Our Local Council Has Not Paid Its Gas Bill for 17 Years
In the News
Local council not paid its Gas bill for 17 years. They only noticed when the boiler broke and was told to check with their supplier . How did they not notice were the Gas went. Can you,imagine if it was a normal house hold.
which council is it x
I am assuming this is Beverley (Yorkshire) council. There (to me) is an obvious reason they haven't paid the gas bill, which the press haven't noticed: they have not had a registered supplier, it is the supplier who sends the bills so there has been no bill to pay.
If this happens to an individual, through no fault of their own, then they can not be billed retrospectively for more than twelve months - I would have thought this might happen for corporations who were not even aware they didn't have a specified supplier.
This confuses things even more: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/people/beverley-town-council-found-to-have-not-paid-gas-bill-for-17-years-3523528
This might help anyone if there is any attempt to bill them for gas or electricity used more than twelve months previously (it is a little known rule about back billing for energy). https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules
That's an incredible amount of time not to notice. How on earth will they ever pay it back?
By my understanding of the rules (see above) as they weren't billed and didn't act dishonestly. They might only be liable to pay for one year.
It can happen especially when no individual is responsible for bill payment that it is never noticed that there are no bills, it's as if they've gone off the radar.
17 years the council were using gas but never paid for it and no one noticed! Dodgy
Not dodgy at all - if they weren't getting bills (as is obvious) then the accounts department only take care of the bills to be paid. No one is appointed to look for things they should have been billed for.
They had no official supplier so did not receive any bills. (To be paid).
davidstockport So no one questioned in 17 years who the gas supplier was or how much they are paying? So no audits in 17 years or anyone looking through the books? No meter readings either?
SilverSurfer That's correct no one questioned why they weren't getting gas bills, as explained elsewhere accounts departments are set up to pay bills not to look for bills that have not been submitted. It's likely most don't even realise that they actually use gas.
SilverSurfer An audit would not reveal that you were receiving something you weren't paying for. It would take someone to actually notice - the person responsible for the boiler, or using the gas in any other way, is hardly likely to check if the gas being used is being paid for, they take it for granted that someone else is dealing with it.
davidstockport the invoices would need to be allocated to an accounting code to identify where money has been spent.
Whoops! It will be interesting to see if how it pans out and how much they get stung for.
local councils can take a long time to pay a invoice, It will probably be 18 years before the pay it.
Join for free to get genuine deals, money saving advice and help from our friendly community
Chief Bargain Hunter
