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

Cyril

I can understand what you are going through OP.

I have a similar situation in that we had a brand new supply fitted by Southern Electric in 2008. We have had one reading in that year and estimates from then on. The engineers leave cards to say they have called and I have rung them more times than I can say to say the metre is outside they can read it at anytime. We have never been given a key to the metre, they said our groundworker would have been given a metre key, he says not he's never been given one and he obviously would have passed it on had it been given.

I have rung for a key many times, it is not a standard key. Somtimes they have sent the wrong key othertimes no key at all. I evenutally managed to get a call from an engineer to say he will come and take a look but we will see.

I have paid a little over the estimates to be on the safe side but If I now get a huge bill I because they have underestimated so many bills based on the last reading I will not be happy.

The point is SE do not make it easy to do business with them.

CookieRocks

dogshome wrote: »

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

Thanks for the reply Dogshome.

The original supplier before we moved in was Npower. The meter was a pre-payment meter. We decided to join SSE and then did take over the supply, as we were initally sent a pre-payment key from SSE to use whilst they arranged for the meter to be changed over to a billed meter (I'm not sure what that type of meter is officially named). The new meter was installed by SSE Mid April. We'd moved into the property end of March.

I had a bunch of back-dated bills sent to me, which covered from March 08 - Dec 10. Which I went through during the early process of of the complaint to try get a better understanding of what they've billed for.

But my main issues at present are the following:

1) Considering from the start I've been telling them to they have sent no Electricity bills, it's really strange that even through these last ten months, they have still not sent me any further bills which cover all usage over the last 3 quarters. I've talked to then on several occasions about it, but nothing is sent. So god knows how much they are pushing the bill up upto this point.

2) Regular readings are taken by their own meter readers, who come to the property, are let in to read the meter. There has never been a time where nobody has not been at home for them to be unable to get the reading. The reason why I mention this is because SSE 'say' that they were under the impression that the property still used the key meter. It just doesn't add up to that it way they themselves who changed the meter type and it's their own people that come over to take readings. (I hope that makes sense.)

3) Their in-house communication is abysmal. They make a concieted effort to call me on my mobile for a period of time, then when I call them back, so and so is unavailable. So I leave a message for the person to call me back yet I get no call back. The last round of conversations I had with the lady dealing with my account, was the start of September. She called my mobile a few times end of Sept/ start of Oct, I was unavailable to talk on those occasions due to personal health and also unexpected family illness. But I called back on two occasions and left messages with Customer Support to get someone to call me back.

As I've said, it's all really going back and forth. Head of Customer services have failed to reply back to my complaints and I'm getting sick and tired of being sent Debt Collection notices and text messages when they can't actually get their acts together and try work this out.

I think I should go through the Energy Ombudsman with this complaint. And also a letter and/or email to SSE CEO.

Is there something I've missed out on doing... or done something the wrong way?

CookieRocks

jalexa wrote: »

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.

The Energy Ombudsman, not Ofgem, okay got that. Thanks. You think I should write a Formal Complain to SSE CEO via email too?

CookieRocks

daft_punk wrote: »

Sounds like your account still shows as PP and as such you will not receive any bills because as far as the system is concerned you shouldn't be getting them in the first place. I'm shocked this hasn't been resolved by now as it should be quite an easy fix really. I wouldn't recommend contacting the ombudsman yet as they will advise you to contact SSE again as they will not get involved until your complaint is deadlocked. Just call in again and advise whoever you get through to of the situation (they will be reading the, by the sounds of it, lengthy notes on your account as you do so anyway). As frustrating as this situation is, give them another chance to resolve this for you and take a note of their name and their managers name if offered a callback whilst they are looking into your account (a managers email address is typically [EMAIL="firstname.surname@sse.com"]firstname.surname@sse.com[/EMAIL] ).

The thing is, they've said it was their fault at the start they haven't billed me, due to them under then impression that we still had a PP meter. Now ten months have gone by since their admittance of that fact and I'm still not being sent bills despite the fact that I've told them time and again. What I find really annoyed about is, that they know I'm not on a PP meter, they don't send bills, yet they are quick to send regular Debt Collection notices and text messages threatening to cut off supply. I'm tempted to send an email to the CEO of SSE, and tell them that I will consider back-billing when they actually send me a current bill, rather than use the bill they sent when I started the complaint which covers the missing bills of the previous 3 years.

jalexa

CookieRocks wrote: »

Is there something I've missed out on doing... or done something the wrong way?

Only that you have allowed a complaint issue to drift beyond 8 weeks, and possibly relied too much on phone contact call-back. Much better to employ the email channel. Then you would have an audit trail.

If you haven't already done so, print-off the complaint's procedure and see where you are in the process. The "Head of Customer Service" is just about the last stage. If the complaint has reached the "Head of Customer Service" stage and 8 weeks has elapsed without resolution you are already entitled to invoke the Energy Ombudsman. Believe me they will hate that. You do not need a deadlock letter but requesting one might just focus minds.

Regarding "back-billing", I *think* the 12 month requirement is regulation based but uniquely amongst the Big 6, SSE is not a signatory to the "Billing Code". Future customers be aware.

undaunted

I agree with Jalexa you are quite entitled to take this to the Ombudsman given the time that's elapsed & don't need a deadlock letter to do so and Cardew that written evidence rather than telephone calls is always better.

If you have written evidence of notifications made to the supplier and any written responses from them include copies (you need to demonstrate that it was entirely their fault - you did tell them or they may try to avoid back billing guidelines by arguing that you didn't notify them), also mention any health issues for good measure & the stress / anxiety these unnecessary failings and delays in resolution despite promises are causing you

CookieRocks

jalexa wrote: »

Only that you have allowed a complaint issue to drift beyond 8 weeks, and possibly relied too much on phone contact call-back. Much better to employ the email channel. Then you would have an audit trail.

If you haven't already done so, print-off the complaint's procedure and see where you are in the process. The "Head of Customer Service" is just about the last stage. If the complaint has reached the "Head of Customer Service" stage and 8 weeks has elapsed without resolution you are already entitled to invoke the Energy Ombudsman. Believe me they will hate that. You do not need a deadlock letter but requesting one might just focus minds.

Regarding "back-billing", I *think* the 12 month requirement is regulation based but uniquely amongst the Big 6, SSE is not a signatory to the "Billing Code". Future customers be aware.

Hi.

Thanks for the advice. In regards to SSE and the Billing Code Figure 5.6 of SSE's T&C's does say the following:

"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."

My question is, can I get them to back bill from when I get a bill (Which as yet I still haven't since the complaint was started in January) or will it be from the huge lump of bills that were sent in one go when I requested all previous unsent bills?

I still can't fathom that between January they have still not sent me any bills for all usage between January until present. :mad:

jalexa

CookieRocks wrote: »

"If we’ve been at fault by .... 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."

I'm not sure I understand your last post or indeed totally understand your first post.

At December 2010 SSE "discovered the mistake". At that point you were "liable" only for the previous 12 months consumption. As of today's date IMO you may be "liable" for nearly 2 years of consumption.

One issue however that may not be addressed is whether the electricity back-consumption has been accurately estimated. On the face of it £1500 for 12 months is very high (your "£550" is "about average" electricity for a gas heated house), however your meter is proof-positive of your consumption. If you want to "disprove" £1500 and/or "prove" £550 you need to start taking regular meter readings. As long as you do not use electrical heating readings taken now should be reasonably reflective of year-round consumption.

Regarding communications and demands from Southern Electric, stop accepting £££s and demand kWhrs and dates. In other words proper bills based on actual meter readings.