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Southern Electric
moonchild84
Posts: 1 Newbie
in Energy
Hi there! This is a complicated problem, which I will try to explain as briefly as possible!!
At our old address, where we lived for 3 years, left in May 2009. We had always recieved high bills for our electric - it was a 2 bedroom property, our electric was only used for lighting and appliances, and some water heating - we had oil fired central heating and water heating.
We ended up getting behind with our electric - for the first 2 years we were keeping up with the regular payments, but the bill amount kept creeping up and up as did our monthly direct debit. We were apparently on the cheapest tariff - I started calling in with regular meter readings to make sure the estimates weren't out - but we ended up paying more with the correct readings. We ended up after the end of our second year at the property paying something in the region of £150 per month for our electric usage!! The bills were'nt dropping, it was almost like paying the minimum amount on a credit card.
Anyway, my partner lost his job in our 3rd year there, and we were struggling on my part time wage, with two (soon to be three) children, and were not entitled to any help from the government. I ended up cancelling our direct debit and favouring buying food etc for the family, and only paying a bit here and there when I could afford it...
Our closing statement from Southern Electric ended up in the region of £2,439. We took daily meter readings at the same time each day in our last month there, and we were using between 50-52 units of electric a day - an appalling and somewhat strangely consistent amount! We had asked whether the meter was faulty several times, but got nowhere with that complaint.
Since moving into our new property in April 2009, we have a new supplier, British Gas.
Southern Electric carried on (and this bit is funny) sending us NEW (as in updated, recent) quarterly bills (we ended up getting two) to our NEW ADDRESS (printed on the letter) for the OLD ADDRESS!! So that was their first stupid mistake.
Ive called them several times, each time I recieve a letter about the debt, and told them that the amount is unreasonable, its not possible to use that amount of electric etc etc.... and they all agree, I even spoke to a Supervisor, who said "you'd have to be running a fairground from the property for it to be that much" but they always say "we'll call you back when we've spoken to our Manager" and I never hear from them, but phone or letter.
Last week, i recieved a "Debt collector" letter - they've passed on the debt. Im annoyed at this because its another mark against my credit rating, and they haven't even attempted to sort out the problem with me.
Theyve told me that they'll get someone out to the property to test the meter, and I dont hear from them.
The last person i spoke to told me that our usage is "exactly in-line with what the current tenants are using on a daily basis" and i pointed out that it's a huge coincidence that the current tentants are using exactly the same amount of electric we were using - so surely that points to a faulty meter??
Im reluctant to start paying anything, as for a start they havent tried to sort out the bill, and second, if the meter was faulty - who's to say that my 3 years worth of billing wasn't completely wrong??
Any thoughts on this, and does anybody know what I can do to sort it out - as Souhern Electric seem to prefer to ignore it and just keep sending me bills and passing it on!
At our old address, where we lived for 3 years, left in May 2009. We had always recieved high bills for our electric - it was a 2 bedroom property, our electric was only used for lighting and appliances, and some water heating - we had oil fired central heating and water heating.
We ended up getting behind with our electric - for the first 2 years we were keeping up with the regular payments, but the bill amount kept creeping up and up as did our monthly direct debit. We were apparently on the cheapest tariff - I started calling in with regular meter readings to make sure the estimates weren't out - but we ended up paying more with the correct readings. We ended up after the end of our second year at the property paying something in the region of £150 per month for our electric usage!! The bills were'nt dropping, it was almost like paying the minimum amount on a credit card.
Anyway, my partner lost his job in our 3rd year there, and we were struggling on my part time wage, with two (soon to be three) children, and were not entitled to any help from the government. I ended up cancelling our direct debit and favouring buying food etc for the family, and only paying a bit here and there when I could afford it...
Our closing statement from Southern Electric ended up in the region of £2,439. We took daily meter readings at the same time each day in our last month there, and we were using between 50-52 units of electric a day - an appalling and somewhat strangely consistent amount! We had asked whether the meter was faulty several times, but got nowhere with that complaint.
Since moving into our new property in April 2009, we have a new supplier, British Gas.
Southern Electric carried on (and this bit is funny) sending us NEW (as in updated, recent) quarterly bills (we ended up getting two) to our NEW ADDRESS (printed on the letter) for the OLD ADDRESS!! So that was their first stupid mistake.
Ive called them several times, each time I recieve a letter about the debt, and told them that the amount is unreasonable, its not possible to use that amount of electric etc etc.... and they all agree, I even spoke to a Supervisor, who said "you'd have to be running a fairground from the property for it to be that much" but they always say "we'll call you back when we've spoken to our Manager" and I never hear from them, but phone or letter.
Last week, i recieved a "Debt collector" letter - they've passed on the debt. Im annoyed at this because its another mark against my credit rating, and they haven't even attempted to sort out the problem with me.
Theyve told me that they'll get someone out to the property to test the meter, and I dont hear from them.
The last person i spoke to told me that our usage is "exactly in-line with what the current tenants are using on a daily basis" and i pointed out that it's a huge coincidence that the current tentants are using exactly the same amount of electric we were using - so surely that points to a faulty meter??
Im reluctant to start paying anything, as for a start they havent tried to sort out the bill, and second, if the meter was faulty - who's to say that my 3 years worth of billing wasn't completely wrong??
Any thoughts on this, and does anybody know what I can do to sort it out - as Souhern Electric seem to prefer to ignore it and just keep sending me bills and passing it on!
0
Comments
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so you cancelled the direct debit and favoured food, and just paid bits here and there when you could afford it? but carried on using it? isnt that similar to theft?0
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moonchild84 wrote: »...Our closing statement from Southern Electric ended up in the region of £2,439. ...
Ive called them several times, each time I recieve a letter about the debt, and told them that the amount is unreasonable, its not possible to use that amount of electric etc etc.... and they all agree,...
I'm surprised they agree. Do you have that agreement in writing?
The reason I'm surprised is that our current Prime Minister, David Cameron, is charging us, the british tax payers roughly that amount for his second home gas & electric bills ... and like you he also has oil based heating like you had (which he charges us for too - and additional £1200 per year!)
It doesn't sound like it. It sounds like you were on the supplier's standard tariff!moonchild84 wrote: »...We were apparently on the cheapest tariff ...
...we were using between 50-52 units of electric a day..."Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 20100
This discussion has been closed.
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