Southern Electric - Billing Confusion ?

NadiaPhil

I am trying to help out a friend of mine, who has been baffled by the high bills - received from Southern Electric, for both Electricity and for gas. For which, she pays via DD for each account. However her payments are being increased once again from £81.00 to £118.00 pm DD Electricity and for her Gas she pays £61.00 pm DD.
Her bills however, are not easy to comprehend as they are full of, "in-house billing terms" and plagued with various tariffs & references to Standard /Discounted energy - which is very confusing! But more confusing (if not frustrating) is the bills; headed 'your gas or electric statement explained' then 'this bill is for the period 11 June 2010 to 06 Dec 2010. The first line under that, reads - Total from Previous bill = £945.35 (on Gas Bill) and £953.09 (Elec Bill).
She has no idea what these brought forward amounts, relate to; or indeed how they have accrued, as she has always made DD payments as required.
She has contacted Southern Electric, on numerous occasions - requesting evidence (print out/previous bill) showing this amount being in arrears. All they keep saying is that they cannot provide this information as they can only provide billing info, going back one year. they cannot even give her some idea as to what dates are involved in this amount going into arrears.
So before she even looks at her bills, she has to accept there being almost a £1000 debt being incorporated into their calculations, for DD payments?. Surely somebody cannot be expected to pay a vast amount of money, without some form of proof being given to them? I find this unacceptable and if it were some kind of debt owed for goods or loans, you would never consider repaying it without some evidence, so surely there should be something similar in terms of energy suppliers and the info they must provide??

I am also concerned, looking at her gas bill: there is a section which says,
Gas Meter Advance 24024 - Reading this time and then 24600 (E) - reading this time = units 576
576 units x correction factor 1.02264 = 589.04
589.04 cu mtrs x calorific value 39.1
/ conversion factor 3.6 6397.62
Units converted to Kilowatt hours 6397.62 kWh

Is this conversion : usual, if so, is it: correct? It also contains a great many other breakdowns and references to General Domestic NSC - moneysavers varying dates for standard energy, kWh used at various prices - Discounted Energy then onto, Standard Energy.

Also makes reference to Charter Backbilling Adjustment amounts for specific dates etc. Which confuses matters even more, my friend has called SE trying to make sense of it all, but has been left quite frustrated as she just gets more techinical terms and jargon, thrown at her. But they wont provide her with historic info, breakdown of all these charges.

Anybody who might be able to 'throw some light on this' (pardon the pun!) - would be so very much appreciated. thanks :eek:

molerat

The monthly DD is a red herring and often has no bearing on actual consumption. What did the previous bill show ? The company can produce historic bills, if you want to argue just send a letter disputing the charges and they will come up with the proof. She has probably ignored previous account statements (note I did not use the term bill) and thought everything was OK as she was paying the DD. I fear she is in serious trouble and will need to arrange a payment plan. Does she take regular meter readings and work out her consumption, no I didn't think so.

........... and yes that calculation is how kWh is worked out from cu m and is quite normal.

Premier_2

NadiaPhil wrote: »

...Gas Meter Advance 24024 - Reading this time and then 24600 (E) - reading this time = units 576
...

Check the estimated reading to what the meter actually says - there could be a huge difference.

NadiaPhil

What I want to establish now is, if a bill opens with Brought Forward from previous bill = £950.00 with no other reference to this amount??

Can I expect the energy provider, in this case Southern Electric, to be able to show me how this came to be?? No prior arrears, payments made by DD monthly as specified by SE?

I would not repay a debt (loan eg) if the Creditor could not show me (prove to me) that I owed that amount of money??

Thanks

molerat

Yes they should be able to prove it. The previous statements would have showed the debit amount. What do the previous bills show ?

My eon statements showed the following

Jul 08 £91.55 debit
Oct 08 £158.88 debit
Jan 09 £379.82 debit
May 09 £587.62 debit
Aug 09 £652.49 debit

At this point they realised that my DD was too small and upped it from £60 to £195 but I was aware I was previously not paying enough and the money was in a savings account. I was taking responsibility for my useage, I was aware of my useage and how much it was costing me.

Contact them again and ask for copies of bills if you have not still got them. Also start taking regular meter readings, at least once a week, to see what actual consumption is.