£3000 bill from EON despite their mistakes.

ozthekeymaster

HELP! EON are trying to bill us for £3000 for electricity going back to 2003!

Their bills have been estimated despite their having had enless readings from their own meter readers (and I have the readings from EON themselves!). Apparently our meter serial number on their records was wrong so their readings weren't ever applied to the account. They have now sorted the serial number and want to bill us for years of electricity!

We have always paid by Direct Debit on time (in fact have often been in "credit") and whilst we should have checked our bills more closely, we presumed (wrongly) that they would be fairly accurate, having had the meter read so many times.

They initially quoted us £3000, then said they'd only bill us for 1 year (which is still £1300!) then said that since they'd sent estimated bills they are going for the whole lot again! I did agree in principle (and "without prejudice" - I made that very clear!) to 2 years of monthly payments on £50 when it was £1300 but now they want far more and we simply can't afford it.

Anyone any ideas on what we can do?

spiro

The billing code only allows 1 year back billing where it is their fault. Also if the reading have not been processing because the meter serial numbers did not match they appear to have had 5 years (assuming same issue for all the period)to get it investigated but have done nothing about it.

Tell them that based on the above you have no intention of paying for anything more than the last 12 months. Use the copies of the readings you have to calculate the bill for the last 12 months yourself, deduct any DD payments made in the last 12 months and that should be what you owe. Do the calcualtion before you call (allow for price rises over the last 12 months) and then offer to pay the outstanding amount over the next 12 months. If they refuse to accept the settlement and especially if they try and push for more than 12 months back payment I would dig my heals in and tell them to see you in court. If you can prove they have been collecting readings but failing to process them then I think the court will not look favourably on them.

ozthekeymaster

Thanks for the advice Spiro - as I said I can live (albeit unhappily) with spreading out a years back payment but I think 5 years is outrageous.

Where do you get a copy of the back billing code - any ideas?

Cardew

spiro wrote: »

The billing code only allows 1 year back billing where it is their fault. Also if the reading have not been processing because the meter serial numbers did not match they appear to have had 5 years (assuming same issue for all the period)to get it investigated but have done nothing about it.

Tell them that based on the above you have no intention of paying for anything more than the last 12 months. Use the copies of the readings you have to calculate the bill for the last 12 months yourself, deduct any DD payments made in the last 12 months and that should be what you owe. Do the calcualtion before you call (allow for price rises over the last 12 months) and then offer to pay the outstanding amount over the next 12 months. If they refuse to accept the settlement and especially if they try and push for more than 12 months back payment I would dig my heals in and tell them to see you in court. If you can prove they have been collecting readings but failing to process them then I think the court will not look favourably on them.

Spiro,

I am aware you work in the Energy Industry, but are you sure that your interpretation is correct in this case?

The relevant extract from the Billing Code states:

The Code includes a requirement for consumers to be protected from debt where the supplier is at fault for not billing energy supply. Where the supplier is at fault, consumers cannot be back-billed beyond 12 months from the date on any subsequent bill.

That specifically states not billing as opposed to incorrectly billing.

Other informed Utility company employees have posted that this section of the code only applies to non billing and not where errors have been made. Also there have been plenty of cases where companies have back billed in similar circumstances

Do you have any more information on this important point? Your company policy? ERA policy?

I think it is certainly worth the OP trying your approach above - although they don't say when this mistake was discovered and a correct bill sent - although I would be wary of going to law unless they were absolutely convinced of their legal grounds.

Cardew

ozthekeymaster wrote: »

Thanks for the advice Spiro - as I said I can live (albeit unhappily) with spreading out a years back payment but I think 5 years is outrageous.

Where do you get a copy of the back billing code - any ideas?

http://www.energy-retail.org.uk/AbouttheCode.html

igk_2

From experience the code is as much about spirit as it is about the letter of the law. One year is all they should be charging and you should get a year to pay it off. If they are being sticky then raise it with CAB - they worked closely with energywatch on getting the rules changed on this issue.

tigprincess

"our meter serial number on their records was wrong so their readings weren't ever applied to the account."

Hi I had something similar 5 years ago with British Gas ... I argued that I'd paid the bills they had sent; they had accepted my money and I'd had meter readings conducted by their employees therefore any over or under payments due to their errors could hardly be my fault unless they were implying that I had managed to infiltrate their system. In the end they withdrew their claim (and I moved from them to Eon )

Perhaps you could ask them what you should have done to anticipate their inability to match up meters and accounts?

Good Luck!

ozthekeymaster

Cheers everyone for your advice - keep it coming - I'll let you know how I get on! Merry Xmas/Festival of your choice :beer: