Huge electric bill. Anything i can do?

l33ble

I moved into my first house just under 4 years ago.
I contacted the electricity company to set up a direct debit for whatever i was due each month. They stated that i had to set a prepaid amount (which they suggestd £15 a month) and then they would review it in 3 months, and let me know if it needed to be increased. My naiivety agreed.

I never heard from them, at all.
I have had engineers round to read the meter, but i have never had a statement.

I was speaking to a colleague, who stated how much he paid each month, and it got me thinking that something can't be right.

I contacted my supplier, stating that i have never had a statement, or a review, and asked for all my statements.

I have now been hit with a bill for £1389.99!
I phoned up, stating that i can't afford this, especially at this time of year, and asked why it hadn't been flagged sooner. As, accordingly to my statements, my 1st month wasn't enough of a payment.

The company confirmed that "something hasn't worked" and confirmed that i have had meter readings, but they have never sent a statement out.
They are changing my payment to £100 a month to chip away at the bill, but is there anything i can do?
They have basically admitted it was their fault for not managing my account, but do i just take it on the chin, as now i feel i should have checked a heck of a lot sooner.
It is a great ploy to keep me as a customer for another few years.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Your post does not sound correct - sorry to put it like that but there is a basic contradiction.

You state "that i have never had a statement" and repeat that allegation "but they have never sent a statement out."

Yet you state "As, accordingly to my statements, my 1st month wasn't enough of a payment"

All suppliers know that if they haven't sent out a bill, they cannot back-bill more than 12 months.

That is having sent a bill, which is different to you not receiving a bill.

In essence you have the responsibility to manage your own account, you have been using the electricity. As you say you should have checked a lot sooner.

If they didn't send you a bill, you have have every grounds to get a lot written off.

DSmiffy

Cardew wrote: »

Welcome to the forum.

Your post does not sound correct - sorry to put it like that but there is a basic contradiction.

You state "that i have never had a statement" and repeat that allegation "but they have never sent a statement out."

Yet you state "As, accordingly to my statements, my 1st month wasn't enough of a payment"

All suppliers know that if they haven't sent out a bill, they cannot back-bill more than 12 months.

That is having sent a bill, which is different to you not receiving a bill.

In essence you have the responsibility to manage your own account, you have been using the electricity. As you say you should have checked a lot sooner.

If they didn't send you a bill, you have have every grounds to get a lot written off.

I think the OP stated that they had never received a statement and so asked for all statements to be posted to them, and so subsequently checked the statements once received.

it could be that somewhere on your account a box has been ticked that states you want paperless billing, which means you have to remember to check your bill online.

I have had accounts like this before, they stink, I know, but the supplier knows that most people just let it float along and never bother to log in and check them.

dannymccann

Could understand automatic paperless billing in these stupid eco-green times, but 4 years ago no one cared that much so doubt very much it would of been automatic?

l33ble

To clarify,

I had never received any statements until i contacted them last week.

I then received a running statement from the beginning, which shows that i was underpaying after the first 3 months (when they were meant to review) and subsequently thereafter.

In regards to the paperless billing. I have since tried to register the account online, to keep an eye on it, but it states i cannot register a pre-pay account. Therefore it is impossible that i could have received any statements.

As you can imagine, i do feel rather sheepish for leaving it this long, and i am not expecting to not pay. I am just wondering if there is any way to get it reduced, due to the fact that they never reviewed it or sent a statement out.

[Deleted User]

why should you get it reduced and have other users pay for the fact that you have been less than observant?

dogshome

Hi 133ble - In July 2005 a rule was introduced whereby if a supplier had failed to send out bills thro' their own fault, they could not back-bill for more than 2 years - In 2006 this was shortened to 1 year.
If your post details are correct, you should not be billed for anything 12 months older than the date they actually issued the batch of bills
Good Luck.

Premier_2

l33ble wrote: »

...In regards to the paperless billing. I have since tried to register the account online, to keep an eye on it, but it states i cannot register a pre-pay account. Therefore it is impossible that i could have received any statements....

You haven't got a pre-pay account. Else you wouldn't owe that sort of money.

Pre-pay may mean pre-payment meter or can mean pay in advance e.g a year or more.

You are paying monthly by DD, the ideal customer for online account access.

Unless the supplier is claiming that you have not co-operated with attempts to obtain meter readings, then the 12 month back billing rule probably applies as they appear to have failed to reassess your payments at least every 15 months

l33ble

Thank you for your responses.

Kittie, i see your name suits.

I thought the idea of a forum was to ask questions about topics you don't understand, and get productive answers. I missed the small print that states "have a dig at someone when they make a simple enquiry"

Again, maybe its my mistake!

Premier_2

The forum is a place for discussion. You can't control the style of the responses to suit your desired outcome. That was actually your mistake

It was probably also not a good idea to start criticising what others post on only your third post if you really wanted help (but I suspect you've probably posted here a lot more before haven't you ). This forum has a forum etiquette:

"Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps."

wornoutmumoftwo

If the £100 is too much each month then give them a call and negotiate, although it ill drag out the repayments longer.