Electric help!!

Sausages_

I have been living in my flat for almost 2 years now, and dispite trying to contact the electric provider with meter readings, I have only ever had one bill, which i disputed as it was for a period before I was living at the flat.

I do want to, and know i must pay for the electric, but i am scared now as i am sure there will be a huge bill waiting for me.

How can I try to resolve this?

chris1973

Well, hopefully you've been at least budgeting something away every month / quarter during this time, ready for the day when they do come to you with the bill for the back payment?.

Why don't you try and put in a request to transfer providers?, i'm sure they'll lose no time in sending around somebody to read the meter, and provide a bill, and you won't be able to move until any debt is paid.

Premier_2

Sausages_ wrote: »

I have been living in my flat for almost 2 years now, and dispite trying to contact the electric provider with meter readings, I have only ever had one bill, which i disputed as it was for a period before I was living at the flat.

I do want to, and know i must pay for the electric, but i am scared now as i am sure there will be a huge bill waiting for me.

How can I try to resolve this?

Radical, you may think, but how about contacting the supplier?

Sausages_

Premier wrote: »

Radical, you may think, but how about contacting the supplier?

I have tried this and manages to allocate my address details to the account, and advised them i will pay by DD, but they seem to be unable to actually send me a bill.

I tried doing it online, and filled in all the meter readings, got the following e-mails from them

Dear customer

Thanks for your email. We'll answer your query within five working days*.

Do you manage your account online?

If not, you're missing out on being able to:

- access your account securely
- view your bills online, no more paper bills
- provide your own meter readings
- set up your Direct Debit**
- change your personal details
- if you're in the process of transferring your energy supply to us,
check the progress of your transfer anytime, and provide your
opening meter readings just by logging in.

To register to manage your account online, click

There's no need to reply to this email.
Kind regards

Scott Walker
Customer Service

Hello Mr and Mrs ***** and thank you for your email; I am sorry for the delay in replying to your query.

I have tried to contact you by telephone to discuss your query but have been unsuccessful.

Please kindly confirm your electricity meter serial number and I will then be able to confirm if E.ON supply your property.

You can provide this information by calling me on 0845 059 9905 or by email at .

Kind regards

Daniel Chilton
Customer Service

After this i received a bill for the period before i lived here, and nothing since.:(

chris1973

Have you tried picking up the phone and trying to speak to a human?

I have tried to contact you by telephone to discuss your query but have been unsuccessful.

Or giving them a number they can reach you on?

The meter serial number should be printed / engraved on a plate on the front of the actual meter or from pushes of a button if its digital.

undaunted

Can we take it from the above that

You do know for certain Eon supplied the last occupier?

You have a meter reading for the date you moved in and can evidence that date if necessary?

You have records of when & how you have previously tried to address this with Eon?

You have not (/ not been able to afford to) set aside the money which you should (/ might have liked to have) done in order to pay for your electricity usage?

If so I suggest you forget about Emails, websites & call centres & write a good old fashioned letter, outlining all of the facts, your proposals for payment of any debt, keep a copy & send it by recorded delivery.

If you can evidence that you have made reasonable attempts to contact & inform the supplier & they still failed to bill you then you may be able to look to the back billing rules (meaning they couldn't back bill more than 12 months).

You may also wish to point out to your supplier that they have a duty to inspect the meter at least every two years. If they are therefore in doubt as to it's serial number perhaps they should now get themselves out & do so?

If you still have difficulties thereafter you may wish to contact Consumer Direct, your local CAB or similar organisation.

Sausages_

I did obviously contact them with the serial number on the meter. I then received a bill for the electric values from 0 meter reading to the reading i had provided (It is a new build property, so we are the first occupiers).

I called them on the number on the bill to say i would not be paying the £400 odd bill as i did not live there until there was a meter reading of 1169 (roughly, will have to get my file out).

The lady i spoke to agreed with me that in the month that i was there there is no way that i could have used that much electric in a month. (it was the builders)

She advised i would get a revised bill, but have had nothing since.

chris1973

The lady i spoke to agreed with me that in the month that i was there there is no way that i could have used that much electric in a month. (it was the builders)

So from this, can we gather that it was a new build and you were the first actual occupier?. In other words, there was no previous tenant / occupier prior to you moving in

Unfortunately the Crystal ball has gone back to Argos, hence the questions which are being asked above, some which you haven't answered and are highly relevant if anybody is going to advise you.

Assuming others have also moved into the other flats within the same new build, have you tried asking them how they made contact with and set up their utilities?. I suppose it is possible originally that the building company had a billing agreement to pay for the utility costs used by the various workmen in each flat under a single bill for the duration of the build, rather than paying usage in each flat individually. Then when each occupier moved into their flat, they were then expected to sign up with their own chosen, individual utility company, and any assumed blanket contract between the utility company and the building co was duly cancelled once all of the flats had been sold.

Sausages_

undaunted wrote: »

Can we take it from the above that

You do know for certain Eon supplied the last occupier?
We were told by the Housing Association this was the case. E-on raised a bill for the electric from 0 to the meter reeding i gave, so presume this information was correct

You have a meter reading for the date you moved in and can evidence that date if necessary?
I wrote it down when i moved in. I have a signed tenancy agreement confirming date moved in

You have records of when & how you have previously tried to address this with Eon?
Some, not all. Not sure if i have the telephone bills, but do have 2 e-mails from them.

You have not (/ not been able to afford to) set aside the money which you should (/ might have liked to have) done in order to pay for your electricity usage?
correct. I Know i should have, and i did to start with, but them was out of work for a while & car blew up

If so I suggest you forget about Emails, websites & call centres & write a good old fashioned letter, outlining all of the facts, your proposals for payment of any debt, keep a copy & send it by recorded delivery.

If you can evidence that you have made reasonable attempts to contact & inform the supplier & they still failed to bill you then you may be able to look to the back billing rules (meaning they couldn't back bill more than 12 months).

You may also wish to point out to your supplier that they have a duty to inspect the meter at least every two years. If they are therefore in doubt as to it's serial number perhaps they should now get themselves out & do so?

If you still have difficulties thereafter you may wish to contact Consumer Direct, your local CAB or similar organisation.

Hope this clarifies

Sausages_

I have tried to answer fully for you

chris1973 wrote: »

So from this, can we gather that it was a new build and you were the first actual occupier?. In other words, there was no previous tenant / occupier prior to you moving in
correct

Unfortunately the Crystal ball has gone back to Argos, hence the questions which are being asked above, some which you haven't answered and are highly relevant if anybody is going to advise you.
don't think there was any need for this.......


Assuming others have also moved into the other flats within the same new build, have you tried asking them how they made contact with and set up their utilities?. Yes. Downstairs used E-on, and complained that their bill included the back payment to meter reading "0" next door switched to someone elseI suppose it is possible originally that the building company had a billing agreement to pay for the utility costs used by the various workmen in each flat under a single bill for the duration of the build, rather than paying usage in each flat individually. Then when each occupier moved into their flat, they were then expected to sign up with their own chosen, individual utility company, and any assumed blanket contract between the utility company and the building co was duly cancelled once all of the flats had been sold. I do not know about their arrangements - surely it has nothing to do with me

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi sausages

Sorry you're having such a problem receiving a correct bill.

On the bill we sent, does the Meter Serial Number match the one from the meter you phoned in to us?

Sometimes with new builds, there are problems setting up individual accounts as the info we're sent from builders/letting agents/housing associations etc is wrong or mixed up.

Often we're given the wrong meter number for individual properties. This is what's known as a crossed meter issue and is where the actual meter at a property is attached to the wrong address.

If this is the case, you'll probably find the problem is more widespread and will be affecting a lot more properties in your particular development.

We've a specialist team who deal exclusively with these matters. This is our New Connections Crossed Meter team.

I would contact this team. If it is a crossed meter, they may already be aware of the problem. They are certainly the best placed people to advise you.

Once the billing has been sorted out, we'll be happy to set up a payment arrangement for you and spread the outstanding balance over a similar period of time it's taken to sort this out.

Hope this is useful sausages. Give me a shout if you need any more details as will be happy to help.

Malc