Bill received after using a prepayment meter

juniper99

When I moved into this property eight years ago prepayment meters were already installed so I carried on using them

I was with E.on a few years ago, switched to British Gas and my payments went up hugely so switched again to N Power who I am happy with, and I went back to paying around £18 a week for electricity and £12 for gas - I was with B.G. for about 2 months only

I recall all of my bills coming in with a credit amount as I always buy the same amount to put in the meter and there is usually a couple of quid left - if it has ever gone onto 'emergency credit', then it has deducted a small charge when topped up again - with B.G. it kept going onto the emergency, even one week when I bought £24 electricity!!!!

Then, recently I got a demand from E.on saying that I owed them over £200!!! I called them and asked how that could be and they said that when I was with them, they 'under-charged' me, therefore they stated I now owed this bill!!!! How the hell that could be right I don't know so I told them I had paid what I was asked on the meter and I also know I got my statements from them saying I was in credit - the operator told me even with those letters, they decided they undercharged so those bills are now meaningless!!!!!!!!!

I am now getting demands and threats from a company called UDS for this bill

What are my rights here?

Cardew

Technically you could run up a debit balance on the old meters if they were not set to the correct rate. The normal method of reclaiming this money was to rest the meters at the new rate 'plus a bit'. However that doesn't work if you change supplier before the debit balance is paid off.

Some companies write any such debt off(BG for one) others don't(presumably EON)

I assume UDS are a Debt Collection Agency(DCA) who have 'bought' the debt from EON.

You will get better advice about how to deal with a DCA in the 'debts' forum on MSE.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi juniper

I'm sorry to hear about the problems you are having.

It sounds as though you had an old token meter whilst we supplied you.

As Cardew says, one of the difficulties with these meters was they were not always re-set following price changes. This sometimes led to a debt building up as customers were under paying for their electricity.

I suspect the debt we are now chasing is a result of a catch up now the account has been billed to higher prices.

There are set guidelines we need to follow when looking at these types of account.

Each case needs to be looked at individually. Where, following a price change, we are at fault for not re-setting the meter within a reasonable time, then we will not collect the difference between the old and new prices.

I would suggest having another word with us. Ask for a complaint to be raised and a full review done on your old account. This will establish the actual reasons behind the outstanding amount. It will also delay any debt follow up whilst the complaint is investigated.

Hope this points you in the right direction juniper. Give me a shout if I can help further or drop an email to the address in my Profile. Would be happy to have a look for you.

Malc

chris1973

one of the difficulties with these meters was they were not always re-set following price changes

And is that the fault of the consumer??. Perhaps if you are going to routinely hike / change prices several times over a period then you should perhaps ensure you have the staff / logistics in place to cope with and make those changes where they are required?. Just a thought....

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi chris

This was a problem on the old style token prepayment meters. Each time prices changed, an engineer needed to visit each property with a token meter and actually put the new prices on the meter.

Access was often a problem as a lot of customers were at work, away from home or would not always allow us into their properties.

Several years ago we, along with most other suppliers, started a programme to replace all token meters throughout the UK with the new key type.

Key meters allow electronic messages to be sent between the supplier and the meter. This now allows us to re-set prices without having to physically visit the property. Consequently, new prices can be set on the meter with no delay whatsoever.

There are still a few token meters out there but the vast majority have now been replaced.

Hope this clarifies the steps we have taken to resolve this problem, chris. Give me a shout if you need any more details as would be happy to advise.

Malc

Cardew

chris1973 wrote: »

And is that the fault of the consumer??. Perhaps if you are going to routinely hike / change prices several times over a period then you should perhaps ensure you have the staff / logistics in place to cope with and make those changes where they are required?. Just a thought....

According to the National Housing Federation, there are 6 million pre-pay customers.

Have you given a thought to the logistics/staff that would have been required to reset 6 million meters when they all were token meters? - especially when access to properties during the day is not possible in many cases.

Just a thought;)

chris1973

Have you given a thought to the logistics/staff that would have been required to reset 6 million meters when they all were token meters?

Well the utility companies managed to find the time to find the resources to fit the 6 million meters in the first place, so compared to the time required to do that, manually reprogramming the unit charge to those meters which still require this, should be a doddle - probably taking minutes. Besides, according to the EON rep a roll out of replacing these old token meters with key meters which are adjusted remotely has been underway for some time, so I seriously doubt that your statistics of 6 million prepay customers are all still using the old token system.

Besides, I would imagine that those who are on a pre-pay system are not all on there voluntarily, a sizeable chunk will be using it, purely because they are either in existing debt to the utility companies or in danger of becoming in debt to them, so have chosen to take this option to avoid yet another financial millstone around their necks.

So in short, some Prepay customers are ironically the ones in society who are least likely to be in a position to pay back 'x' number of months worth of back charges, either in one go or through increased payments during future use. I just see that as renewing a vicious circle. These people are already petrified of flicking a switch or turning on their central heating, its only fair that increased charges should be paid / subtracted from their next top up, not months after the event nor in one lump sum, an action which surely negates the whole point of giving the customer full control over their existing energy usage and helping them to avoid getting into further debt to the company in the first place.

You don't see the phone companies chasing PAYG customers up for £200 worth of back charges months later, you either have credit or you don't, end of.

I don't care whether the business in question is a utility company or a high street store, the onus should be on the company to bill their customers accurately and at the actual point of sale.

Good to see at least some utility companies like BG have some common sense in this area and are clearly doing the right thing by their customers.

Either way, if updating these meters is a logistical nightmare, then maybe they should do what other companies do when they are short staffed, and start recruiting in order to either update these meters on time or work quickly to upgrade them with newer models. I believe there are more than 2 million people out there to choose potential employees from and judging by the profits the utility companies post every year, there is plenty in the coffers to pay them!.

Cardew

chris1973 wrote: »

, so I seriously doubt that your statistics of 6 million prepay customers are all still using the old token system.

Whoa - don't attack the messenger!

Originally all meters were pre-pay. My Grandparents kept loads of shillings to feed the meter; the logistic effort was to replace pre-pay with credit meters!!

I didn't say there were 6 million pre-pay customers on the old token system! I said there were 6 million pre-pay customers. When tokens were the only method available,(and there were 6 million) it was impossible to update them on the date of the price increase.

That, as explained above, was the main reason they changed from token to key meter.

From Hansard:

A substantial number of people have pre-pay meters—3.5 million electricity meters in 26 million meters overall and 2.2 million gas pre-pay meters in 20 million overall. People have pre-pay meters for a variety of reasons: some because it helps with budgeting; some because they got into debt under previous arrangements and the meter was installed, among other things, to repay their energy debts; and some because they have inherited the meters from previous tenants or owners.

Hansard states 5.7 million not 6 million!!

Not sure of the points you are making in the rest of your post! Other than you don't like pre-pay meters(who does!!)

kjsmith7

I quite like the top up at home option - it was the only thing I disliked about my old prepayment meter. I remember having a new key meter fitted, the engineer explained it would send meter readings and receive messages every time I topped up the meter. Much better idea.


I think they'll all probably have a similar logistical nightmare when it comes to fitting all those smart meters in a few years time.