Huge electric bill. Anything i can do?

l33ble

After many an hour spent googling regulations.

I phoned the company and stated that due to the code of practice for accurate billing, they could only back bill me for 12 months maximum.

They have to accept responsibility due to:-
1, they failed to send out any bills
2, there has never been an issue with receiving payment - direct debit
3, i haven't been avoiding contact - actual meter readings

After being put on hold for 8 mins, they came back and stated i was correct, and anything older than 12 months will be written off (about £800)

Apparently they should have volunteered this information when i first called them, but lets be honest, they would rather have the money.

Anyway glads it's sorted, and from now on i will be a lot more vigilant (and hopefully the wife will speak to me now, because its all my fault apparently, although i told her it was her hairdryer)

dogshome

Hi 133ble - Great result but I don't understand how a £300 credit given against the "No back-billing beyond 12 months" rule, equates to bills worth £1390 over 4 years, as this leaves you paying £1090 for one years electricity when your average cost was £347.50

I don't know exactly when your account started, ( "Just under 4 yers ago"), nor do I know the exact date on which your supplier finally produced bills, but for an illustrations sake lets assume your supply started on 30 Dec 2005 and your bills when you got them, were dated 15 December 2009

For the current year 16 Dec 08 - 15 Dec 09 You pay app .................£347.50
For previous year 16 Dec 07 - 15 Dec 08 app.£347.50 12 month time barred ..... Nil
For previous year 16 Dec 06 - 15 Dec 07 app.£347.50 12 month time barred .... Nil
For previous year 16 Dec 05 - 15 Dec 06 app.£347.50 12 month time barred ..... Nil

Whlist the above calculations are rough & ready, they do show your Credit should be in the region of £1,042 - You now have the bills so you can work it out exactly - Put it this way, you will get paid around £700 for a few hours homework
Good Luck

Premier_2

dogshome wrote: »

Hi 133ble - Great result but I don't understand how a £300 credit given against the "No back-billing beyond 12 months" rule, equates to bills worth £1390 over 4 years, as this leaves you paying £1090 for one years electricity when your average cost was £347.50

I don't know exactly when your account started, ( "Just under 4 yers ago"), nor do I know the exact date on which your supplier finally produced bills, but for an illustrations sake lets assume your supply started on 30 Dec 2005 and your bills when you got them, were dated 15 December 2009

For the current year 16 Dec 08 - 15 Dec 09 You pay app .................£347.50
For previous year 16 Dec 07 - 15 Dec 08 app.£347.50 12 month time barred ..... Nil
For previous year 16 Dec 06 - 15 Dec 07 app.£347.50 12 month time barred .... Nil
For previous year 16 Dec 05 - 15 Dec 06 app.£347.50 12 month time barred ..... Nil

Whlist the above calculations are rough & ready, they do show your Credit should be in the region of £1,042 - You now have the bills so you can work it out exactly - Put it this way, you will get paid around £700 for a few hours homework
Good Luck

Unfortunately this is not entirely correct.
Suppliers can take account of paymnents already made by DD - only the difference (if any) cannot be back billed under the back billing rule.

dogshome

Hi Premier - I know from your regular postings that you have a much greater knowledge of the small print in the Utility Supply regulations than myself.

The only time I have been personally involved in a Back-billing claim was on behalf of a close relative, who despite paying regular D/D's from the day the account was opened, did not recieve any bills for 3.5 years. The provider, in this case Southern Electric, simply applied the accumulated D/D value to the final years billing, which produced a huge credit that they paid by cheque - But this may have been just a generous gesture by an embaressed SE

Premier_2

To avoid others spending hours googling, the Energy Retail Code of Practice for Accurate Bills (the 12 month back billing rules) are availble here:

http://www.energy-retail.org.uk/customerbilling.html

It's best to read both lkinks as the FAQs clarify how the code should be applied.

In particular on page 4 of the FAQ file:

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

Of course, suppliers may well decide to go further than the code requires in a goodwill gesture if they so decide.

Gerrard_8_lfc

l33ble wrote: »

After many an hour spent googling regulations.

I phoned the company and stated that due to the code of practice for accurate billing, they could only back bill me for 12 months maximum.

They have to accept responsibility due to:-
1, they failed to send out any bills
2, there has never been an issue with receiving payment - direct debit
3, i haven't been avoiding contact - actual meter readings

After being put on hold for 8 mins, they came back and stated i was correct, and anything older than 12 months will be written off (about £800)

Apparently they should have volunteered this information when i first called them, but lets be honest, they would rather have the money.

Anyway glads it's sorted, and from now on i will be a lot more vigilant (and hopefully the wife will speak to me now, because its all my fault apparently, although i told her it was her hairdryer)

The rest of us will just pay for that £800 then as you did use that electricity no question.

A supplier may be at fault for billing but you still used the energy. What benefit of this legislation to bill paying customers get ?? nothing...

This is everything that wrong with the country we stay in people can run up massive debts the wriggle out of them.

PlasticMonster

I am in a similar position, my final bill has been calculated as £1256!

This was due similarly to yours to incorrect estimated bills, the last meter reading they managed to do was back in Nov 04 so I have a 5 year period to catch up on. The landlord in my flat installed a fridge in front of the meter cupboard, each time they came to read it they just said not to bother pulling it out and that an estimated would be fine.

Additionally the figures now make it that they were 50% out on the estimate, I should have been paying circa £65 not £35 per month as I had been. Basing the fact they had three years of accurate figures to calculate my usage on im stunned they were this far out.

Because this was my first house and the electric bills were all green, and the meter reader guys didnt seem worried, I stupidly thought all was fine.

I have spoken to consumer direct but they have basically said its up for negotiation and that there is no hard and fast ruling on what I can suggest should be taken from the bill.

I would be interested in anyone elses view on this, ill update as it pans out with the hope that someone else can benefit from knowing this stuff in advance.

Whilst I can partly see the point the British Gas employee previously makes, I would suggest that when buying a house and working out budgets the first years are always tight, if a company through a lassie faire attitude places someone in a position of hardship, I feel they have a moral obligation to assist in correcting the issue. I was neither obstructive nor difficult with them in the process obtaining readings yet find myself in this predicament.

Premier_2

PlasticMonster wrote: »

I am in a similar position, my final bill has been calculated as £1256!

This was due similarly to yours to incorrect estimated bills, the last meter reading they managed to do was back in Nov 04 so I have a 5 year period to catch up on. ...

To be fair, your position is not the same at all.

The OP's situation is a failure to re-assess their monthy payments at least every 15 months

You have estimated bills. You are given the option to supply your own readings and presumably you didn't, and therefore have been paying the correct amount based on those (incorrect) estimated meter readings.
The 12 month back billing rule does not apply in your situation.

I am surprised consumer direct suggested anything should be discounted from the bill. You used the electricity and you should therefore pay for that electricity. Ensure the bill is recalculated back to the last actual reading so that advantage can be made of the lower unit prices that existed then

hatfull1982

Despite chasing when we first moved into our new build flat many times we have now recieved a bill from July 07 - Nov 09 for £2100 for our electric for a 2 bed flat. It is a letter as opposed to a bill so we don't have an exact breakdown per quarter or know our charges breakdown.
We knew our supplier was EDF Energy and we called 6 times over 6 months to no avail when we moved in, and we didn't have and still don't have access to our meter and we are not even sure where it is located despite chasing with our developer to which wrongly we gave up chasing. Our developer forwarded us our bill today and I wanted to seek any information before we respond.

Is it correct that they can now only charge us for usage from Nov 08 or are we still fully liable for the total?
Can we demand access to our meter? and would anyone know if this should be from the developer or our energy supplier?

Any help is gratefully recieved, thanks in advance,

Becky

Cardew

hatfull1982 wrote: »

Despite chasing when we first moved into our new build flat many times we have now recieved a bill from July 07 - Nov 09 for £2100 for our electric for a 2 bed flat. It is a letter as opposed to a bill so we don't have an exact breakdown per quarter or know our charges breakdown.
We knew our supplier was EDF Energy and we called 6 times over 6 months to no avail when we moved in, and we didn't have and still don't have access to our meter and we are not even sure where it is located despite chasing with our developer to which wrongly we gave up chasing. Our developer forwarded us our bill today and I wanted to seek any information before we respond.

Is it correct that they can now only charge us for usage from Nov 08 or are we still fully liable for the total?
Can we demand access to our meter? and would anyone know if this should be from the developer or our energy supplier?

Any help is gratefully recieved, thanks in advance,

Becky

How did you know EDF were your supplier?

The one-year back billing rule only applies if the company are at fault. With new builds they rarely will admit they are at fault - as they usually are not. They have no idea when properties are occupied or not.

It really is no good calling EDF without a meter serial number, they will usually have no record of the address. Did you write to them?

I think you will have great difficulty in proving other than you are at fault.