comercial premises

industrial

I am new to this Forum.
I have been doing some research to see if I can get any help with my problem.
The nearest thread I can find which is similar to mine is from not too long ago from
Blaydon1. As well as other discussions concerning the changing of meters.
Our problem is for commercial premises we rent to various tenants. When we purchased the business the electricity supply was connected to the vendors. We both read the meters each month, worked out the bill, we paid him, he paid the supplier. We charged the tenants rent all inclusive of all utility bills to ensure that there were no defaults. Approximately seven years ago the vendor sold his property and we disconnected our supply from him and had a new meter fitted to our property.
We have carried on as we had done for over twelve years paying for the electricity used from the one main meter for all the units.
During this time N Power our electricity supplier has read the meter several times.
When we have had an estimated bill we have given the readings and have been told that it was only a five digit reading. Until last November when they informed us that the metre had been read incorrect and they were discounting all the previous bills for the last five years and reissuing us with new ones.
Knowing we had paid on time, read the metre as they had told us and done themselves etc. we were not too concerned until a pile of new bills landed on our mat telling us we owed them nearly £40,000.
We have been in negotiation since then only to be passed from one person to another.
No-one will commit to anything.
This quarter’s bill has just arrived, where they state that the metre was read previously and the present has been estimated. After checking myself they have over estimated by over 16,000 units.
They present reading not being up to the previous they claim to have read.
Yesterday I received a letter with dials asking me to fill in my meter reading for them and I have received the standard letter telling me that if the outstanding balance is not payed within the next five days they will disconnect us, take us to court and charge us for a reconnection.
We do not feel that this is our fault at all. The person reading the meter should be to blame.
We have not used the electric past tenants have, we cannot go back to them now.
Can we still be liable for this full amount???

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Commercial accounts have none of the safeguards associated with domestic accounts I am afraid.

It is not clear from your post how far this error goes back, before the old vendor sold the business? when you got the business 7 years ago or for the last 5 years for which they say they are re-issuing bills.

I would put the matter in the hands of your solicitors and get him to ask for a detailed explanation.

industrial

Thank You for the reply Cardew,
They have taken the bills back five years, six including this year.
Said nothing about the previous.
We were paying 7p per unit now they have us on 13.86.
They are asking for over £400 v.a.t. alone on the estimated bill they have recently sent. You can imagine what they are charging us on the 40k.
In this economic climate we are losing tenants and are not in a position to take this to court with solictors,barristers etc.
Hence the reson I am asking for advice on here.

industrial

Any Advice please.

gillypep

Hi industrial

No advice I'm afraid but I sympathise having had this kind of trouble in the oast with NPower. Nowehere near your scale though :eek:. I paid up what I thought we owed in the end and they are still chasing me 2 years later for an extra £100.

The only thing I can advise is to write to NPower asking them for copies of all the bills that they think have been billed incorrectly and that you are seeking legal advice, this will hopefully stall them so at least you won't be cut off! Don't call, they are a waste of space and will tell you anything to get you off the phone and then deny that any discussion or agreement took place. Also, send the letter by Special Delivery and then they can't claim that they haven't received it.

Call CAB tomorrow and they can hopefully help.

And switch from NPower!!

gilly

industrial

Thanks gillypep,
They sent us copies of the bills when they cancelled out all the previous bills we had paid them.
We have been calling them for nearly twelve months now...its not us stalling its them.
They seem to have us over a barrel and there is nothing we can do but pay up to their demands. Until we do they will not allow us to switch to another provider.
Will try the C.A.B

gillypep

Let us know how you get on industrial. NPower don't know one thing from another depending who you speak to. Complete nightmare company.