Ovo

cne123

Hello... I have just received the dready call from my supplier to say they are really sorry but..... we have been charging you incorrectly so you know owe us money!
How is this legal?! We left Npower as there prices were just going through the roof so went to ovo for a combined package and they told us they would get all the info from Npower so don't worry we'll email your bill over - sent a reading anyway and 2years later everything has been fine... never missed a bill...
Now they have discovered we are on the Imperial Meter and due to the calulations and they didn't realise we are now lumbered with a £500 bill...
were do we stand legally?? at no point was i ever asked the question do you have an Imperial meter so how does this land on my lap as my fault?!?!

ian1969uk

I would offer to pay them back over the same time they have taken to notice the mistake. So £500 over 2 years at approx £21 per month.

macman

Because if you have used the gas then you have to pay for it-if the error had been the other way around and they owed you money, would you not expect them to pay you what was owed?
They can back bill you 2 years, which is what the appear to have done. What you can do is to ask for the same period to pay it back as the period in which it accrued, i.e. 2 years.
How did you not notice that your gas bill was about 1/3 of what it should have been though?

Hoopie1

The first thing you need to do is call them and try and get them to shave some money off the bill as it was them that made the billing error (I did this with British Gas earlier this year). Having done that, you then need to agree a repayment plan as suggested above.

dogshome

Hi cne123 - Unless you are a very, very low gas user, this demand from OVO for £500 to cover 2 years of Gas bills wrongly charged on the basis of you having a Metric meter when you meter is actually an Imperial model, doesn't seem to add up.

On a Metric meter, one unit = One cubic metre of gas. An Imperial meter unit = 100 cubic feet which is 181% more than a cubic metre.
So roughly, for a £250 debt to build up in year, your previously issued annual bills should be at a rough total of only £138 !

Reckon it's best to check what sort of meter you do have: If it's marked m3 on the front it's Metric - If it's marked ft3 it's Imperial
Check the previous bills by dividing the Kwh charged by the meter units used, if the answer is appx. 11.2 you are being charged for a metric meter - If it's 31.5 you are being charged for an Imperial meter.

If indeed you do have an Imperial meter but have been charged for Metric, check what you owe by dividing the total on your previous bills by 11.2 and multiplying the answer by 31.5

cne123

Do you work for OVO MacMan?? i was looking for advice not to be patronised...

To everyone else - really appreciate your feedback and Yes I have agreed to do this..

macman

I was not patronising you. You asked for info on whether you had to pay for gas used, despite a billing error-I answered your question.

Plushchris

Macman, if you do work for Ovo how about organising me some mates rates? lol

macman

Someone's trying to start a rumour here...