Problem with previous energy supplier and moving

tw02cow

Advice required please on my problem with billing. I won't say who the supplier is as I don't them chipping in with their biased opinion if any of them are floating about.

I moved house June 2009 and got a final reading from my building manager as I lived in a flat where all the meter readings were in a locked room. I gave this reading to the customer services department who informed me I was probably in credit and would get a cheque to refund the difference. This did not surprise me but pleased me, as I had been paying £115 a month for just me in a two bedroomed flat when I had no tumble dryer, barely cooked and only used one storage heater. I had always thought I had been paying over the odds but a couple of phone calls previously to the company to investigate the problem had been fruitless. So this was reasonable in my opinion.

I received a £510 cheque (I didn't realise it would be this much but made sense as for reasons above) which I put in my bank.

In approximately Feb of this year I received a bill for £472 at my new address (for my previous address). I rang them up to find out what was going on and was told that the week after I had moved my account had been reopened and this was the bill so far (June 2009 - Feb 2009). Of course I hadn't reopened my account so they said there had obviously been a mistake and would sort it out and sent me a bill for £0.00 to show they had fixed everything.

Yesterday I received 2 bills. One for £0.00 and one for £472 again. I rang again and they had to look into it but have told me that the reading I gave them when I left them was wrong. They quoted a couple of readings that were taken in person whilst I was there and one apparently by my letting agent a couple of weeks after I moved out. They do seem to make sense but given we are now a year down the line and I don't have any bills or a time machine I am unable to check the validity of their argument. It all sounds a bit fishy to me.

I would like to know where I stand on this? My point with them was if the reading was way out when I gave it, why on earth didn't the agent query it. They don't know the answer to this either. And what was all that story about me reopening my account that they spun me in Feb 2010?

Obviously I don't want to pay this money back. I have only just come off JSA, am on working tax credits and have no means of credit, having paid off an IVA a few months ago.

Do they have the right to make me pay this bill almost a year down the line?


Many thanks for any help!

dogshome

Hi tw02cow - I'm afraid that all this is down to the 'Meters in a locked room' set-up
You did exactly the right thing in getting a final reading from the house manager, but who's to know if he mis-read the meter, or even the wrong meter !
And the same thing applies to the reading he gave to the supplier 2 weeks after you left

OK - You were paying D/D's worth £1380 a year, which from what you say your useage was is on the high side for ECO 7, but not impossible. However to build up a credit of £510 would have taken several years - How long were you in this flat?

The easy route is to say "I got £510 cash-back, they now want £472 so I'm still £38 in pocket"
The hard route is demand copies of all the bills you had from the supplier - They have to supply them if asked - and check every one of them for estimated readings, accuracy and your historical use of power in previous years for the period in dispute.
All the best

tw02cow

Hi there, thanks for your reply.

I was there for 3 years. Where I am now I pay a third of this in fuel costs!

Yeah I understand that I am still £38 up but I have spent that money and will struggle to pay it back given my current situation. I understand that people make mistakes which is why I wish they had queried it when I gave it. And also who is to know what was right when a year has passed.

It's very annoying