Prepayment key card meter - sudden huge bill!

katie1981_2

Hi everyone, this is my first post here though I use the site regularly for help and advice!

I recently moved house. In my previous place, I had a key card energy meter. The meter was with one company until this changed hands or was taken over by E.On. I lived there for 5 years and had the meter the entire time. About 1.5 yrs ago, an engineer came round and said the meter was broken. He fixed it and all has been well since then - I never received any info from them that there was a problem etc.


However, I just received a bill through the post claiming that I owe them £46 for this last quarter plus £1800 from a previous bill/statement! I have never, ever received a bill from them claiming I owe them £1800. Since they claim I owe them for this quarter, I can imagine that there has been some energy rate discrepencies that they haven't updated - but this would in no way explain why the bill is for such a huge amount. I can only assume that, 1.5 years ago, when the meter was broken, I incurred these charges then! What I CANNOT understand, however, is why this wasn't brought to my attention earlier. It appears that the only reason why this bill has been sent was because I moved out and obviously the new tenants have asked E.On to come round and look at the meter, etc.

My question is how far back can they attempt to claim money back from me? The meter was broken over a year and a half ago and I have no idea for how long it was broken, etc - as it all seemed to be working fine (I had no cut-outs etc). Is there a limit on how far back they can say I owe them for, if they claim it was for a time when the meter was broken over 1.5 years ago?

I haven't actually spoken to them as I wanted to find out where I stood before - I can imagine this is going to be quite a long process!

Any help would be really appreciated - I'm a bit clueless as to how to go about this. It's all a bit of a shock!

brysiewysie

Did you take meter readings when you moved out? That would be the first thing to check but it won't hurt to call them to find out some basics on the bill, you can always call them again when you've had time to consider things.

spiro

Under the Energy Retail Assocation Code they can only back bill for 12 months when it is there fault. You say yoiu have had a bill for the last quarter (fine pay that). Have you had other bills over the last 15 months covering the time since the meter was changed that you have paid, great if you have. The new mega one 'from a previous bill/statement', do they say when 'previous' was i.e. is it for a period more than 12 months ago that they have never billed you for? If the answer to the last question is 'its for more than 12 months ago and I have never had a bill for it before', then their time is up and refer them to the ERA code.