Help! where do i stand with my gas bill???

slickchick74

Hi every1, hmmm where do i begin!!! Ok i was with e-on then transferred to swalec( both electric and gas) in January of this year....all great... till i realised i havent had a gas bill, so i go to my online banking and realise there's only 1 payment going out of my bankaccount for my electric, so i phone swalec and ask whats happened to my gas and they reply they didnt get it for some reason lost application! and i need to call e-on, (this may take a while) call them and they said i was no longer with them...ok so what now..they give me the number for the national grid who in turn say im with scottish power! Ok so i phone them, they say i havent been with them since 2008 and give me a diff number for the national grid. So i phone them AGAIN! only to be told i am with scotish power, so i phone them back and explain to them what ive been told, they investigate and see i am with them but they dont know how! Great i said so i have a 4mth bill of gas to pay now and i didnt even want to go with them!! to my releif they said they werent going to bill me and hand me back to e-on...great i thought..then they said e-on will bill me for that time instead, so im getting annoyed now and explain none of this was my fault so why should i pay the full amount( which i dont know what it is yet) then they said its not their problem that swalec should have chased my gas up and its their faul and i should chase them for it but they will send me a cheque for compensation...for £20 ( by now im fuming) so i slam the phone down and that was 4 weeks ago...i still havent had a bill dont know if im back with eon, dont know how much i owe and too scared to contact e-on to find out...and ideas plz???? thanks.

KimYeovil

I don't understand why you don't want to pay for your fuel. You have a meter in your home so you know how much you have used since January. You should know approximately how much this should cost. You know how much you have paid. You have always known this difference will have to be paid to someone.

What's the problem?

Apricot

You used the gas, pay for it.

stujo

This is Scottish Powers fault as they must have registered your supply just before swalec thus preventing them from taking it. During this period you should have been sent several letters from Scottish Power saying welcome etc. I would ask Scottish power how they registered your supply and what consent was gained if any. I suspect they have registered you erroneously and as such, it is them you should pursue for any goodwill on the grounds of poor service. I would be surprised if you managed to get more than £20 from any one of the companies as whilst you have received poor service, you have not been left out of pocket, the error has been rightened and you must also take responsibility as your bank statement would show no DD being collected and also a smaller sum.

You are obliged to pay for the gas you have used however you can request e-on spread the balance for you over a period of 1-12 months and this will not cost you interest either. Also your consumption will reduce significantly over the summer giving u time to maybe clear any balance.

Also i would recommend changing to an online tariff as this will save you up to 20% on standard tariffs.

Hope this helps a little.

slickchick74

Hi yes i do agree i should pay for it, and ty for your replies, as for my meter i havent a clue how to read that! However i will have to get hold of e-on and see whats happening b'coz i still havent heard from them either, and thankyou stujo i didnt realise i's be able to spread the payments so thats a releif! What i dont understand is how scottish power managed to take over my account without me knowing and without themselves knowing. Would i be able to take my gas to swalec now, even though im in "Debt"?? as my electricity is with them!

stujo

Hi, depending on the size of debt with e-on you may still be able to change. Also if you have a payment plan in place such as i direct debit then most companies will allow the account to leave unless there is large debt. However i would ensure everything is sorted first with e-on and be completely clear where you stand with balances to accurate meter readings. Scottish power will know how they took your supply as they will have a record as to how you were signed up, e.g door sales, over the phone etc. It may also be that a genuine error has occurred where some one else wanted them to supply their property but your meter point reference number (MPRN) was registered instead, this can happen if address are similar for example.
Hope this helps but please ask if you want to know anything else specific.

JasX

perhaps you can persuade eon to send your gas account straight to scottish power and have them bill you?

If eon get awkward start having a go about them messing you arround, you needing to go track down your gas account on your own expense and time due to their screwing up of the transfer process (well more likely them than anyone else). and demand compensation/a reduction to what you would have paid under the scottish power deal you should have been on and then something more for your trouble.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi slickchick

This sounds like what is known as an Erroneous Transfer. This is where one supplier takes over an account by mistake, sometimes as a result of incorrect info held on the national databases.

There is an industry wide understanding where such accounts are returned to the original supplier as though they had never been away.

In these cases, the original supplier will charge for all energy used and no bills will be sent by the second company.

Stujo is spot on; we will certainly look at a payment arrangement for you in these circumstances. This will help spread the balance over a more manageable period.

I would check that the info held by the national databases about your property has been corrected. We can check this for you. If it hasn't the same thing could happen again when you come to switch supplier.

We will usually object to a transfer where there is a debt on the account. However, this will depend on the size and nature of the debt.

Given the circumstances you have described, this objection may well be withdrawn. I would raise this with us as each such request is looked at individually.

Hope this helps slickchick. Give me a shout if you need any more advice as will be happy to help.

Malc

Scottish_Power

Hi slickchick74

Sorry to hear about your situation.

You have been given some good advice already about how this could have happened. If you want me to confirm to you why we took over your supply in error just send me your details and I will investigate this for you.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower