British Gas sending out energy bills 'demanding £2,000 from customers'

British Gas is sending out bills showing a 1,000 per cent price rise. Some households received demands for nearly £2,000 for a month after problems with supplier’s IT upgrade, it was reported by the Guardian newspaper this weekend.

British Gas’s profits increased more than tenfold to £751m last year. One customer told the newspaper the estimated readings on the quarterly bill that arrived in March were up by 1,000% on the same period last year earlier this year.

“I have not changed my habits in any way,” she said. “Every time I open a complaint, I receive a response that firstly ignores any of my questions about how my bill could be so high, secondly uses the same stock phrases and makes me think it is written by a bot, and thirdly tells me the complaint has now been resolved as everything is in order,” she said. “It is causing me so much stress and lost sleep.”

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“We live in a small retirement flat and for the last three years have used two Dyson heaters rather than our gas central heating to save money,” a second wrote said. “Last December, British Gas updated its system and the new app showed energy statements for the last 12 months which were up to 1,100% higher than the amounts we’d actually paid.”

And a third said: “Statements under the old account number showed I was £1,525 in credit and this was confirmed twice over the phone over the next seven months. We had moved out of our house in April 2023 and were promised the refund when it was sold that September, but instead we received a final bill for £1,594.”

A spokesperson said: “Ms Porter’s complaint has already been reviewed by the energy ombudsman and we applied the remedies requested of us in terms of recalculating her bill. Ms Porter is still querying the bill and we are currently in touch with her as we do want to get this resolved.”