Southern Electric don't want our money

lizzywig

My husband and I moved into our (new build) house on 30th May, the house is electric only (no gas) and the supplier at the time of moving in was Southern Electric. We phoned them under a week after moving in and told them we wanted to close the account and switch to another provider (British Gas). My husband followed both companies’ procedures and Southern Elec asked us to submit a meter reading which we did. I can’t remember when this was but think it was 1 July. From 1 July we then became British Gas customers. Sometime between 1 July and now we paid our first British Gas bill, I have the date at home but can’t remember off the top of my head. Realising that we still hadn’t had a bill from Southern Elec he called them and they said they didn’t have a record of our meter reading. So we gave it to them again, this is approx 1 month ago. They gave us an estimate and said the bill would be posted out to us within the week. At the end of August still nothing so my husband phoned up again, this time asking what information was held on our account and the status. They didn’t understand what he meant so he ended up just asking when his bill would be with him. They put him on hold and when they came back said it had been sent out the day before….why this was so hard to check I don’t know. So now approx 10 days after he spoke to them and still nothing. I know the postal system isn’t great but you would have thought it would have been here by now.

I know most people don’t moan about not getting a bill but we want it out of the way, we have a baby on the way and want to think about what money we have not about what money we need to keep aside. Apparently other people on the same estate are having the same problem so I suspect that this could be a long chase.

My Dad (Mr Wisdomous!) thinks I should just keep quiet but I want to draw a line under it. Husband says he will phone again but I don’t think this will get us anywhere. I think I should write to them detailing what has happened thus far and stating that if we don’t hear from them we assume that we have nothing to pay. This doesn’t make me feel comfortable though because we always pay our bills and as there should be a bill surely we have to pay it.

What is the correct way forward? My Dad said something about if they don’t contact you within 6 months then we don’t have to pay it…but I don’t want it hanging around for 6 months and knowing my luck they would contact me in 7 and then he would end up being wrong. Any ideas?

Perhaps this is a great as for Southern Electric as apparently they provide you with a free service!!

apt

You've contacted them several times. I would leave it up to Southern to sort themselves out. As the bill is only for June it is unlikely to be for much - probably £30 or less.

macman

You've apparently done the procedure the wrong way around., The new supplier is supposed to contact the old to advise of the switch-not you. The old supplier will then write to you to confirm that contact has been made. On the switch date, the new supplier takes the final reading from you and passes it to the old. That way the closing reading should match the opening reading, and the old supplier can generate a final bill.You need to confirm if BG have passed that final reading to SSE-without it they cannot bill you.
There is no 6 month billing cut off (although there is a 12 back billing rule), but ultimately it's not your job to chase the bill. You'll know approx what you owe, put the money in the bank and don't worry about it.

dogshome

Soon after you switched to BG they would have contacted you, asked for a meter reading and given you the date the they would take over - WRITE DOWN THESE DETAILS and keep the note in a safe place.

When SE do send you a Final Bill, check that it's End meter reading co-incides with BG's Start reading - if it does not reject the bill in writing and ask for one with the correct readings

jalexa

lizzywig wrote: »

We phoned them under a week after moving in and told them we wanted to close the account and switch to another provider (British Gas)

As macman has already pointed out you went about this the wrong way.

Regardless of any plans to switch, your task on day one should have been to set up an energy account with Southern Electric. This is because a "deemed contract" is created the moment you move in. Forgive me if you did but your post doesn't say.

Of course a competent Southern Electric adviser should have noticed that the first time you called. I'm guessing that Southern Electric still have the previous customer's details (the developers), not yours. A common issue with "new build" is plot number instead of house number and postcode.

This can only get worse. I suggest you phone Southern Electric and see what details they have about the supply.

macman

However you must have initially opened an account with SE, or you could not have switched away to BG.

eurmalian

The main piece of advice that I'd give is, no matter what you do otherwise, write to Southern explaining everything that has happened, providing the meter reading and asking for a bill. That way, whatever else goes on, you have proof that you have contacted them and tried to resolve it. Phone calls are incredibly hard to use as evidence if Southern later try to clain it's all your fault for not telling them things...

eurmalian

macman wrote: »

However you must have initially opened an account with SE, or you could not have switched away to BG.

Not if the previous tenants were all paid up to date. In that case the switch would go through fine on the old account. Suppliers don't cross check the names at the point of supply change or anything like that.

lizzywig

Right I've talked to my husband to get the correct version of events, this is where I would insert 'roll eyes' but I can't find the image to insert!!

Apparently I am wrong. He phoned BG saying we wanted to switch to them from SE. He gave our final SE meter reading to BG who gave it to SE. SE called us to say that they hadn't recieved the meter reading from BG and could we give it so we did (this was around July time). This is when they gave us an estimate and said the bill would be with us within 1 week. Hubby then got onto BG to check and they said they had records that they had passed it on to SE. At the end of August still nothing so my husband phoned up SE again and they said the bill had been sent out the day before.

Should we be chasing BG? Hubby reckons not because as far as BG are concerned they have done what is required of them. Someone said on here that it's not our responsibility to chase...but I really want this out of the way, it's starting to stress me out which is daft because it's something so little. I just really want to know what money we have to spend on the baby which is due in 7 weeks....eek!