Disagreement with Pozitive energy/Flint Bishop gas charges

[tesla6518]

When CNG went bust my friends restaurant gas account was transferred to Pozitive as supplier of last resort. He was with them for 30 days and paid the submitted bill £197 (still operating Covid 19 rules ) whilst the energy agent transferred to British Gas Light. some 2 years later a letter arrived from Flint Bishop saying £7000 was owed. The invoice provided was for a period of 6 days yet they claim it was for the whole period. We have taken the maximum gas usage of each piece of equipment as supplied in the manufacturers data. we have then worked out the usage of all the equipment at maximum rate ( would never happen in real time) for a period of 10 hours per day ( normal kitchen use 8 hrs, so have added overkill) and the gas usage still only comes to £1400. Previous CNG bills were £300 pm average and we took in to account Pozitive SOLR extortionate unit price.

So after mediation in which FB refused our repeated offer but made a £10,000 counter offer paid over 12 months. We are awaiting allocation. I have been trying to get information regarding the Actual meter readings that they are claiming as evidence of use, as no one had visited the restaurant to read the meter (non smart). I keep asking this question to no avail, however they have now said it was a C58 reading.
I have googled, asked OFGEM but no one seems to be able tp provide details of what this reading is. I have also consulted gas industry manuals but it still evades me.
So please can anyone advise me what a C58 meter reading is.


Many thanks

[echat11]

You should still be able to get information from CNG, the administrators.

You could use old bank statements to show that the monthly cost has always been approx £XXX.XX.

They can't argue against factual statements, they are 'harassing' for money that isn't owed.

Don't speak to them over the phone, everything in writing. Write a letter laying out the facts, make sure you get Proof of Postage.

[tesla6518]

Hi ECHAT11

Fortunately my friend kept all of his invoices from CNG unfortunately the majority are estimated, however saying that the Administrator sent a letter stating that £73 was still due, this we proved to have been paid, so have a reference for a meter reading. he also has a diary that shows the amount of customers that used the restaurant each day (50% of normal capacity due to retaining Covid19 rules).

We have stated to Flint Bishop all of the evidence we have, but to no avail. They keep harping on about they have Actual meter readings and they are correct. As said before they keep ignoring the question of How and when the actual meters were read to have these actual readings, but have only had this C58 method of meter reading.

I know that utility companies have a communications system that allows them to transfer data between each other (forgotten name at the moment but it is usually used for smart switching). However they need the clients permission to obtain this data. Well it would have been ok for Pozitive to obtain it from CNG as it was a switching but they are using a British Gas Light reading that was 10 months later. I have requested from BGL how this data was given to them without them having written permission (no contract ever signed with Pozitive) but they have stayed silent ( reminds me I must chase them up ). So now you can see why I am eager to find out what this elusive C58 meter reading is.

[echat11]

I don't know if anything in the link below can help you -

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/what-happen...ness-goes-bust

Business customers can complain to the Services Ombudsman Service, that is where to take the evidence

https://www.energyombudsman.org/

[tesla6518]

Many Thanks