Two million households in Britain are not paying their gas and electricity
Moneysupermarket.com discovered almost one million households are not paying for their gas and electricity. Half of those one million have not tried to identify their provider. The other half are not paying because they have not been acknowledged as a customer by their supplier. It was also revealed that 1.1 million households admit to moving out of their property without settling their gas and electricity bills.
Utilities manager at moneysupermarket.com, Scott Byrom said: “Our research reveals nearly a million Brits manage to slip through the net and escape paying for their gas and electricity. Whether this is by deliberately keeping a low profile, or just being lost by their supplier, I would advise against staying invisible – you could find you are landed with a hefty bill when your provider finally catches up with you.
“To find out your electricity supplier you need to call your local distribution network operator (DNO) as it varies by region,4 and to identify your gas supplier you’ll need the Meter Point Administration Service.5
“After a significant period of non-payment, there could also be complications over the amount you owe, especially if you don’t retain proof of your usage or the meter readings from when you moved into the property. From a billing point of view, a supplier can only charge you retrospectively for the past 12 months of energy used but at today’s prices this could see you incur a bill of around £1,200.”