gas bill

beattiesman

have lived in property for 2 years.rung up supplier of gas to this property to take over gas supply.a meter reader has been coming every 3 months to read the meter,then when they send me the bill it is only for a standing charge.4 weeks ago the meter was read again.when the bill arrived yesterday it is huge as they never billed me for any gas on previous bills only a standing charge and on the previous bills the meter reading was the same as it was when i moved in.so now they are billing me for 2 years.does the 1 year back billing rule apply does anybody know.to me it seems the meter has been read but some where along the line the metre reading has either not been passed on to my supplier or passed to them and for whatever reason not passed on to me till now.

SwanJon

The back billing rule doesn't apply here as they have been billing you (although it sounds like they estimate no consumption for some reason).
What did they say when you called up with an accuarte reading after each of therse bills?
Make sure they are not charing you it all at current rates - get them to cancel all the wrong bills and reestimate them so you are charged at the right rates.
You have some responsibility to check the bills are accurate - exactly as you would do anywhere else - would you have waited 2 years if they were overestimated?
Call and see if you can work out a payment arrangement & get on their cheapest tariff while you are paying it off.

beattiesman

rung them 4 times and gave them readings paid those bills.then got fed up ringing them at my cost .therefore only paying standing charge as a problem has occured when the man read the meter.it has been read every 3 months .

Vestra

Sorry but the best you can do is maybe get them to offer you a goodwill off the bill.

Premier_2

Who is your supplier? 5 of the 6 major suppliers have agreed to comply with the Energy Retail Associations Code of Practice for Accurate Bills
(SSE have their own Domestic Energy Customer Charter instead)

From the Energy Retail Associations Code of Practice for Accurate Bills FAQ's

Energy Suppliers have a responsibility to ensure Customers are accurately billed for energy consumed. Likewise, Customers have a responsibility to pay for the energy they consume.

The Supplier is completely within its rights to bill in full for any energy consumed where it can demonstrate that;

a) use of supply has been made by a Customer but that no attempt has been made by a Customer to contact a Supplier to make or arrange payment, or
b) the Customer is wilfully avoiding payment, or
c) the Customer has not co-operated with attempts to obtain meter readings or resolve asset queries required to facilitate accurate bill production.

Unless the above clauses (a) to (c) apply, Energy Suppliers will not seek additional payments for un-billed energy consumed over 12 months ago if they have:

d) received the necessary industry notifications but have failed to set up a record on their billing systems, or
e) failed to set up or maintain accurate meter and metering data, or
f) failed to use valid readings provided by the Customer or data collectors, or
g) failed to reassess regular payments within the previous 15 months based on accurate information available to them, or have failed to communicate the need for and use of a Customer own reading at this time, or
h) failed to attempt to obtain a valid reading during the previous 15 months, or
i) failed to send a bill to the Customer or billing address during the previous 15 months, unless their express agreement with the individual Customer allows for this.

Where Suppliers issue a bill which has these principles applied, they will credit the account with the value of the unbilled energy consumed over 12 months ago, taking into consideration any payments already made by the Customer or credits applied to the account, so that the Customer is not required to pay any additional sums towards this previously unbilled energy consumption.