£1200 electric bill please help!

lillycat_3

I recently moved out of a 2 bedroomed apartment that i lived in for a year with my boyfriend. the apartment had storage heaters and was on ecomony 7- although the heaters stopped working in october and the landlord did not fix them until january. On moving into the apartment we were told that the meters had been read and the readings had been given to our electric supplier eon. Our meter was locked in a room with all the other apartments meters and so we paid estimated bills all year. we had requested readings to be taken throughout the year by the care taker of the building but never recieved a reading. We have paid around £600 in estimated bills. On moving out we finally managed to get a final reading taken by the care taker. We were expecting a small final bill or even for eon to owe us some money since we had used no heating over the winter months, we were on economy 7 and both of us worked during the day. We were horrified when we recieved a final bill of £639, bringing the years total to over £1200!


We suspect that the initial reading taken before we moved in was given inaccurately or the wrong meter was looked at. After contacting eon they have said we can pay in small instalments- but we haven't used anywhwere near that amount of electricity. Eon said that there was a chance that the day and night rates could have swopped around and to take 2 readings a week apart. My boyfriend went back to our old apartment and was present when the care taker took a reading however now the care taker is not returning any of our calls to give us the second reading. This is turning out to be a nightmare as eon have set a deadline for the bill to be paid but we also have to pay the water, electric and other bills for the flat that we are currently living in.
How can we prove that the initial reading was wrong or that the wrong meter was looked at? Any advice welcome. please help!

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi lillycat

I do understand how difficult it is to manage your electricity when you don't have access to your meter.

Is it possible for you or your boyfriend to go back to the old apartment again as it doesn't look as though the caretaker is being very co-operative?

What you need to do is make a note of the serial number on the meter. It will be on a plaque on the front of the meter.

Check this matches the serial number on your bills. If it does, then we will have charged to the correct meter. If not, contact us straight away and tell us as this will indicate a crossed meter. This means you will have been charged for someone else's electricity.

At the same time make a note of both readings and the time of day. Is the apartment currently occupied?

If it is, is there a chance the new tenants will help you with this? If they will, ask them to boil a kettle and see which reading moves. This will tell you which reading is which.

Call us with this info and we can determine whether or not you have been charged to the correct readings.

If there are new occupants it will be in their interest to help. Should your readings be the wrong way round the likelihood is theirs will be too.

Did the landlords keep a note of the opening readings? If they did, do they match the readings used to open your account?

Should the opening and closing readings turn out to be correct then you will have used the electricity and this will need paying for.

You say we have already offered you a payment plan. Over how many months is this arrangement? It may be we can extend this if you are struggling. Talk to us about this.

Hope this helps but give me a shout if you need more info.

Malc

Premier_2

£1200 p.a. for a property heated by storage heaters (even if they didn't work between Oct & Jan) is actually quite low usage - well done!

When you move into a rented property, always ensure that meter readings are recorded and agreed on the ingoing inventory/statement of condition, and make sure you supply them to the supplier even if the landlord/agent says they will do it anyway.

If you are the named person on the account, you have the responsibility to allow access to the supplier to that meter. Also the isolation valve/switch is usually located next to the meter too. Beware of any landlord who wants you to be responsible for the utility accounts but refuses you access to the meter and the safety devices alongside.