Back Billing and Direct Debits

pwl

Hi

After 3 and a half years of trying to get my electricity account set up properly with BG and having a bill reflecting my dual rate meter, I have achieved some progress with a complaint letter.

Whilst they have agreed only to back bill for one year, they are not refunding any direct debits made before then. They have produced a bill for the 2.5 year period prior to the most recent 12 months, which shows consumption slightly above the total of direct debits made.

So, in effect, they have back billed me for the whole 3.5 years.

Is this correct and in line with the Code of Practice for Accurate Bills?

Many thanks.

pwl

pwl wrote: »

Hi

After 3 and a half years of trying to get my electricity account set up properly with BG and having a bill reflecting my dual rate meter, I have achieved some progress with a complaint letter.

Whilst they have agreed only to back bill for one year, they are not refunding any direct debits made before then. They have produced a bill for the 2.5 year period prior to the most recent 12 months, which shows consumption slightly above the total of direct debits made.

So, in effect, they have back billed me for the whole 3.5 years.

Is this correct and in line with the Code of Practice for Accurate Bills?

Many thanks.

If anyone can advise asap that would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

Cardew

Not sure what you mean by 'Code of Practice for Accurate bills'

The 12 month back-billing provision is if they have not raised a bill at all (and it is their fault)

If inaccurate, estimated or disputed bills meant that any of the Utility firms would be unable to collect under the 12 month provision, they would get little revenue!!

Without knowing full details of your problem it is not possible to comment further.

pwl

Cardew wrote: »

Not sure what you mean by 'Code of Practice for Accurate bills'

The 12 month back-billing provision is if they have not raised a bill at all (and it is their fault)

If inaccurate, estimated or disputed bills meant that any of the Utility firms would be unable to collect under the 12 month provision, they would get little revenue!!

Without knowing full details of your problem it is not possible to comment further.

Thanks, I will try to explain.

I transferred my electricity to BG Click Energy in 2006. A few months prior to the transfer, my single rate meter was changed to a dual rate meter.

A monthly direct debit was set up.

Despite providing BG with the correct opening readings they failed to set up my account as Click Energy and every time they produced a bill it was for a single rate meter.

I made numerous phone calls speaking to many different departments but all to no avail.

Last month I sent a letter of complaint to the MD detailing every event and phone call made etc.

Their response was to apply the back billing rule, withdrawing the outstanding balance from the account for electricity consumed over 12 months ago.

My question is whether, on that basis, they should refund all the direct debits made over 12 months ago or does "outstanding balance" mean the cost of any electrcicity consumed over 12 months ago less any direct debits made over 12 months ago?

If the latter then, where the outstanding balance is small, the net effect is that I would have been back billed for the whole time I have been with BG not just the most recent 12 months.

Many thanks.

Premier_2

See page 4 of these FAQ's

http://www.energy-retail.org.uk/documents/BillingCodeFAQs15Oct08.pdf

You will see that where the back billing rule applies, it means the customer will not be expected to make additional payments for energy consumed over 12 months ago.


In particular:

Where Suppliers issue a bill which has these principles applied, they will credit the account with the value of the unbilled energy consumed over 12 months ago, taking into consideration any payments already made by the Customer or credits applied to the account, so that the Customer is not required to pay any additional sums towards this previously unbilled energy consumption.

So you don't get the DD payments made over 12 months ago back (unless, of course, the value of those payments exceeds the value of the energy you consumed)

pwl

Premier wrote: »

See page 4 of these FAQ's

http://www.energy-retail.org.uk/documents/BillingCodeFAQs15Oct08.pdf

You will see that where the back billing rule applies, it means the customer will not be expected to make additional payments for energy consumed over 12 months ago.


In particular:

So you don't get the DD payments made over 12 months ago back (unless, of course, the value of those payments exceeds the value of the energy you consumed)

Many thanks for this Premier.

So, had I not been paying by Direct Debit, I would be in a much better position financially.

Cardew

pwl wrote: »

So, had I not been paying by Direct Debit, I would be in a much better position financially.

Surely that would only be the case if the quarterly bills(for the period ending 12 months ago) had been accurate?

However it must have been the case that the bills to that date were inaccurate and you would have been overcharged by the same amount and paid by cheque.

So you would still have been 'in credit' and they would have drawn that money from your credit balance to set against the last 12 months bills.

That said it really is a most unusual case, I can't think that they have acted within the 'spirit' of the regulations.

Personally I would think it well worth fighting the decision. BG are usually pretty good at making 'goodwill' payments where they have messed up accounts.

pwl

Cardew wrote: »

Surely that would only be the case if the quarterly bills(for the period ending 12 months ago) had been accurate?

However it must have been the case that the bills to that date were inaccurate and you would have been overcharged by the same amount and paid by cheque.

So you would still have been 'in credit' and they would have drawn that money from your credit balance to set against the last 12 months bills.

That said it really is a most unusual case, I can't think that they have acted within the 'spirit' of the regulations.

Personally I would think it well worth fighting the decision. BG are usually pretty good at making 'goodwill' payments where they have messed up accounts.

Thanks again.

They have offered a goodwill payment, but I think it needs to be more, given their inefficiency and all the hassle it has caused.

So, I will keep negotiating!