It took 15 months for British Gas to refund me the £1,500. this is absurd.

A woman says it is “absurd” that British Gas took 15 months to prepare a final bill and refund more than £1,500 in credits, despite the Energy Ombudsman asking the firm to do so almost a year ago.

Beth Kozder moved out of her one-bed flat in south-east London in October 2024 but complained to the ombudsman a few months later when the company did not send her a final bill or refund her credit.

In February 2025, the ombudsman ruled in Beth’s favour and asked British Gas to comply with her request. However, the ombudsman has no legal authority to enforce compliance.

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

British Gas stated that they were “implementing the ombudsman’s remedy.”.

” For Beith, expressing deep regret over the lengthy process.

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

When she left her flat, she asked for the final bill from British Gas using the meter reading. He also asked her to return £1,700, a few hundred pounds less than expected for his final bill.

“It’s a huge amount of money. Maybe not for British Gas, but it’s for me,” said Beth, who gave birth to her first child in December. “That’s about £2,000 I could have worked with. Then there’s all the admin.”

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

But Beth said she “got nowhere” so she brought her complaint. energy ombudsman.

This is an independent, impartial dispute resolution scheme under which energy customers can make a complaint to their supplier up to eight weeks after first making a complaint.

Energy suppliers are legally obliged to become a member of an independent customer dispute scheme under their licence conditions.

But the Energy Ombudsman is not a statutory body and cannot legally force suppliers to take action.

In 2024, 93,000 complaints were accepted by the Energy Ombudsman, of which about 70% were ruled in favour of consumers, with suppliers being required to take action within 28 days.

Most suppliers met the deadline, but in thousands of cases, they either missed it or took no action.

This has prompted the Department of Energy to consider ways to Strengthen the Energy Ombudsman Having said that, the number of decisions that are not implemented promptly is very high.

The Ombudsman issued four resolutions in February 2025 in Beth’s case.

British Gas took three minor actions, including a written apology for the shortfall in service and a goodwill credit of £100.

But based on the decision, British Gas was also required to “complete the final billing of the account” [meter]. Beth has already provided the required reading. However, 11 months later, British Gas had still not completed the final billing.

Beth said her only option was to take the legal route through a small claims court.

“I felt completely desperate and felt like the only option was to try to get some relief,” she said.

BBC Radio 4’s Money Box first contacted British Gas about the case in early December and by late Thursday night, Beth was resigned to going to small claims court to settle what she strongly felt she was owed.

British Gas then returned with an offer that included everything Beth had requested, which she gladly accepted.

Beth said she was pleased to have the case resolved but was disappointed it took so many months to do so and felt British Gas had “completely failed” to engage in the ombudsman process.

“I still believe it took an excessive amount of time to reach a resolution.” This is absurd. And the level of intervention it requires on my part as a consumer is unbelievable.”

British Gas said, “We are implementing the ombudsman’s remedy and working with Ms. Cozder to finalise the resolution of her claim.” “We appreciate that this has been difficult for her, and we are very sorry for the time it has taken to put things right.”

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

“The message to suppliers is obvious. When the ombudsman makes a decision, they should implement it as quickly as possible,” he said.

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