Electricity Arrears/Bill

ArseandElbow

Hello all.

slowly going through all my debts, have picked up loads of advice from the boards over the last few months. cheers all.

My new question is.... my next "big" bill is my electric bill (which includes arrears), I've had a bill for £1100 which I queried they took a new reading over the phone and then gave me an amended "rough" quote of £900, so I thought this hasn't dropped as much as I thought.

I asked for a exact written bill, I was told I couldn't by the agent and was told I will need to pay £300 before they issue a revised bill.

He said that he needs payment of 30% (£300) by end of the week, otherwise it'll be passed on for debt collection (i think court proceeding was mentioned) I did say you can't take me to court as I;m not refusing to pay...

I said no, it can't work that way... eventually after phonecalls with the agent he came back and agreed a new bill be issued.

I havent' received it yet but he rung me last night with a revised figure of circa £750. shoul d be in todays post delivery.

He still wants £250 (30%) which I cannot afford or put in a pre-pay meter which I would rather not have...but beggars can't be choosers!! By the end of September I know I'll be in a better position to make larger payments.

So where do I stand, should I accept the pre-pay or jump the agent (who is a bit pushy - are they commision based?) and go to the supplier direct? (who still havne't replied to emails sent to them weeks and weeks ago about the bills)

dogshome

Hi ArseandElbow - Rather confused with your post.
You refer to the 'Agent' - A Prepay meter - Going to the supplier direct.

It's only a guess, but do you have 'Private' meter that was installed by the landlord, which you feed with cash, but then also get demands for extra payments because the Agent says you have used more power than you have paid for?

Perhaps you could explain the set-up in more detail, but meanwhile, Landlords/Agents are not allowed to make a profit on re-selling Elec. & Gas, but they are allowed to add a service charge for handling the paperwork, but this should be shown as seperate line on the bill.
Your coin meter if you have one should be marked with how much power it delivers per payment

You are entitled to see a copy of the Bill from the power company, but this may not be of help if it's for a building with a lot of flats.

ArseandElbow

Sorry, I'm with SWALEC, and normally pay by Direct Debit. I had arrears and my DD wasn't covering the charge it looks like. After the initial bill of £1100. I finally got it down to £750 after a revised reading. paper bill not arrived yet. Agent (working for SWALEC) in contact with us, came to house to do reading etc.. wants us to clear arrears (or make the 30% payment) by end of the week.

I want to continue by DD (to include arrears) starting next payday... but if I can't make this substantial payment I might be forced down the payment meter route.

oh and it's a house not a flat.

Premier_2

ArseandElbow wrote: »

Hello all.

slowly going through all my debts, have picked up loads of advice from the boards over the last few months. cheers all.

My new question is.... my next "big" bill is my electric bill (which includes arrears), I've had a bill for £1100 which I queried they took a new reading over the phone and then gave me an amended "rough" quote of £900, so I thought this hasn't dropped as much as I thought.

I asked for a exact written bill, I was told I couldn't by the agent and was told I will need to pay £300 before they issue a revised bill.

He said that he needs payment of 30% (£300) by end of the week, otherwise it'll be passed on for debt collection (i think court proceeding was mentioned) I did say you can't take me to court as I;m not refusing to pay...

I said no, it can't work that way... eventually after phonecalls with the agent he came back and agreed a new bill be issued.

I havent' received it yet but he rung me last night with a revised figure of circa £750. shoul d be in todays post delivery.

He still wants £250 (30%) which I cannot afford or put in a pre-pay meter which I would rather not have...but beggars can't be choosers!! By the end of September I know I'll be in a better position to make larger payments.

So where do I stand, should I accept the pre-pay or jump the agent (who is a bit pushy - are they commision based?) and go to the supplier direct? (who still havne't replied to emails sent to them weeks and weeks ago about the bills)

Sorry, I too am struggling a little to understand.

What I do understand is that you are already in arrears with the electric bill (but you don't say by how much or what the agreement to repay the arrears is)

You now have received a new bill, presumably with more charge relating to recent consumption. As you have 're-negotiated' this downwards, presimably the bill was based on an over-estimated meter reading.

Swalec are part of SSE. Whenever SSE issue an estimated bill, they ask you to provide an actual meter reading and are quite quick to issue a new bill based on those actual readings.

With regards to the arrears, then it depends on the circumstances, but typically they will agree to recover the amount owed over the period it accrued.

Unless they give you a formal bill/invoice for an amount you owe, then you don't have to pay them anything (save the DD that you have already agreed to).
Usually, where a customer pays monthly by DD and has accrued a debt, this is recovered by a revision to the monthly DD amount to be collected in future months.

If I have understood the situation correctly, issue a formal complaint according to Swalec's complaints procedure (and start by asking for any disputed amount to be put on hold pending investigation and resolution)

http://www.swalec.co.uk/HelpAndAdvice/ComplaintsProcedure/

If there is something I have not understood in this case, please explain further

ArseandElbow

Sorry if my emails is hard to follow, trying to give as much info, which does not always help!!

£1100 was the money I owe as of today (or at least the last few weeks). This was based on my arrears and deficit in the original DD set up months ago and an estimated reading of the meter. I gave them a new reading and they had overestimated my usage and then gave me a revised figure of £900, but over the phone last night a new figure again of £760.00.

We were paying around £50 on top of monthly bill for arrears (I think £130 p/m - which I still thought was high). Due to change in circumstances - pay cut we need to revise the arrears etc.. set up a new DD for an affordable amount to avoid missed payments.

An agent for the electric company we are dealing with (via phonecalls/house visits) has stated for us to continue with revised DD's we need 30% paid off. I can't afford that. Other option is PAYG meter.

I had hoped that we could have come to a lower payment plan for at least a few months then see where I am finiacially but he wants it sorted this week. I'm not refusing to pay but I can't pay out something I haven't got. it's payday next week (Friday) for me so ideally I'd want to wait until then..before shelling anything out.

ArseandElbow

My understanding was that under certain codes of practice they should accept payments at an affordable level in order to keep it as a reducing balance.

macman

Given your inability to pay off the arrears even before the adverse change in circumstances, would not a PPM be a better option to managing your consumption and payment?

ArseandElbow

Also the Agent is a bit of a nuisance...knowing we work long hours and on shifts he ring house phone/mobiles repeatedly.. this is why I asked if he was on commision!?

Also when he came to house there was no answer at front door, as wife had been upstairs at the time, daughter was downstairs alone so we tell her not to answer door, only for my wife to see him coming around the side of my house... (that I'm yet to mention to SWALEC - was waiting to sort this out first)

ArseandElbow

macman wrote: »

Given your inability to pay off the arrears even before the adverse change in circumstances, would not a PPM be a better option to managing your consumption and payment?

It's just the horror stories about these meters going wrong and I've heard the charges are higher?

from next month a job role change will mean more money coming in, not as much as what we lost but will put us in a better position for bill payment.

Like I said if it's the only option then fine.... just prefer a DD.

DVardysShadow

ArseandElbow wrote: »

Also the Agent is a bit of a nuisance...knowing we work long hours and on shifts he ring house phone/mobiles repeatedly.. this is why I asked if he was on commision!?

Also when he came to house there was no answer at front door, as wife had been upstairs at the time, daughter was downstairs alone so we tell her not to answer door, only for my wife to see him coming around the side of my house... (that I'm yet to mention to SWALEC - was waiting to sort this out first)

If he is ringing you continuously, that amounts to harassment. You should WRITE to swalec and tell them that this must stop. Keep a copy.

As for not issuing you with a revised bill, is the bill you already have based on estimated or actual readings? If it is actual readings with a date, then there is not a lot of arguing with it. But if it is estimated readings, you can dispute the bill and demand a bill based on actual readings. Dispute it in writing and keep a copy.

At the end of the day, they don't like to take estimated bills to court - unless possibly they cannot get readings. And if they don't send you an itemised bill, they are hard pressed to undertake any recovery action.

Do not use their incompetence as an excuse to put yourself in a bigger mess. Put aside money month by month to pay this bill once it is sorted.

mattcanary

Is the initial reading when you moved in/ had the cuurent meter fitted/ moved your electric to your current supplier based upon a correct meter reading, or an estimate? If it is based upon an estimate, it may well mean the level of arrears is incorrect, even if the latest reading is correct.

As others have said, don't pay what they are demanding, or agree to having a prepayment meter until you get a proper written breakdown of how this "debt" has arisen.

The fact that your supplier seem to be writing off parts of the "debt" willy-nilly, suggests to me they are not at all confident your account has been billed correctly. Also it should be straightforward for them to send you a breakdown in normal circumstances. It doesn;t appear to be straightforward here - maybe tyour account has been adjusted and therefore meaning it is not a question of simply pressing a button on their computer system for a copy account to be generated automatically. It is quite possible they believe their case would not stand up in front of a court if it ever got that far so they are trying to compromise.

Do you have storage-heaters? If you don't. I would agree that £80.00 is on the steep side for electric usage (again suggesting that an incorrect start reading was used). The fact that your supplier are suggesting that £80.00 per month was nowhere near enough, again suggests that there is a problem in having your account has been billed (that is, if you don;t have storage heaters!)