Southern Electric - No Electricity bills sent since we joined up.

CookieRocks

Hi. Hope someone can help with some advise:

So the following is basically a brief of what's happened, or rather not happened.

We moved into the property in March 2008 and oined Southern Electric to supply both Gas & Electricity.
We recieved the first gas bill but no electricity bill. Found that a bit odd, so I contacted Southern Electric asking about the electricity bill, the advisor took all the details and said he would call back, but no call was returned.

I called Southern Electric again, spoke to another advisor, who informed that both the Gas & Electric Bill was sent as one bill. Which I thought was strange but hey, if that's the information I'm giving by them, so then fair enough, I kept getting regular Gas Bills which I paid.

In December 2010 we recieved a letter from Southern Electric stating we owed £1513.78, the letter said: 'In efforts to improve our customer service, out records show that your account has not been billed for some time. This has now been corrected to reflect the true balance on you account of £1513.78. dating from 27th March 2008 - 6th December 2010. Please accept our sincere apologies for this.'

I called Southern Electric on 11th Januray 2011, in regards to letter that I recieved and told them that the amount was crazy. I mean, if it was my fault then it's a different story, but they admitted that their systems were not up-to-date, and that it was a fault on their side. The advisor was helpful enough, and said he will pass it onto his manager and call me back on 19th January 2011. I didn't hear from him, so I called back on 21st January 2011, at which point I was told that the person dealing with my query is not in and would call me first thing on Monday 24th January 2011, again I got no call. Once again, I called them on 26th January, spoke to some other advisor who again said 'your' advisor is out at the moment, but I promise that he will call today.

About an hour later I got a call from the 'Advisor' dealing with my case and he said that management have decided to deduct £508.75 from the owed amount and also said they'd give me three years (36 months) to pay off the arrears. At first I thought, brilliant that's a result and asked him to send it to me in writing before I agree with anything.

Got the written letter detailing the 'goodwill offer' on 29th January 2011.

The letter says they want to take £76.00 per month DD over 36 months, which is broken down to £48.00 Usuage (Future Consumption) + £28.00 (Arrears). Which I think is quite high, and the bill payer (Father) isn't able to afford that monthly amount.

The letter actually states that the balance after deduction is £1005.03, which is equivalent of 'one year' of electricity consumption. At that point I thought something isn't too right about this whole deal. Plus, the bill payer (father) can't afford the £76.00 per month either.

I would have assumed that a years worth would be around the £550-ish mark if that.

I went online to see if others had any similar experiences and was surprised to see it was not only me facing this issue. I checked Southern Electric's T&C's and it states the following: '

Figure 5.6: 'If we’ve been at fault by either significantly underestimating the amount of Energy you use or by not sending you bills we will only charge you for Energy you’ve used in the twelve months immediately before we discovered the mistake.'

Also found Ofgems's ruling in regards to 'The Billing Code' which states:

'Back-billing: energy suppliers should, by July 2006, stop seeking payment from customers for any energy supplied where the supplier is at fault for not billing the customer for two years. From July 2007, energy suppliers should stop seeking payment for unbilled energy where a supplier has failed to bill for over 12 months and is at fault for not doing so'.

I'm not sure if I undersand it 100%, but what I do get from it is that Southern Electric having not billed me for 33 months should onlyt be seeking payment for 12 months since I received the first bill which was the notice to pay £1513.78, since it was their fault that bills were not sent.

I might well be wrong in that assumption, but if help or advise is available then I would be grateful for it.

I was thinking of calling them again early next week, so any advise on what to say or do would be very appreciated.

PS. Sorry it's such a long OP, but I figured I should detail it as much as possible.

Thanks in advance.

CookieRocks

Gurn_2

Why is there fault that the bills were not sent, did you take regular readings and phone them and phone them to get it sorted, or just sat on it an hoped it would go away?
you paid no electric from March 2008 - December 2010 and didnt think to put some money aside for it every month until it was sorted?

CookieRocks

No I did not sit ildy, twiddling my thumbs hoping that it would not come to bite me in the butt. I had asked about my electricity bills on three occasions. First time I got told they'd call me back, which they did not. I called again and was told that the bill that I was getting was for BOTH gas and electric. Hence since it was THEM who were giving me this information, I took it as their word. I made the effort to find out what was happening and this is what THEY told me.

Ultimately, I can only pay what I am billed for and if they have told me that the bill we receive is for BOTH services then I am satisfied.

Futhermore, after the Large bill was received, I spoke to them, and the advisor admitted that it was an error on their own system which was only rectified recently, hence them sending the amended bill.

Obviously, it's common sense that I can only pay what I have billed for on a monthly or quarterly basis. Is it not their duty to send bills correctly on time so that these problems don't occur? If it was a short period of time, 'd say fine.. but when it's just shy of 3 years, and then I'm asked to pay a huge amount like that, it's not on is it? or is it?

Cardew

Instead of phone calls to them it would have been better in writing.

However from the information you have given, they are certainly at fault for not raising a bill, so can only go back 12 months to 6 Dec 2009.

As your bill was £1514 for 33 months - Mar 2008 to Dec 2010 that pro-rata for 12 months should be approx £550. Add a bit because electricity is more expensive now than 2008; but certainly less than £600.

The DD for £48 for future consumption seems to be accurate, but certainly the £1005.63 for 12 months arrears appears incorrect.

Put your case in writing - as above.

mattcanary

I would also suggest cancelling your Direct debit arrangement, until this issue is resolved. That way, you can pay only what you think is correct, : ie approximately £48.00 per month for the usage going forward + around £46.00 per month for the true arrears (approx £550.00 to be paid back over 12 months).
Paying by DD before the problem is resolved will mean you lose control of the situation

mattcanary

Sorry, looking at the original post I would suggest writing to Southern, giving a breakdown of your father's incoming money and outgoing expenses, thereby demonstrating what he can pay in instalments towards the true arrears of approx £550. This money can then be paid by card into a Paypoint outlet or by cheque as laid out in the letter

mattcanary

Also, is the electric bill based on true readings (ie: not estimates and using both a correct reading as of the bill date and a start reading for when this problem first occurred)

dogshome

Hi CookieRocks - In a way you are fortunate that the supplier is SE who have a better reputation than most when dealing with problems, they have put thier hands up to the error and applied the 12 month Back Billing agreement to the Bill - Though it should have been applied before they issued the bill

However They have totally screwed up when applying the Back Billing figures:
Bill for 33 month £1513 = use per month £45.84 = USE PER YEAR £550 and this is the figure they should be Back Billing for, and £963 is the figure they should be writing off.

So £550 over 36 months is £15.28 a month on top of the £45.84 worth of the power you are using = A rounded up Monthly D/Debit Total of £62
I srongly advise that you put these figures in WRITING to SE as soon as you possibly can, also stating that you require a detailed bill for the year you are paying for, you are entitled to this. This bill will obviously have an Estimated start reading, but it's vital that it has a properly read End Reading

You don't say what type of dwelling this is, but a rough calculation shows that you are burning around 5,500 Kwh a year which is quite high - So take monthly meter readings yourself to monitor your use

CookieRocks

Hi.

It's been a long time, since I came back with an update. So here's what's happened so far.

Nothing has been sorted out, and we are exactly 10 months on since the original complaint was first made.

I've literally talked with manager after manager after manager. Initially they seem to 'want' to get things sorted out, but ultimately; they disappear after a round of conversations over the telephone and emails.

Over the period of time, my circumstances have slightly changed, in that I have been in and out of hospital having a few surgeries, whilst also a family member having a serious stroke, so at times I have not been able to immediately back in touch with SSE. But whilst anything has happened, I have made a point of letting SSE know of the situation, and that I won't be able to respond for X amount of time.

As the 8 week period for the complaint had passed, I figured since we weren't getting anywhere to a resolution, I should email Head of Customer Service (SSE) as stated in their complaints procedure. I wrote to them on two occasions and have got no reply at all from them.

The strangest part about all this is: I am still not being sent any bills. Even though that was what caused this whole situation. I get told that the system has been generating the bills, which is fine, but I'm not getting them. What is even more staggering is that they are quick to send 'Debt Collection' notices almost on a monthly basis.

I'm guessing that it's time to go to OfGem now. Is that the right course of action?

I'm due to have more surgery in the next month or two, so I want to try get the ball rolling as soon as I can.

All help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
CookieRocks

dogshome

Your posted history of this problem is littered with promises from SE that the matter is being sorted, then it all goes quiet, so something very odd is going on.
You say you 'Joined' SE when you moved in, in March 2008 -a) Were SE the encumbant supplier to this dwelling and you registered with them when you moved in, or b) Was it a different supplier and you Switched to SE soon after moving in?

If it is b there is the possibility that SE have failed to take over your Elec supply for some reason, in which case the original supplier will at some time wake up and send you a Bill

Also from my reading of your post, the demands from SE for Elec payment have only been by phone/letter, and you have still not had a proper bill listing the Start Date and meter reading, the End date and meter reading, and the detailed tariff charges over the periods that those prices applied - If this is correct the Back-Billing rule is still running as the 12 months bill runs back from the date the first bill is issued

You have done a good job in keeping a diary of your contacts with SE, set out the history as succinctly as possible and send it to Consumer Focus now

jalexa

CookieRocks wrote: »

I'm guessing that it's time to go to OfGem now. Is that the right course of action?

No.

As you have raised a formal complaint and you remain dissatisfied after 8 weeks, the next step is to refer the complaint to the Energy Ombudsman.

Ofgem will not consider an individual customer complaint, neither will Consumer Focus.