HELP! Electricity bill more than £1000

norjen

Hi, can anybody advise on what I can do. I have just got an Electricity bill from EDF Energy for £1600. This has happened because my meter hasn't been read since July 04. Every quarter I pay between £200-£300. I use about 35 units per day and I am on Economy 7. After having spoken to customer service, they said that I should pay the bill as I have used the electicity. They have given me a 20% discount on the bill and I can pay it over 12 months.

Is there anything I can do to reduce this bill further as I think they have a responsibility as well, as they didn't come to read my meter. Also I do not understand how they have arrived at the £1600 as there have been so many price increases since 2004.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Gal

Did you ever give them a reading in that time?

Think they have been generous by giving you 20% off. Although with the price increases make sure they back date the readings. After all you couldn't have used £1600 since you last bill.

They should back there bills till the last actual reading you had taken and then it will estimate your usage upto each price increase.

towseriv

Insist that the meter is read if that makes a difference to the cost. Surley there must be something in the regulations they abide saying it must happen annualy at least. Failing that change your suplier after paying the bill. This will trigger an automatic meter reading to verify that your current company is paid up and that they can transfer you. If you do change supplier try an online account were you can input your own reading every month/quarter and they will bill you just in this basis. Hope this helps

skintas_2

ask for a card and key meter, tell them you will pay them back this way

kat21

why did you let it go for so long? that would be the question I would be asking are you saying that you have been paying 200-300 per quater since 04, or havent you been paying anything at all? how much did you pay monthly in 04, 05, 06?
if you have all the receipts since 04 with the amount paid then perhaps you should go to a solicitor but, if you have not paid anything at all, then I think considering 20% off is very reasonable its a wonder your not in court or cut off!. if you have been paying quaterly then add up the total costs of all reciepts if you do not have them and pay via cheque ask the bank for a record of all cheques sent to that particular company.
kat21

Cardew

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=272975

norjen

Gal wrote:

Did you ever give them a reading in that time?

Think they have been generous by giving you 20% off. Although with the price increases make sure they back date the readings. After all you couldn't have used £1600 since you last bill.

They should back there bills till the last actual reading you had taken and then it will estimate your usage upto each price increase.

Thanks for your reply. The last reading I gave them was the one in July 04 and the meter reader hasn't come since until August 06 when I got the huge bill

norjen

kat21 wrote:

why did you let it go for so long? that would be the question I would be asking are you saying that you have been paying 200-300 per quater since 04, or havent you been paying anything at all? how much did you pay monthly in 04, 05, 06?
if you have all the receipts since 04 with the amount paid then perhaps you should go to a solicitor but, if you have not paid anything at all, then I think considering 20% off is very reasonable its a wonder your not in court or cut off!. if you have been paying quaterly then add up the total costs of all reciepts if you do not have them and pay via cheque ask the bank for a record of all cheques sent to that particular company.
kat21

Thanks for all your replies. I have been paying £200-£300 per quarter since 04 to date (which I believed was reasonable at the time). Didn't expect it to be so much higher. Must admit, I didn't used to read the meter. Was expecting them to come & do it.

mintymoneysaver

That still seems to be a really huge amount to owe if you have been paying £200-£300 a quarter anyway.I know some companies charge more than others, but my electricity only comes to about £90 a quarter....

A_Nice_Englishman

The figures don't seem quite right to me.

Lets do the sums assuming current prices and no Economy 7 for now.

35 units a day would cost about £3.50, that's about £1300 a year.

You have paid, say, £1000 a year (£250 x 4)

It's just over two years since your meter was read so I would expect you to owe around £600 or so.

Now, taking into account that electricity was much cheaper two years ago and that (hopefully) a lot of yours was bought at the lower Economy 7 night rate that £1300 a year we estimated is probably too high so you should owe less than £600.

dollarjon

This bill doesnt sound right

Firstly do your readings make sense? "twisted reads" with E7 meters are common place, the reader will get them mixed up so you'll be paying day rate for your night usage and night rate for your day usage.

The other thing to point out is some E7 systems have a time switch if you have a modern seimens meter then this is built into the meter, this can somtimes fail and not register the night consumption properly therefore if this is the case you'll be paying day rate for your water and storage heaters.

BTW i have worked for British gas, EDF and EON