pre payment meter, so why a bill for £225

tabs456

hi title says it all really, i have a pre payment meter and have done for years, we have in the last 2 weeks been sent 3 bills from our supplier 3 bills ranging from £198-£225, i have rang my supplier and been told its from they put up the prices, my meter has been on the old tarrif and was not updated, they addmitted it was their fault, surely they cant just send me a bill like this, i certainly cannot afford it,, i would be greatfull for any advice,

WhistleBlower

Unfortunately this is true, may of the old token-style meters were never updated with new tarriffs.

However, unless i'm very mistaken (and i'll check tomorrow for you) there was an agreement between the energy companies and the ombudsman that any meter where this has happened anything over £70 would be written off.

I'd call back and check that the under-charging really is the problem, if so , ask about the agreement, if they say they've already done that aske where the rest of th bill is from.

brysiewysie

There are several similar posts here, do a search for useful info.

If it's the railway ticket type pre-pay meter you can very easily run up debt (you can aon any pre-pay meter but theses types are much easier to accrue debt on). I believe there is some ruling around collecting under-billed use on these types of meters, but doing a forum post search should give you some help.

I'd strongly recommend getting your supplier to change you to a key meter, they'll do it for free and it reduces the risks of a similar thing happening again.

If I've misunderstood you and you are a key meter already and it's 'just' that your supplier has set the rates up wrong then it's best to clarify that and post back here.

tabs456

hi thanks for the repies, it was a card(like a bank card type) meter, they came at the end of last month to change the meter now its a key meter,my partner rang the supplier to ask why we got a bill for so much and at first they could not work out why, and then got back to us to say the old meter was not updated when they put up the new tarrif and admitted it was their mistake, can they realy expect us to pay such a big bill so near to christmas (5 kids ),, when it was their fault

brysiewysie

Didn't WhistleBlower answer this just before my post?