary again pointed out he moved out in February of that year.

But the demands for payment continued.

Worried about this, Gary got in touch with Citizens Advice.

On their first investigation, Citizens Advice was told that it was all a big mistake and Gary had nothing to pay.

But the demands for payment kept coming.

After a second investigation, CA was told Gary did have to pay and this was possibly because of a faulty smart meter.

Then First Utility said that when Gary had previously switched suppliers, the former supplier should have informed him that his gas meter possibly wasn’t able to function with other suppliers.

All this was very confusing. Not least because he had been the first occupant of the house in Crossgates, it was a new-build. He’d never had a previous supplier.

There were obviously several layers of confusion over Gary’s bill.

He got in touch with Raw Deal and we pointed out a few things to First Utility.

It had a look at what had been happening and decided that Gary didn’t, in fact, owe a penny. It sent a letter to him saying: “Backbilling credits of £1909.90 were applied to your account to finalise the balance at £0.00.”

Gary got in touch with us to say: “Not sure what you said to First Utility but this is a great result for me, your help in this matter has been genuinely appreciated.”

We are pleased to have been of assistance, Gary.

Raw Deal: Peter refused to back down in row with Lothian Buses