Southern Electric charged me £1782 for 6 months in a small flat!

scog

Hi there, I moved into my flat (which is a small 2 bedroom place) in December 2008 and have been told that in this time I have spent £1782 on electricity. This seems absurd considering that only 2 people live here and the place is usually empty. I did receive a letter from Southern Electric asking me to call up and give my readings which I did (I was also told on the phone that the bill was around the £600 mark), however the letter received today said they have not heard from me which is wrong.

I cannot afford this and am shocked that is such a high amount considering my last home was a house with three people and cost a fraction of this for the same period (also Southern Electric). Obviously I would like this resolved as soon as possible, I tried calling their customer service line but was put on hold for half an hour so decided to write their head of C/S an email instead.

I am very careful with electricity (only run the washing machine after 12.30, leave everything switched off, rarely use the heating, use energy saver light bulbs etc) and cannot believe this is accurate at all. To top it off I lost my job on monday so am quite scared that I am not going to be able to pay this off. Any advice on what I could do about this would be appreciated!

Magentasue

scog wrote: »

Hi there, I moved into my flat (which is a small 2 bedroom place) in December 2008 and have been told that in this time I have spent £1782 on electricity... and cannot believe this is accurate at all. To top it off I lost my job on monday so am quite scared that I am not going to be able to pay this off. Any advice on what I could do about this would be appreciated!

First of all, you need to check whether the bill is accurate.

Look at the meter readings on all bills/statements. You will have given an opening reading on the day you moved in, check that was used. Check the latest reading is accurate. If they are accurate, it is possible that you do owe the full balance. You could have avoided the shock by checking your meter regularly and that's what you need to do from now on - at least monthly.

If incorrect readings are being used on your bill, you need to inform SE and work out what you do owe.

You then need to work out a repayment plan. £1800 for six months is very high - if it is correct, you need to find out why. Do you have electric heating? If so what type and are you on Economy 7? If so, are day and night readings being used the right way round?

Check you are being billed for the correct meter by checking the serial numbers on the bill and meter.

Cardew

Did you check the meter reading when you moved in?

In many cases people end up paying for previous tenants electricity because of this.

emmasmum01

can't see how they've come up with such an absurd amount of electricity usage.
i'm fortunate enough to live in a very large 6 bed house and in the winter i have my heating on for quite a few hours as it take so long to heat up but i only ever pay £20pw in winter. Find out why they're billing you every 6 months when most bill people quarterly.

Vestra

Did you take readings when you moved in? Do you have readings now? What are they? What readings are you being billed for?

x-alia-x

Hi Scog, i too have found myself in the same predicament!!! I recieved my bill today and i owe a combined amount of £2100 for my gas and electricity since November.

I switched providers so i am not paying for someone else's fuel... i just don't understand how they have calculated my bill.

if you get anywhere with southern electric, let me know, cos right now i am pretty concerned how i am going to pay it!!!!

Magentasue

x-alia-x wrote: »

i just don't understand how they have calculated my bill.

What don't you understand?

Are the meter readings correct and are they estimated or actual? If they're estimated (E), are they reasonably close to the actual readings?

scog

Just an update, my bill was reduced to £782.86 when I contacted the head of customer service who admitted they had made a mistake. Still an awful lot of money but about £1000 less then they originally wanted!

Fire_Fox

scog wrote: »

Just an update, my bill was reduced to £782.86 when I contacted the head of customer service who admitted they had made a mistake. Still an awful lot of money but about £1000 less then they originally wanted!

Are you on an expensive tariff such as 'standard'? Have you used a price comparison site?