eOn back bill after not setting up my economy 10 meter correctly

leb1979

Hi,

I'm on an economy 10 tariff and my electricity meter shows day, night and stored heat readings. My bills show that eOn have always accessed my meter (in the stairwell outside my flat) every few months since I moved here in 2006. My bills have always recorded their actual day and night readings but only show estimates for the stored heat part (always four digits).

Last week eOn sent me an email saying that my electricity meter had never been set up correctly and they had been incorrectly billing me and the previous two occuptants of the flat. They said the stored heat part of my meter should be attached to its own supply number but they have only ever had it attached to one supply number.

Now eOn have sent me a revised bill for £1500 where all the four-digit stored heat estimates have been replaced by five-digit actual values "read by us" going back to 2006 - these new values are ten times their estimates over the last four years, ten times the readings I have provided them with over the last four years, and ten times the final readings given by the previous occuptants of the property. My electricity meter is now showing a five digit value for the stored heat part and my latest bill is showing two supply numbers for the first time.

If they admit the meter was never set up correctly by what process could they have now arrived retrospectively at the new readings? If they have had the actual readings for the past four years (and before then as they said they are going to rebill the previous occuptants too) but have failed to bill me correctly for them, would the back-billing rule of the code of practice apply here?

Would appreciate any help before I contact them.

Premier_2

They probably [STRIKE]guessed[/STRIKE] estimated the historical readings readings. Or perhaps they have uneathed the previous meter read for the missing meter back from 2006?

What a shame you didn't read your bills more carefully and checked them to the actual meters reads, then you could have advised them of the error sooner. If you had done that (and had the evidence to prove so) and the supplier still failed to rectify the error, then the back billing rule would almost certainly apply.

leb1979

Thanks but my meter only started to show five digits for the stored heat reading after I received the email from eOn last week saying that my meter was incorrectly set up - prior to that, my meter, their estimated readings, and the actual readings I provided them were all four digits so I had no reason to suspect that the billings were inaccurate.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi leb

I'm really sorry it has taken so long to sort out your metering.

Economy 10 meters have three registers - Day, Night and Stored Heat.

Although only one meter is involved, Economy 10 has two supply numbers. These are known as Meter Point Administration Numbers (MPAN). One for Day/Night usage and the second for Stored Heat.

The MPAN is a unique reference given to each individual property. They help facilitate the transfer of data between the various parts of the electricity industry.

When our representatives visited your property, the meter readings taken will have been sent electronically using the MPAN system. However, as only the one MPAN had been set up, the Day/Night readings will have been registered but the third reading (Stored Heat) will have been rejected.

Consequently, your bills will have used the Day/Night readings but the Stored Heat will have been estimated as our system will not have picked up these readings.

The readings taken on the visits will have been stored on the meter readers systems.

Now your metering has been corrected, it looks as though these readings have been retrieved and used to issue an accurate bill for your Stored Heat usage.

Billing Code applications are all looked at individually. Quite a few factors are taken into consideration when judging whether or not we are at fault for not sending a correct bill for over a year.

Given the info you have posted, I would certainly contact us and ask for the code to be applied. If we are at fault we will only charge for one year of Stored Heat back from when the metering was corrected.

Again, I'm sorry this has not been sorted out sooner but hope the above helps point you in the right direction. Give me a shout if you need any more info as will be happy to help.

Malc