powergen £5,500 electricity bill

squarebanana

Hi first of all, i run a small sandwich shop in manchester, now weve always paid our electricity bills since we opened in 2003, thing is powergen were reading the wrong meter and charging us a cheaper rate based on the flat upstairs, they have now worked out that even though its their fault, i have to pay back £5,500 at £140 per month, and my electric bill for the shop has treble to what we were paying so now per quarter its gone upto £780 plus they want the £140 per month for 3 months = £420 = £1200 per qtr the shop cant take this into account, but ive been told because im a business theres nothing i can do is this true, i wouldnt mind i was 3 days late with the payment last month and theyve transferred me to moorcroft debt recovery now and they want all the money,have i to let them take me to court, i dont want a CCJ but i cant afford the £5,500 all at once.

SB

irnbru_2

squarebanana wrote:

powergen were reading the wrong meter and charging us a cheaper rate based on the flat upstairs, they have now worked out that even though its their fault

Contact energywatch.

squarebanana wrote:

i dont want a CCJ but i cant afford the £5,500 all at once.

Considering the debt has accrued over a 3 year period, I doubt a civil court is going to enforce immediate repayment.

Are you a member of any local business groups - some have a legal helpline?

Have you checked the bills to make sure they are charging you pro-rata for each applicbale rate rather than at today's rate?

Cardew

If they were reading the wrong meter, was the flat upstairs paying the £5,500 bill?

No experience of how utility companies can treat a business;. However for a domestic bill they can't go back more than 2 years and they would have certainly 'written off' a percentage of this debt.

As stated above, how do they know how much you used in, say, 2004 and then what rate have they charged for that.

tripled

Business customers don't have as many legal safeguards as domestic so have less protection when things go wrong. I'm not genned up of the regs for business accounts though, so best check with energywatch as they can advise you best.

squarebanana

thanks for the replys, energywatch simply said you have to pay it we cant help you. They have given me a discount on it, not sure how much, but i was 2 days late paying last month, and now its in the hands of moorcroft debt recovery, they have now offered to lower the payments to £100 per month.
I am now in the process of remortgaging to get a better deal on my mortgage as it was self cert, and ask for the extra money to pay this debt off.

thanks
SB