Excessive Electric and Gas Bills - threatened with being disconnected

benfidge

Hi

We're using Southern Electric as our gas and electricity supplier and have a massive dispute with them regarding our usage.

They believe we are using over £100 of electricity and £70 of gas PER MONTH. We live in an average size 3 bedroomed house.

I started taking meter readings over the course of a month between March and April this year and we consumed the following:

Gas: 322 units (at 3.4p/unit) == £10.95
Elec: 510 units (at 11.8p/unit) == £60.18

That's about £70 for the month (during one the colder months) - obviously summer has seen us use far less of both.

Southern Elctric say they are using telephone based readings and are adament their readings are correct. I've asked for monthly breakdown of our usage but they refuse. Can anyone shed any light on what they mean by telephone readings?

I'm absolutely convinced we are being charged far more than they claim we are but am now faced with £2200 worth of bills which we have to pay immediately otherwise we will be disconnected.

Something is seriously awry here as friends with a far bigger house use about £80/month worth of electric and gas as a comparison.

Where do we stand with this and how do we verify who is correct? I'm totally convinced something is wrong here.

Kind regards

Ben

DVardysShadow

Never mind monthly this monthly that. Is the £2000 bill based on readings printed on the bill and do they agree with your meters?

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

The only way to settle any dispute is to get the exact consumption in kWh from actual(not estimated) meter readings over a period of 12 months.

The £100 & £70 you quote may be to catch up on underpayment.

If we take your electricity. As you use gas, electricity consumption doesn't vary hugely over the year.

Now 510 units in a month indicates over 6,000kWh pa which is approx twice the national average.

Also you cannot take 510 units and multiply by 11.8p. All tariffs have a standing charge or a higher price for the first xxx units.

With gas you simply cannot take a month in march as a guide to annual consumption. Again there are additional charges.

Have you considered VAT?

To run up a £2,200 bill you must have been with Southern for a long while. Presumably there have been lots of estimated bills which you haven't corrected?

You really must post some full consumption/price details if you want more help.

You cannot simply state that you are conviced it is wrong without some form of proof.