1 year after leaving property BG want almost £1000

Mega_Maniac
Mega_Maniac Posts: 81
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A friend of mine recently rang me to tell me he had had a new bill from BG to the tune of almost £1000 saying that we owed this from our time staying in a property.

We lived there for roughly 6 months, during which time we paid what we thought was the correct amount for our electricity. Here is the breakdown of what we paid over the time we were there
01 Feb 2012 Electricity Charges 55.75 0.00
01 Feb 2012 Payment received 55.75 55.75
17 Jan 2012 Payment received 155.65 0.00
30 Dec 2011 Electricity Charges 155.65 -155.65
13 Oct 2011 Payment received 155.18 0.00
29 Sep 2011 Electricity Charges 155.18 -155.18
11 Jul 2011 Payment received 49.74 0.00
27 Jun 2011 Electricity Charges 49.74 -49.74

It was a two bedroom flat in London, fairly modern and we spent a limited amount of time in the flat as we were both working.

BG say these payments were only against an estimated reading, and that they have now (a year later) taken readings and we in fact owe £1000 more than we paid.

As I'm sure you can imagine, getting a bill of this size is not only shocking a year after we moved out but seems near impossible that we could have even used that amount of electricity over that period.

The information on our payments above comes from the ZERO balance we requested from BG before we moved out as is standard procedure when leaving a property.

Where do we stand with this?
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Comments

  • lstar337
    lstar337 Posts: 3,440
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    edited 3 July 2013 at 3:36PM
    I'm guessing you failed to give them a closing read, and they are now issuing a 'catch-up' bill. If you didn't give a closing read when you moved out, you may well also be paying for the electricity consumed after you left.

    You will have to pay for what you used.

    If they have billed you for usage after the date you left, they may back date it with some more estimation.

    Should have given a closing read though.
  • Wywth
    Wywth Posts: 5,079 Forumite
    A friend of mine recently rang me to tell me he had had a new bill from BG to the tune of almost £1000 saying that we owed this from our time staying in a property.

    We lived there for roughly 6 months, during which time we paid what we thought was the correct amount for our electricity. Here is the breakdown of what we paid over the time we were there
    01 Feb 2012 Electricity Charges 55.75 0.00
    01 Feb 2012 Payment received 55.75 55.75
    17 Jan 2012 Payment received 155.65 0.00
    30 Dec 2011 Electricity Charges 155.65 -155.65
    13 Oct 2011 Payment received 155.18 0.00
    29 Sep 2011 Electricity Charges 155.18 -155.18
    11 Jul 2011 Payment received 49.74 0.00
    27 Jun 2011 Electricity Charges 49.74 -49.74
    

    It was a two bedroom flat in London, fairly modern and we spent a limited amount of time in the flat as we were both working.

    BG say these payments were only against an estimated reading, and that they have now (a year later) taken readings and we in fact owe £1000 more than we paid.

    As I'm sure you can imagine, getting a bill of this size is not only shocking a year after we moved out but seems near impossible that we could have even used that amount of electricity over that period.

    The information on our payments above comes from the ZERO balance we requested from BG before we moved out as is standard procedure when leaving a property.

    Where do we stand with this?

    So were you billed against estimated readings as BG allege?

    If so, how did the estimated readings compare to the actuall readings at that time?

    If you don't know, or they were significantly different, why do you think you "paid what [you] thought was the correct amount for [y]our electricity"?

    What date did you both move out of the property?
    Did you contact BG on that day to state you were leaving, provide an accurate meter reading, and a fowarding address for BG to send the final bill?
    What date was the final bill produced?
  • Mega_Maniac
    Mega_Maniac Posts: 81
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    It was a long time ago, and neither I nor my old housemate can remember about the readings.

    I do remember that as it was a block of flats the place you found the reading was not readily available to us, but was outside the flat somewhere. I remember trying to get a proper reading when we moved in but eventually giving up as neither us or the agent knew how to find the reading. We did ask for them to find out how we did this, but they were pretty useless (like most agents, it seems) and I think we just ended up paying the bills we got thinking they were roughly accurate.

    This is all based on hazy memories tho
  • Mega_Maniac
    Mega_Maniac Posts: 81
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    Wywth wrote: »
    So were you billed against estimated readings as BG allege?

    If so, how did the estimated readings compare to the actuall readings at that time?

    If you don't know, or they were significantly different, why do you think you "paid what [you] thought was the correct amount for [y]our electricity"?

    What date did you both move out of the property?
    Did you contact BG on that day to state you were leaving, provide an accurate meter reading, and a fowarding address for BG to send the final bill?
    What date was the final bill produced?

    It was a first flat for the both of us, so there was a helping of naivety there, but I guess we assumed the estimated bills we were paying were correct.

    As far as I know, we never had an actual reading, at any point (moving in, or moving out)

    The final bill doesn't have a date, other than the final payment on 1st Feb.

    I am unsure as to wether we specifically asked BG for a "final bill" or "final reading". The fact that they are now chasing this suggests that we didn't.
  • lstar337
    lstar337 Posts: 3,440
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    It was a first flat for the both of us, so there was a helping of naivety there, but I guess we assumed the estimated bills we were paying were correct.

    As far as I know, we never had an actual reading, at any point (moving in, or moving out)

    The final bill doesn't have a date, other than the final payment on 1st Feb.

    I am unsure as to wether we specifically asked BG for a "final bill" or "final reading". The fact that they are now chasing this suggests that we didn't.
    So there is a chance that not even the initial reading was correct?

    What a mess to be in!
  • Mega_Maniac
    Mega_Maniac Posts: 81
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    A very good chance, considering the tenants previous to us never paid a single bill, and left the flat in such a horrific state it had to be renovated prior to us moving in.

    Is it possible for BG to even get a specific reading for our time in the flat, excluding the dates before and after we lived there?
  • lstar337
    lstar337 Posts: 3,440
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    Is it possible for BG to even get a specific reading for our time in the flat, excluding the dates before and after we lived there?
    Given what you have said, I can't see how they could.

    Where you stand, I have no idea.

    You should probably speak to BG about it though.
  • Mega_Maniac
    Mega_Maniac Posts: 81
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    Yea, I have passed on to my friend all the questions he needs to ask about readings and the like, hopefully we can get this sorted. If they come back with a few quid extra its no problem, but this will equate to us having spent over£200pm on leccy in that 6 month period, when we were both working at the time, which cant be right 0_0
  • 01 Feb 2012 Payment received 55.75
    17 Jan 2012 Payment received 155.65
    13 Oct 2011 Payment received 155.18
    11 July 2011 Payment received 49.74

    I make that an 7/8 month stay over one partial winter period total estimated & paid was £416.32 or £52.04pm or £12 per week average. I suggest you get a look at the contract of lease on the flat and discover precisely how many weeks [your start and end dates are vague] of energy supply you were contracted for and divide into £416.32.

    Sorry friend, you've fallen for the same old same old .. .. no diligence doing your own precise readings, particularly the start & finish date & registers.
    Disclaimer : Everything I write on this forum is my opinion. I try to be an even-handed poster and accept that you at times may not agree with these opinions or how I choose to express them, this is not my problem. The Disabled : If years cannot be added to their lives, at least life can be added to their years - Alf Morris - ℜ
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036
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    As indicated above, it is very probable that you are paying for either the previous or subsequent occupant's electricity consumption(or both of them!)

    Not BG's fault - someone needs to pay for the electricity consumed.
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