British Gas paid me £38,000 by mistake, and I can’t give it back
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- DT submitted a £300 feed-in tariff claim in May; British Gas erroneously paid him £38,611.59 the next day, which sat in his account from 14 May to 14 July because the company had no procedure to reclaim it.
- British Gas customer service agents had no scripts covering such an incident, and DT contacted the company repeatedly by phone and letter before it offered him £500 in compensation.
- British Gas paid the original £300 Fit entitlement two months late — and initially undervalued it by £2, forcing DT to chase the company for a second time.
- JG had his gas meter removed in November 2024 after installing a heat pump, yet British Gas kept issuing estimated bills and reported six "missed payments" on his credit record.
- British Gas left a £833 "default" on JG's credit file even after acknowledging the account had closed — a marker that only the columnist's intervention succeeded in removing.
- The Theft Act makes failing to report erroneously paid money a potential offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a legal risk DT navigated while trying to return the £38,611.59.
Why it matters: British Gas left its own £38,611 overpayment in DT's account from 14 May to 14 July with no reclaim process, yet the same firm reported a separate customer to credit agencies over phantom gas bills on a closed account. Utilities can chase debts they invented but cannot recover funds they accidentally sent — a striking operational asymmetry that puts the legal risk on the wronged customer.
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