Big Bill - Interesting Phone Call

SpencerDavies1

Hi,

I received a bill yesterday from EDF Energy. It was for about £1,200, and was for electricity from Early Jan 08 to Jun 09.

I don't use much electricity, but this seemed pretty fair. I thought I had been paying it as I signed up with DD when I first moved in, not sure how I could have missed that one!

Anyway, I rang up to ask if I could pay in installments, and the operator said that was fine, but I might want to hold off from paying anything right now as EDF energy cannot charge me for electricity over a year ago if I have never received a bill. As there was some confusion with my account, completely wrong name, wrong amount (£4.82, i wish), she said she'd refer it to her manager and get back to me.

Wondering if anyone has heard of this before??

kippen_noedel

yes, it comes under back billing, wait to see if she gets back to you with a revised "estimate"

DreamerV

I remember in my old family home, we had just paid dd every month and didn't really pay attention...anyhow after a few years (3 comes to my mind) they realised the meter hadn't budged in that time (they hadn't checked it in all that time) and they tried to back bill us. However they could only back bill for the last year, and they couldn't know how much we used in that year. We still paid them a fairly reasonable estimate of a year (bearing in mind one person less in the household who used most of the electricity/heating). I have heard of the one year rule because of that.

Cardew

The one year backbilling rule is in the billing code and has been discussed many times on this forum.

However it is not as straightfoward as it seems; in particular for new occupants. i.e. you cannot move into a property and take no steps to contact the supplier. This is because properties can remain unoccupied for years and the Utility company have no way of knowing if, and when, it was occupied.

Essentially it is to cover instances where the Utility company are at fault and not raised a bill for over a year.
NOTE: not raising a bill is note the same as the occupier claiming not to have received a bill.

So in the OP's case it will depend on EDF accepting that they were contacted by the OP in Jan 2008 when moving in. If the company are at fault they can only bill back to Jun 2008.

Fire_Fox

SpencerDavies1 wrote: »

Hi,

I received a bill yesterday from EDF Energy. It was for about £1,200, and was for electricity from Early Jan 08 to Jun 09.

I don't use much electricity, but this seemed pretty fair. I thought I had been paying it as I signed up with DD when I first moved in, not sure how I could have missed that one!

How can £1200 be fair if you don't use much electricity? Have you read the meter?