Back charges on electricity

mummysoup

Hi all

A little over a year ago myfamily and I moved into a new build house. We were told at that time that all of the utility companies had been informed.

We recieved letters from the water and npower so believed everything was sorted.

Just recently, I tried to change from npower to Scottish power and we found there was an issue with our electricity supply.

According to SP. our meter doesn't match our address and the only thing we were paying npower for was gas (I hadn't noticed as we pay by dd and so I hadn't really checked the bills)

So, my question is relating to how far back a supplier can charge for and how the heck do I track down our useage and get this sorted out?

I'm starting to get a little freaked out about the size of a 14 month bill...

Thanks for reading and any help/advice you can throw at me. I've been searching online and just can't find the answer!

Sue

Fire_Fox

Did you supply readings to NPower and they failed to set up your payments properly or did you rely on verbal assurances that it had been done for you? Do you know what your initial meter readings were? New builds often do not start at zero as you might expect.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

If the company have not raised a bill they can only go back 12 months for back-billing.

Your electricity meter was probably at zero when fitted(there should be a label on it) and as you have gas CH should not have been much above zero when you moved in, only lights used by builders.

As a matter of interest why did you decide to change companies? Did you feel your gas only bill was too high for gas and electricity?

mummysoup

Hi.
We didn't give the readings to the companies, the builders did it as part of their handover. So when we had a letter from npower to set up the account, I just thought it was for both (dumb thought!)

I do have the readings somewhere still, but I'm concerned that they will hit us with an enormous bill and expect it to be paid in full staight away.

I only looked at changing because there was a special offer on from scot. Power and it sounded like it would save me money. Given I'm not on a duel bill with them though, that too turns out to have been a daft move!

:-/

Sue

Magentasue

mummysoup wrote: »

Hi.
We didn't give the readings to the companies, the builders did it as part of their handover...but I'm concerned that they will hit us with an enormous bill and expect it to be paid in full staight away.

Sue

Do you have anything in writing from the builders? Whatever happens, you'd be able to set up a payment plan.

Cardew

You will be given time to pay back what they charge you for the last 12 months electricity - normally the same time(12 months). Although you will need to clear that bill if you do wish to switch.

Premier_2

I think there is a potential problem here that means the 12 month back billing rule may not apply.

Let's be clear. The 12 month back billing rule only applies where a supplier fails to bill a customer and it is the suppliers fault.

In this case, the customer has not informed the supplier of their existence. There is only an assumption that the builder informed the supplier.

When the OP bought the new build, readings should have been taken of all meters and the relative utility suppliers informed by the new owner. It would also have been advisable to have agreed those meter readings with the builder at that time in writing so that there is no arguement on how much the builder & owner has used.

Without those figures now, the supplier will estimate your usage. The supplier probably also knows the exact meter reading when the meter was installed when the builder originally set up the account.

mummysoup

Hi

Thanks everyone.

Looks like Im just going to have to track them down and call them :-0

We did agree the meter readings with the builders, and I do have them in the piles of paper from them somewhere or other - so I will hunt them out and see what was going on.

I guess its lucky that I was going to change really, because otherwise I may not have twigged for even longer... :-)

Thanks again

Sue

Cardew

Premier wrote: »

I think there is a potential problem here that means the 12 month back billing rule may not apply.

Let's be clear. The 12 month back billing rule only applies where a supplier fails to bill a customer and it is the suppliers fault.

In this case, the customer has not informed the supplier of their existence. There is only an assumption that the builder informed the supplier.

When the OP bought the new build, readings should have been taken of all meters and the relative utility suppliers informed by the new owner. It would also have been advisable to have agreed those meter readings with the builder at that time in writing so that there is no arguement on how much the builder & owner has used.

Without those figures now, the supplier will estimate your usage. The supplier probably also knows the exact meter reading when the meter was installed when the builder originally set up the account.

True, I should have mentioned that possibility.

However as "the meter number does not match the address" this complicates matters. Also would the builder has sent Npower gas details and not electricity?

Also they normally send correspondence to 'The Occupier'.

The other possibility with a new build is that the developer will have been paying the electricity bills for the unoccupied houses, so the bills would have been sent to their address. I wonder if they have just carried on paying the bills?

The address for that meter serial number might being shown as at the developers address.

mummysoup

Hi again
The plot has thickened!

Our entire site have cross-metered something or others and so it may not simply be a case of my fault for being dopey and not checking they knew about us.

They actually cant find our meter reference at all on their systems (Oh, its Eon not NPower, I got that bit wrong!)

I also have a copy of the letter that was sent to them from the builders :-)

On the down side, it looks like our current usage is almost 8000 whatevers... which sounds dreadful considering we live in an environmentally friendly house which was built with as many energy efficient 'things' in it as possible (except for a solar panel as we face the wrong way).

I dread to think what this bill is going to be like! Our neighbours usage is half that and they have been here twice as long - so Im now concerned that there is something wrong with the meter as well!

Anyways - its with the nice lady at Eon and she is going to call me back in half an hour or so.

mummysoup

Cardew wrote: »

The other possibility with a new build is that the developer will have been paying the electricity bills for the unoccupied houses, so the bills would have been sent to their address. I wonder if they have just carried on paying the bills?

The address for that meter serial number might being shown as at the developers address.

Now that would be nice.... they mucked up on our house so much, it would serve them right ;-) Someone must be paying for it - but they cant find the meter in their system at all, so I have no idea who it could possibly be!
Sue