British Gas took 15 months to refund me £1,500. It’s absurd

A woman says it is “ridiculous” that it took British Gas 15 months to produce the final bill and repay more than £1,500 in loans, despite the energy ombudsman telling the firm to do so nearly a year ago.

Beth Kojder moved out of her one-bedroom flat in south-east London in October 2024, but complained to the ombudsman a few months later after the company failed to send her a final bill or refund her credit.

In February 2025 the ombudsman ruled in Beth’s favor and told British Gas to comply with her request. However, it has no legal authority to enforce this.

Beth received the money offer this week, just days before her case was due to be heard in small claims court.

British Gas said it was “implementing the ombudsman’s solution” for Beth, adding that it was “very sorry” it had taken so long.

Beth told the BBC the process was “relentless, exhausting and completely exhausting”.

When she moved out of her flat, she asked for the final bill using meter readings provided by British Gas. He also asked for the sum of £1,700 to be refunded to him, less the several hundred pounds he expected to owe on his last bill.

“This is a significant amount of money. Maybe not for British Gas, but for me,” said Beth, who gave birth to her first baby in December. “That was almost £2,000 I could do. Then there’s the whole admin.”

When she did not receive her final bill or refund, she complained to British Gas.

But Beth said she “wasn’t getting anywhere” and took her complaint to the authorities. energy ombudsman.

It is an independent, impartial dispute resolution scheme through which energy customers can lodge a complaint with their supplier for up to eight weeks after first making a complaint.

Energy suppliers are legally required to subscribe to an independent customer dispute scheme as part of their license conditions.

However, the energy ombudsman is not a statutory body and cannot legally force suppliers to take action.

There were 93,000 complaints accepted by the energy ombudsman in 2024; Approximately 70% of these cases were resolved in favor of consumers, and suppliers were required to take action within 28 days.

In most cases, suppliers met this deadline, but in thousands of cases the deadline was either missed or no action was taken.

This situation prompted the Ministry of Energy to look for ways to achieve this. Strengthening the energy ombudsman He said the number of decisions that were not implemented quickly enough was too high.

In Beth’s case, the ombudsman issued four decisions in February 2025.

British Gas filed three small claims, including a written apology and a goodwill credit of £100 for shortcomings in service.

But the decision also required British Gas to “complete final billing of the account. [meter] the readings were already provided by Beth.” But 11 months later, that still hadn’t happened.

Beth said her only remaining option was to take legal action through small claims court.

“I felt completely helpless and like it was the only way to get attention,” she said.

BBC Radio 4’s Moneybox first contacted British Gas about this case in early December and by late Thursday night Beth had resigned herself to having to go to small claims court to get what she felt she was owed.

British Gas then came back with an offer that included everything Beth wanted, which she happily accepted.

Beth said she was pleased the matter had been resolved but was disappointed it had taken months and felt British Gas had “completely failed” to engage in the ombudsman process.

“I’m still thinking about the fact that it took so long to get there [a resolution] nonsense. And the level of intervention required from my perspective as a consumer is incredible.”

British Gas said: “We are implementing the Ombudsman’s resolution and working with Ms Kojder to reach a conclusion regarding her request. We appreciate that this has been difficult for her and we are very sorry for the length of time it has taken us to put things right.”

Jackie Gehrmann, Ofgem’s deputy director of retail compliance, told the BBC that last year suppliers paid £27 million in fines and voluntary payment agreements over consumer matters.

“The message to suppliers is really clear. Once the Ombudsman makes a decision, he must implement that decision as quickly as possible,” he said.

“We are strengthening the Energy Ombudsman so that consumers can be confident that action will be taken when they decide in their favour,” DESNZ told the BBC.