Estimated Electricity Bill Terror!

Crucifer

Hi all,

My fiance and I are in the process of moving to Perth, Australia so we've been phoning our suppliers and telling them to close our accounts and to either debit our accounts or refund them.

Thames water were very helpful, refunding us £140, BT will be closing our landline, the council have stopped taking payments and have already told us we are open for a refund, but the main problem has been with Southern Electric.

A bit of background - basically, and I can only say this now, we have been complete muppets. My fiance and I have only ever lived in one other property and we had no problems there. We paid on time, we had estimated bills and everything worked out fine. We then moved into this property and, still no problems.

Unfortunately, our problem has just started - 1 week before we fly out.

Basically, we took a meter reading and phoned up SE. They then told us that they had underestimated our Electricity bills compeletely for 18 months and that we had used up 15,000 kwh - thus we now owe them £1013 (including deductions from any credit we have). Since no actual meter readings were taken over the 18 months, they've estimated the whole way through - wrongly as it now transpires.

After a long discussion, it emerged that as we only have electric heating in the property (no gas) this is perfectly possible and so we have to pay (even though the initial rep I spoke to asked if we had an indoor heated swimming pool!). I asked them if there was someone we could contact to dispute this but they have said no. I asked them if the meter could be faulty - they told me over the phone - no.

The supervisor I spoke to was very calm and helped out by saying that obviously as this is a large amount, they would help by setting out a payment plan for 12 months, rather than the 6 (since we are leaving the country).

I am still a little unsure about this whole issue. Obviously, because the whole issue rests on the fact that we have NOT had any actual meter readings since we moved into the property, there was no way for SE to ascertain our energy usage and thus they couldn't tell us. On the other hand, we've had very little contact from SE apart from bills telling us that £40 was being paid in - exactly the same amount that we paid in our previous flat.

But I am a bit perturbed by the fact that they are very quick to assume that there is nothing wrong with the meter. It does seem to tick over a lot when all we have is a panel heater working, but when we switch everything off except the panel heater it still ticks away madly.

Can anyone give some advice as to what we can/should do?

I am resigned to the fact that we have been very stupid about this whole matter but on the other hand, looking forward to getting our tax return back when we leave which will hopefully cover the whole amount.

Thanks in advance

immoral_angeluk

The only thing you can do really is pay up, and make sure next time you regularly check your meter readings and never rely on estimated bills because in the end it all comes down to someone who's never even been to your house GUESSING on how much you're actually using.

Crucifer

immoral_angeluk wrote:

The only thing you can do really is pay up, and make sure next time you regularly check your meter readings and never rely on estimated bills because in the end it all comes down to someone who's never even been to your house GUESSING on how much you're actually using.

Fair enough, and as I said, I'm quite resigned to the fact that we will have to pay up.

But.. why bother guessing at all? Why can't they just say in the bill to phone back a meter reading? Wouldn't that be more efficient all around?

immoral_angeluk

Well normally companies OVERestimate.. which of course lets them reign more money in if people don't realise or give them meter readings.. it's just unfortunate that sometimes they underestimate and the customer is left with a very sore head and bank balance...

oldwiring

Well yo could've supplied proper readings. In my expereience they do act on them, so it's down to you. Safe emigration!

Seaxwyn

HI there

I do sympathise, we had a similar situation once. Now I always check the estimated bills and phone them with my reading, and they always reissue the bills.

Good luck in Australia

seven-day-weekend

Have a great time in Oz!

I always provide my meter readings every month then there is no need ever to have an estimated bill. Sorry you've found out the hard way, OP.

laura0141

I'm sorry you've been stung by the estimated bills you received - at least you'll know better in future.

Did you take a reading when you got the keys to the new house? If so, check you're being billed from the right point.

As regards your meter ... It's more common for meters to stop or go slow than to run fast and, if they do over-record they tend really do it in style and show people using hundreds of units a day. That's not to say your meter definately isn't faulty - just that it'd be very unusual. If SE are saying the meter's fine over the phone what they really mean is that your UPD (Units per day) is reasonable considering the appliances and heating you have in your home and, therefore, they assume the meter's OK.

It's usual for electricity meters to continue to 'run' for a while even after everything's been switched off. It's something to do with the recording mechanism. However, it *is* possible that there's something else in the house which is using electricity that you're not aware of. Unfortunately, even if this is the case, it won't affect the bill as you would have used the units even though you didn't know, if you see what I meean.

If it's any consolation, you're far from alone in getting a nasty surprise with estimates. In a former life, I worked for ScottishPower and I spoke to many people to whom this had happened. The only come-back you might have is that the electricity supplier has/had a statutory obligation to read the meter themselves annually. I say 'had' as the metering side of the business was deregulated after I moved on from SP and so the situation might be different now. Anyway - if SE have made no attempt to come and read your meter themselves in the time you've been in the house then you could have grounds for a complaint. In the first instance you should contact SE and then escalate to Ofgem (http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem/index.jsp) if necessary.

Hope some of my ramblings are of help.

Laura

hopingforahouse

Can't really add much to what everyone else has said, except to say your bill is probably right I'm afriad. Energy companies are now only unfortunately obliged to read your meter once every two years, and its up to you to ensure that you're billed correctly. However they do have to take a partical responsibility here. I would suggest phoning up and asking to speak to a manager - getting 10% off isn't too extreme in these situations, and I've heard of up to 30%. If you get no joy from them, tell them you're going to energywatch - the company gets fined £200 for every complaint to energywatch, so this might help. If still no joy, phone energywatch - they won't speak to you unless you've already spoken to a manager from your energy supplier though. Energywatch will escalate your complaint, so you probably can get some cash off if you kick up a stink a bit.

Don't tell them that you can probably pay it with your tax back. Tell them you can't and would need a payment scheme.

At end of the day, it is basically your own fault (sorry), but your energy supplier does hold a responsibilty to bill you correctly, and they're all getting in trouble at the moment as well for wrong bills, so you should get something off.

Cardew

Everyone appears to be concentrating of reasons why your consumption is high.

IMO 15,000kWh over a period of 18 months for a house with only electric heating is not high; in fact it is well below average. That, coupled with the fact that meters rarely are wrong, would indicate that the consumption is probably correct.

You received bills that would have shown that they were based on estimated reasons and gave you the opportunity to phone in an actual reading - but you didn't.

So I am not quite sure what you are disputing - the amount of electricity used, or what?