advice on token meter to credit meter debt

knnicho

if anyone can advise me i would really appreciate it. basically we changed from a token meter to a credit meter on the 14th march 2006 when our first bill came in it was for £185 which i thought was about right as it was for 3 months but they also claimed we owed £453.91 from 26th july 2005 thru to 14th march- just when we changed over our meter. i thought the idea of a token meter was that you couldnt get into debt?im really worried about this because we cant afford to pay that off? we payed the £185 but not the other amount yet they are stil requesting it with our new invoice of £170.what can we do? i wrote to them asking where the amount had come from as when ever i rang theyd have me on hold for ages or hang up! and all they could tell me by letter was what i already knew! that it is apparently from last july. does anyone know how such a debt can come about of have they made a mess up? im worring my self sick over it. thanks

jacs76

ask them to confirm the meter point reference number on your meter matches their records (should also be on your bill) double check the number this is the only advice i have for you im afraid and i only suggested this as i was landed a bill for 1600 turned out i was topping someone elses meter. surely if there was any monies outstanding they wouldnt let you have the meter changed over anyway?

quickstepqueen

knnicho - firstly don't give up. We had similar problems with Powergen over our electric prepayment meter. Contact Energywatch for assistance if you still cannot get anywhere with the utilies company (is it gas or electric?)

We are about to have our meter changed again next week (their choice not ours!) and we are living in dread of the next elec bill that drops through our door. When our last meter was changed I was informed by Powergen that the engineer that fits the meter will take the final readings of the old meter, the new readings of the new meter and forward them to Powergen. Yeah, right!!

I rang Powergen today and told them of my fears of having a new meter fitted and they said I should write down the meter readings myself, allow 2-3 weeks then contact Powergen to see if they have the meter readings. Whilst this helps why should I be doing their job for them.

I'm also angry because they are changing the meter but have given us NO information about this. I had to ring Powergen and ask what happens. I was told that the engineer that fits the meter will give me the "key."

"That's fine" I said "but where do I buy my credit as the 2 shops I use for buying my elec cards at present don't deal with keys". I was told it's Payzone points I need to use. "Fine, but where are they situated? Do you have a list of participating stores or am i expected to drive round in my car trying to find one?" Eventually after being placed on hold I was told the information was unavailable at present but I could call the Payzone helpline 0870 number!!

As a customer I should not be the one trying to find out this info.

knnicho....sorry, I digressed there, utility companies do make me mad....but persevere and keep on at them, taking the matter as high as you can until someone listens. If you just speak to a regular CSA I'm almost certain you'll be speaking to someone like the Little Britain character who says "The computer says no!!" Because everything is computerised it's all they have to go on. Oh, and do try Energywatch if nothing else works and if you can provide old bills to quantify your query then it will all help. Good luck.

dr_del

Hi,

To Quickstepqueen,

I hope you manage to find a paypoint near you - they replaced my meter with a smartkey one on the 11th and I was disgusted to notice emergency credit has been reduced to £5 from the £14 I enjoyed with my "powercard" meter. I did get a statement a couple of days ago but havent managed to get them to explain to me why mine shows a "credit" of £36 ( I have been complaining I was being overcharged for months and after I got a £270 refund they assured me it wouldn't happen again :mad: )

On the plus side the smartkey meters have a nice feature - they will not switch your lecky off between 6pm and 9am monday to saturday or anytime on sunday.This only applies if you had some credit in your meter at the start of these periods though - and I dont know if emergency credit counts.

The manual says you can find places to top up at not only at paypoint.co.uk but also postoffice.co.uk as some post offices sell credit.


dr del