Help with Powergen??

dawnylou

My partner and I have our gas and electric from Powergen.
All last year we paid £25 per month.
In May last year we received a statment to show approx how much we were using, but this was an estimated bill.

Having heard nothing else at all I called them a fortnight before Christmas to see if we were due any cashback.
I was told we were actually £100 behind, and they advised putting the DD up to £35 per month as from January.
I asked if they would send some sort of statement so we could check this out and they said we would receive something in January.
Didn't receive anything...

I then decided to log on our online account and try checking it from there instead. Apparantly our postcode and account number do not match their records, although we have never changed any details with them?

I contacted them via the online services and got an automated response stating I would hear back within 5 working days.
Never heard back.
I emailed again a month later, got the same automated response. Never heard back.

I am tearing my hair out because I feel it is our right to be able to see what they are charging us, and I strongly believe that they are still using estimates and we may not owe as much as they are making us think.

But also if we do owe so much, the £10 extra per month will pay off the £100 we owe, then at Christmas we will probably still be £100 in debt to them....I can sense a viscious circle here!!

Anyone have any suggestions on what our next step should be?

basill

Hi,
£25/month sounds pretty low for both gas and electric, have you been at that address long. My own montly amount started low and has shot up.
I got printouts of the last few quarterly staments from the website for checking and switching purposes. Are yours available there? They should tell you when the last proper meter reading was.

B

dawnylou

basill wrote:

Hi,
£25/month sounds pretty low for both gas and electric, have you been at that address long. My own montly amount started low and has shot up.
I got printouts of the last few quarterly staments from the website for checking and switching purposes. Are yours available there? They should tell you when the last proper meter reading was.

B

Been there for just over 2 years.
We usually are entitled to cash back at the end of the year, we both work shifts so flat is mostly empty.

I can't get any details online because apparantly our postcode and account number does not match their details anymore.
They can't really give us any info on the phone, but tbh I think it's more to do with a language barrier? They seem limited on responses!

pennies2pounds_3

Agree with Baz £25 is a bit low as I too have both with powergen. I pay around £42 a month which over a year seems to equal out to a slight overpay . Did you have yours 'capped' until 2008?

If its an online account you are supposed to give regular meter readings yourself - which will not then give you any nasty surprises. There is another post on here that actually ( without being to over zelous) says to tell powergen that your reading is higher so that you dont get clobbered for the higher unit prices when they occur - not that I condone that sort of behaviour- much

smartie1976

I know you've spoken to the call centre before, but can you not ring them back (with your account details) and verify that the p'code matches the acc number. (Your bills will reflect this also unless you can't find a recent one to check)
If they are the same then there is some other technical kind of problem and I would Write a letter of complaint.
Letters will be understood at least because they go to the UK corresp dept.
Send it recorded del and they won't be able to get say they didn't receive it.

dawnylou

Thanks everyone.

The main reason I'm querying this is like I said, we are hard;y ever home, yet my Mother who has a 3 bedroomed semi detached house (in comparison to our lil 2 bed flat) only pays about the same and she had overpaid.

I don't know what reading they have, and I don't know if it was meant to be capped. When they used to send postal invoices/statements they had the correct account number and postcode so I don't see why they shouldn't now.

I'm just getting so worked up, I am desperately trying to cut costs as we have more outgoing than we have coming in, but I'm scared to leave for someone who is cheaper because we can't afford to pay of the £100 we owe Powergen in order to move on, and also I'm worried that we might get the same treatment from other companies too.

I am really at a loss here!!

Guess I'll try writing to them.
Should I qoute my actual meter readings in the letter do you think?

Dodgybloke

If you have no joy with Powergen, contact the energy watchdog. They'll at least give you advice and possible courses of action. Details are (as they appear on their website)


Ofgem Website

Complaints and Enquiries:

If you have a consumer complaint or require information or advice regarding the energy industry you need to contact energywatch on their dedicated helpline: 0845 906 0708, or by Fax on: 020 7799 8341.

RNID Typetalk no: 18001 08459 060708
Web address: https://www.energywatch.org.uk
Email enquiries: enquiries@energywatch.org.uk

Ofgem's Consumer Affairs team manages enquiries regarding Ofgem's policies and ensures that matters are referred to energywatch appropriately. You can contact them on: 020 7901 7295, by fax at: 0207 901 7196, or via email at: consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk.

dawnylou

Many thanks - they have been in touch:

There seems to be some confusion between your property and another property and we need to investigate this.

Can you please confirm the meter serial numbers on your gas and electricity meters to assit with this, can you also obtain meter readings and send these back to us.



Kind regards

Joanna Webb
Powergen Email Centre


I think it is disgusting that there would be any confusion at all.
I don't understand how there can be any confusion at all??? They used to know all of our details, how can it now be confused after a year??

trevored

dawnylou wrote:

Many thanks - they have been in touch:

There seems to be some confusion between your property and another property and we need to investigate this.

Can you please confirm the meter serial numbers on your gas and electricity meters to assit with this, can you also obtain meter readings and send these back to us.



Kind regards

Joanna Webb
Powergen Email Centre


I think it is disgusting that there would be any confusion at all.
I don't understand how there can be any confusion at all??? They used to know all of our details, how can it now be confused after a year??

It looks like they're trying to sort it out for you so why are you "disgusted"????

Just give them the info!!

smartie1976

You wouldn't believe the data that gets mucked up over the years through system upgrades, changes, incorrect tariffs etc.
Give them the info - they're trying to sort it and the first thing they need to do is verify your device (meter) details and information.
Be as thorough as possible with the information you supply - it's for your own benefit. I would provide Meter serial numbers, Installation dates (if available - will be a sticker on the meter), current read, installation read (if known) number of dials, meter location, MPR & MPAN if you have them, if the meter is Prepayment, credit, economy 7 etc. Even the type of meter (eg schlumberger) is helpful.

dawnylou

trevored wrote:

It looks like they're trying to sort it out for you so why are you "disgusted"????

Just give them the info!!

I have and the reason I am disgusted is because they shouldn't have made such a !!!! up in the first place!

I have been with them all this time, and all of a sudden they confuse us with another property - and from what I am now learning - start sending all of our statements to an address in YORK??? unregister our online account and re-register it with the york address.


I don't understand why you are being so stroppy with me? I am sure you wouls feel exactly the same if you received this sort of treatment.