A £2700 electricity bill for 3 months from Powergen

Wig

sutyde wrote:

I would also like to know if it is possible to swith to other cheaper schemes without changing the meters to the normal ones.

Definately possible, switching to Ebico (cheap for gas & elec) or Utility warehouse (likely the cheapest for elec only) will likely be the best options for you using existing meters, take note of the bad customer service record of utility warehouse (cheapest is not always best) and they use 0870 telephone number for customer service. Ebico is better

or how difficult to change meters?

Would be easiest to do this with Powergen before changing suppliers, as they have your track record.

If I change supplier, would the new supplier allow me to pay direct debit instead of prepayment?

Only if the meter has been changed.


Ebico has the same prices for prepayment meters as they do for credit meters so switching to Ebico will make noo difference to what meter you have. And they are cheap too (when compared to other prepayment tariffs).

As others already said it is important to find out if you are or have been paying off someone elses debt on the meters.

Someone mentioned this was a statement not a bill, to that person I ask, how do you explain the OPs assurety that the "previous bill" showed a credit balance?? It probably IS a statement not a bill but it is still a statement showing a debt not a credit. therefore to say no one owes anyone any monies is not necessarily correct. In this example though I'd say the statement is incorrect.

jessc_2001

Wig wrote:

Someone mentioned this was a statement not a bill, to that person I ask, how do you explain the OPs assurety that the "previous bill" showed a credit balance??

In answer to your query - "previous bill" probably meant previous "statement" - most suppliers produce Statements and Bills on exactly the same stationery.

Wig wrote:

It probably IS a statement not a bill but it is still a statement showing a debt not a credit.

Precisely - normally the easiest way to tell whether it is a bill or a statement is to see if there is a pre-printed pay-in slip at the bottom of it - if they don't give you a way to pay, it's a statement!

Wig wrote:

therefore to say no one owes anyone any monies is not necessarily correct. In this example though I'd say the statement is incorrect.

I believe I said "at this point no-one owes anyone any money"

I don't think the OP said that they had physically put £2700 into the pre-payment meter - therefore, I agree, the statement which shows a balance of £2700 is incorrect.

If the OP HAD put £2700 into the meter then I would've expected the OP to be yelling about it long before the statement arrived. The OP has put enough money in the meter to maintain supply - whether this was being charged at the correct rate can only be confirmed by the readings and settings on the meter. If the incorrect rate is set on the meter, then either the meter will need to be reset to the correct rate or changed and then a refund should be calculated by the supplier based on the consumption.

The cause of the incorrect balance will be either that the readings from the meter have been transposed (probable) or the meter has been changed and the readings from the new meter have been put onto the account without the meter exchange taking place in the billing system...