Budget energy

spike7451

I got a text to my mobile this afternoon announcing that the Paypoint top up had now gone live..

RTNI

Jo4 wrote: »

Brian hadn't contacted hubby so hubby telephoned and Tanya asked him to call back in ten minutes as everyone in the account department was busy. Hubby telephoned back ten minutes later and Josephine answered and said she was transferring him to Kevin but it was Brian who answered the telephone. Brian said that he had spoke to NIE - there new name something about td was in it, anyway apparently they have said that the meter reading is too old and they need a new one. Hubby gave a new reading over the phone and Brian said he would contact them and it would be next Wednesday before he would know whether our monthly DD could be reduced or not. From the reading hubby has just given him we are £64.16 in credit and our next DD is due on the 20th, Wednesday!

Is everyone else having to wait so long for Budget Energy to give NIE a meter reading?

T&D (Transmission and Distribution) are the people who call at your door and read the meter for all electricity suppliers.

I can't understand why BE need to give NIE a meter reading? Is it for their records or something?

I got a bill through the post this evening when I got home. Shows under bill summary that my last bill amount is "£XX.YY" which is not technically true as it was in credit, so a CR would be useful there. Also lists the DD payments on the back as usual and the meter reading. Total amount is shown on the front page as £0.00 with a message saying if it is showing £0.00 then turn over.

Credit amount at the end of the bill (electricity used + 5% VAT - DD payments) is correct.

Bill seems a little hard to follow, but maybe that's just me.

Jo I am confused about the meter reading thing. If it's of any help I called and got speaking to Kevin at about 0830 in the morning, he had just literally walked through the door he said and was logging onto the computer so had to wait a few moments for computer to load up. Don't know if your hubby should try again on Monday if he can?

Jo4

RTNI wrote: »

T&D (Transmission and Distribution) are the people who call at your door and read the meter for all electricity suppliers.

I can't understand why BE need to give NIE a meter reading? Is it for their records or something?

I got a bill through the post this evening when I got home. Shows under bill summary that my last bill amount is "£XX.YY" which is not technically true as it was in credit, so a CR would be useful there. Also lists the DD payments on the back as usual and the meter reading. Total amount is shown on the front page as £0.00 with a message saying if it is showing £0.00 then turn over.

Credit amount at the end of the bill (electricity used + 5% VAT - DD payments) is correct.

Bill seems a little hard to follow, but maybe that's just me.

Jo I am confused about the meter reading thing. If it's of any help I called and got speaking to Kevin at about 0830 in the morning, he had just literally walked through the door he said and was logging onto the computer so had to wait a few moments for computer to load up. Don't know if your hubby should try again on Monday if he can?

Apparently they need them to confirm our reading which doesn't make sense unless someone is going to come out and read it although he did not say that someone was going to come and read it but he did say it was due to be read shortly.

What way do they work out the revised DD?

RTNI

Jo4 wrote: »

Apparently they need them to confirm our reading which doesn't make sense unless someone is going to come out and read it although he did not say that someone was going to come and read it but he did say it was due to be read shortly.

What way do they work out the revised DD?

Hmm ok. I would be interested to know what happens about the meter reading.

As for the DD, I have no idea how they work it out. I can only assume that they want the DD to be as high as possible, since this gives them cash in the bank for cash flow purposes. Kevin did not explain to me how he arrived at the revised figure but it was semi-close to what I wanted so went with it.

Jo4

RTNI wrote: »

Hmm ok. I would be interested to know what happens about the meter reading.

As for the DD, I have no idea how they work it out. I can only assume that they want the DD to be as high as possible, since this gives them cash in the bank for cash flow purposes. Kevin did not explain to me how he arrived at the revised figure but it was semi-close to what I wanted so went with it.

It doesn't make any sense to me either!

I will try to persuade hubby to telephone before Wednesday but he doesn't like phoning because he doesn't feel he is getting any further!

andyp1708

Hi folks,

With regards to meter readings, the reason Budget send them to NIE T&D is as follows:

NIE T&D hold a meter reading history for every customer, and this meter reading history is used by NIE T&D to charge Budget (and the other suppliers) for the electricity used in supplying their customer base.

If an estimate was used in the past, and a customer calls up and provides an up to date actual meter reading, this reading is submitted (by Budget) to NIE T&D for validation, and can either be rejected or accepted based on NIE T&D's validation criteria.

When Budget sends the reading, it can take up to 2 business days for to be validated and Budget will receive notification from NIE T&D to confirm this, and the amended reading can be used to correct the bill.

The more actual readings a customer provides, the more accurate the bill will be.

RTNI

andyp1708 wrote: »

Hi folks,

With regards to meter readings, the reason Budget send them to NIE T&D is as follows:

NIE T&D hold a meter reading history for every customer, and this meter reading history is used by NIE T&D to charge Budget (and the other suppliers) for the electricity used in supplying their customer base.

If an estimate was used in the past, and a customer calls up and provides an up to date actual meter reading, this reading is submitted (by Budget) to NIE T&D for validation, and can either be rejected or accepted based on NIE T&D's validation criteria.

When Budget sends the reading, it can take up to 2 business days for to be validated and Budget will receive notification from NIE T&D to confirm this, and the amended reading can be used to correct the bill.

The more actual readings a customer provides, the more accurate the bill will be.

Seems logical now you put it like that! Thanks for that!

Jo4

andyp1708 wrote: »

Hi folks,

With regards to meter readings, the reason Budget send them to NIE T&D is as follows:

NIE T&D hold a meter reading history for every customer, and this meter reading history is used by NIE T&D to charge Budget (and the other suppliers) for the electricity used in supplying their customer base.

If an estimate was used in the past, and a customer calls up and provides an up to date actual meter reading, this reading is submitted (by Budget) to NIE T&D for validation, and can either be rejected or accepted based on NIE T&D's validation criteria.

When Budget sends the reading, it can take up to 2 business days for to be validated and Budget will receive notification from NIE T&D to confirm this, and the amended reading can be used to correct the bill.

The more actual readings a customer provides, the more accurate the bill will be.

I wish this had been explained to us by Budget Energy, thanks though! Hopefully they will phone on Wednesday.

dsab

We finally received our latest bill, 2 months after the meter was actually read. Hopefully the process will be a bit quicker in the future.

Jo4

They didn't phone today either so I'm after getting hubby to phone them. This time he spoke to Sinead who said Nie had confirmed the reading and that the next bill would be based on this reading and then she said bye. Hubby said the dd was supposed to be amended and she said we'll get that sorted after your next bill so hubby said it was supposed to be amended today and that he has phoned about it a few times to which she responded if you had spoke to me the first time it would have been done by now. She then put him on hold and said Brian would look into it and email him by the end of the day with a new monthly dd amount which would take effect from next month since our dd has gone out today. Hubby asked what time Brian was working until today and she said 5pm but he's normally here to 6pm.

I hope they are better at emailing than they are at telephoning! :mad: