British Gas Priority Service

[greyfur]

Are there any of you out there who have been put on British Gas's Priority Register Service, just because you were over the age of 65, and you didn't ask to be put on it?

[PallasAthena]

It's a national register shared by all gas/electric.water utility companies (not just British Gas) and you should only be on it if you (or someone else claiming to be acting for you) has added you to it. Being on it doesn't seem to have any obvious disadvantages but if you want to be removed you just have to contact them and ask to be taken off it.

What's the problem?

[greyfur]

Thanks for your reply Pallasathena. I was told by an electricity company that they had to have my permission to be put on a register, and so I assumed it was the case with all utility companies. British Gas never had my permission, so I was surprised to find myself on it; and I wasn't a pensioner. When I asked them who had done it, they said they were not allowed to tell me! When I asked them why I had been added, they said it was because I was disabled. I'm not. It just makes me wonder if anyone can decide to put an individual on one of these registers if they feel like it and they have that person's information. I did not know at the time that this information was shared with other companies, such as your water supplier. I then had a problem regarding a missing water bill, and apparently, someone reading my water meter without my knowledge, when I usually sent the readings myself. Be careful with such registers.

[echat11]

British Gas are 'pants' at most things, so you shouldn't be surprised, the only reason they 'exist' is because they had a huge customer base and couldn't ever fail.