1st electricity bill in 3 years

funkaduck

mattcanary wrote: »

If it is the supplier's fault that they have not been billing you, then you should only have to pay back one year's worth of charges. That is what the utility guidelines state - however, they are only guidelines.
It sounds to me as if the fault here does rest primarily with the supplier. They (or the contracted firm) have been reading the meter regularly but still not been billing you. And it would appear they were previously billing you - I'm guessing the bills stopped arriving after your meter was changed? If that is the case, it opens up another can of worms.

the bills stopped coming after i asked them to prove how much power i have used because there was no units on the bill , i'me not going to pay for something that they cant prove , i have 2 meters and it seam to be confusing them because they say i only have 1 , but the contracted company that takes the readings always takes the readings from the 2 meters , . about 6 months ago a meter reader came up from Glasgow which is 300 miles away specially to come to my house , he said i have been sent to your house only and now i am driving back , so i explained about the 2 meters and he well it said hear that you only have 1 so i showed him the 2 and he was confused but he took both readings . now to make things even more confusing , i have just called them and they say this £4000 bill is only from march to September 09 , so i said but i haven't paid for 3 years and there no way we could have used £4000 in 6 months . they said ignore that bill and we will investigate and get bake to you , but that is what they said 3 years ago:(

kjsmith7

Hello It's likely that your two meters are confusing the energy supplier. It's very likely that one of the meters is a 'normal'/'day' meter and the other is a 'low'/'night' meter, as opposed to having one meter with two readings on it. I would suggest writing down the meter serial numbers (will be printed on the meters) and comparing them to the bill. It could be that you're being back charged for one of the meters if they've only just added it? Either way, it's a good idea to speak with your supplier to see what details they have for your meter(s).

Stompa

This may be of interest:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=21489887

kjsmith7

They can only charge you for the last 12mo, but it still means you'll have a balance to pay of around £1,000. You should be able to spread it out, though, but expect a high DD for a year or two!! Just a thought, but when you last had a bill that would have been 3 years ago, so based on price rises a £600 a year usage would very likely be over £1,000 now. Also, check the most recent meter reading is correct before you are back billed, just to avoid any extra complications.

funkaduck

wow that is excellent that's really helpful thanks stompa

Gerrard_8_lfc

Hold on

You knew about not being billed ? why didn't you contact your supplier to chase a bill. I am sure the backbilling code only applies if you have made attempts to the supplier for the bill and still never got one so you may be asked to pay the full amount.

You used the energy at the end of the day.

spiro

kjsmith7 wrote: »

Hello It's likely that your two meters are confusing the energy supplier. It's very likely that one of the meters is a 'normal'/'day' meter and the other is a 'low'/'night' meter, as opposed to having one meter with two readings on it. I would suggest writing down the meter serial numbers (will be printed on the meters) and comparing them to the bill. It could be that you're being back charged for one of the meters if they've only just added it? Either way, it's a good idea to speak with your supplier to see what details they have for your meter(s).

The other scenario is that one meters records day and night for the property while the 2nd meter only records the elec heating. This means you can sometimes have 2 Meter Point Admin Numbers (MPANs) on your bill not one.

lee5768

why are alot of you people jumping into this thread just to flame this woman for
the mistake she has made

coments like why didn't you do this or why didnt you do that are not helping her at all
she already knows she's made a mistake in leaving it so long and she knows it isnt free
she can tell that by the huge bill.

to the OP I hope energywatch help you out.

DirectDebacle

funkaduck wrote: »

the bills stopped coming after i asked them to prove how much power i have used because there was no units on the bill , i'me not going to pay for something that they cant prove , i have 2 meters and it seam to be confusing them because they say i only have 1 , but the contracted company that takes the readings always takes the readings from the 2 meters , . about 6 months ago a meter reader came up from Glasgow which is 300 miles away specially to come to my house , he said i have been sent to your house only and now i am driving back , so i explained about the 2 meters and he well it said hear that you only have 1 so i showed him the 2 and he was confused but he took both readings . now to make things even more confusing , i have just called them and they say this £4000 bill is only from march to September 09 , so i said but i haven't paid for 3 years and there no way we could have used £4000 in 6 months . they said ignore that bill and we will investigate and get bake to you , but that is what they said 3 years ago:(

Not sure if I am reading this correctly but it seems to me the OP did request a bill

Three years ago a bill was received which was put into dispute . The OP requested to be re-billed correctly.

Six months ago a meter reader arrives and an amended bill for the period (March-September 09) is received by the O.P.

I am puzzled as to why the original bill that was disputed has not been corrected, if necessary, and re-issued. Why it has taken 3 years to sort out a billing problem. Why were no estimates of usage billed over this time. The OP says meter readings were taken regularly.

Why is it that a bill which according to the O.P. is for a six month period seems to contain 3 years worth of energy usage. Is that intended to circumvent the 1 year rule in some way?

I am not familiar with the ins and outs of the 1 year guideline but I would have thought that some responsibility lies with the energy company for allowing this situation to develop.

Agreed the OP should have made some provision for paying for energy usage but that is not the main issue. It needs to be established if the energy company have acted correctly or not and in accordance with the billing guidelines. If they have then the OP will have to make payment arrangements. If they have not then account needs to be taken of this.

Whether the OP has £4000 or not to pay the bill is beside the point. It has to be established if the bill is correct. It is not clear if the original billing problem has been resolved.

By the way for those that didn't know Energywatch ceased to exist in October 2008 and was incorporated into Consumer Focus.

funkaduck

"Why is it that a bill which according to the O.P. is for a six month period seems to contain 3 years worth of energy usage. Is that intended to circumvent the 1 year rule in some way? " I think there trying to rip me off they know they cant charge me for more than a year so there putting all the charges into six months ,