British Gas just send bill for underpayment of 4yrs - does the Back-Billing rule apply here?

[DTP77]

About 4 years ago I upgraded both my Gas and Electric pre-pay meter’s to smart meters

Shortly after the instillation of these smart meters I was having an issue with the Gas meter. An engineer attended the property to find the Newly installed gas meter was faulty and it required him to install another “smart” gas meter.

I continued to top-up both my meters weekly via my online account

Over this period, I noticed a steady increase in the amount of money I was paying on the electric smart meter due to cost of living price increases.

But the amount I was paying on the gas pre-pay meter stayed the same £5 per week.

Due to the fact I only use gas supply for 6 months of the year (gas heating) I assumed as I was paying £5 every week of the year (52 weeks) I was over paying to cover winter usage.

About 12 months ago I contacted British Gas, I was told that the new Gas meter was installed and set-up as a standard credit meter (Not pre-pay) I was told that they could change it back to pre-pay remotely to which I agreed.

Another 6 months went by and I was still only topping up £5 per week, I went to check the meter but couldn’t find any info on the display regarding top up payments.

I contacted British Gas again, only to be told the Gas meter was still showing as a credit meter, the person on the phone was not much help other than stating that it could be reset remotely.

So, I continued to top up £5 per week as I have been doing for the past 4 years.

About month ago, I received an email from British Gas regarding the July 2023 price cap.  It stated that my Gas bill will be reduced by £241.42 from   £1136.78 to £859.36.

 I have two questions,

1.     If British Gas send a bill for underpayment of the last 4 years does the Back-Billing rule apply here?

2.     If they don’t send any bill and I keep paying £5 per week via my online account, will Back billing apply,

 

[dx100uk]

cant bill you outside of 12mts.