Please help with advice re very high gas consumption

jessie179

Hi

I really need advice of what to do please.
My husband left over the summer holidays and I stayed in our rented property and landlord is aware that he no longer lives here. One of the main problems we had was him never paying bills and using the money for drugs.

I have a 3 year old and a 6 month old and I study one day a week until almost 10 at night. Their dad swapped his days off and now look after them on this particular day at my place.

Mid October my gas supplier sent out a warrant officer to have my gas disconnected. I was not at home and discovered only the next day. This has caused huge stress lately mainly because the metre is at the most awkard place and if weather gets any worse dangerous locations. Since it has been installed almost every week except last 2 weeks I had to get their Engineer out because the box didnt allow me to topup with credit on the card. Also every time an engineer came he would out emergency credit on and after that I would insert my card and the metre is then supposed to take the emergency credit off and leave me with the remaining credit.

My husbands parents have decided in the week to pay the final bill for me so that I can only deal with current gas charges. Called up the company to see what my options were and were then told its an extra almost £300 on top of the final bill after credit metre was replaced. Apparently I used more gas then what I topped up. If that is the case why not show on the metre to allow me to top up more.
On the bill it showed my consumption last year when it was 2 adults and a 2 year old and it was 1517kWh and this time its 7246 for period 17th October to 29th November.

How is this possible. It states from when the metre was installed so 17th Oct - 9th Nov - 77 = 860 KWh used (metre was then replaced because I had 3 engineers out by then
New metre from 9th Nov - 29th Nov - 572 = 6386KWh

Their break down is as follows
Consumption Charge 7246kWh x 3.615 = £261.94
Standing charge 43 days x 35.550 = £277.23

Can someone please help because I am really stressing about this. I thought a pre-paid metre is suppose to help not adding mpre on your debt.

My Setup: Mid Terraced property less than 10 years old. Proper insulation. 3 beds, one living and one kitche. Downstairs are always freexing cold even if heating is switched on. Boiler and CH is on itimer.
Thanks in advance

spiro

If the meter was fitted under a warrant then the 'extra' £300 is probably due to you being charged warrant visits, court costs, meter exchange fee etc etc.

I would ask the supplier for a detailed breakdown of the bill because this may show these charges. When you contact them I would explain how you got into this situation and explain you need the breakdown to show your ex's parents. I dont know how well you get on with the ex's parents but if you find out there is another £200-300 on the bill for warrants etc I would explain this to them and see if they would help towards them.

Even if you clear the debt the supplier may charge you (£50-60) to charge the meter back to credit, you will need to pass a credit check and probably pay by DD.

Hope this helps you.

dogshome

From the numbers in your post, there is something very wrong with the billing

17 Oct - 9 Nov is 24 days
77 units/869 Kwh works out to 35 Kwh a day, which is roughly 13,030 Kwh a year and reasonable for a well insulated 3 Bed terrace
9 Nov - 29 Nov is 21 days
572 units/6368 Kwh works out to 303 Kwh a day, which is roughly 110,680 Kw a year, which is an absolutely astounding amount.

I suspect that with the, (is it 3 so far?), meter changes there is a billing error as to what one of the meters read when it was installed - Meter swaps don't always use new meters reading Zero, they can be re-conditioned one's that already have a lot on the clock

If you don't have the previous bills, get onto your supplier and ask for copies of all the bills prior to the 1st meter change - They have to supply them
When you get them, work out what your Kwh consumption was over a year and use that to challange the reads on the new billing.

spiro

dogshome wrote: »

9 Nov - 29 Nov is 21 days
572 units/6368 Kwh works out to 303 Kwh a day, which is roughly 110,680 Kw a year, which is an absolutely astounding amount.

There should be an exchange card attached to the meter. Check the final reading for the removed meter and initial reading for new meter match the bill.

jessie179

spiro wrote: »

If the meter was fitted under a warrant then the 'extra' £300 is probably due to you being charged warrant visits, court costs, meter exchange fee etc etc.

I would ask the supplier for a detailed breakdown of the bill because this may show these charges. When you contact them I would explain how you got into this situation and explain you need the breakdown to show your ex's parents. I dont know how well you get on with the ex's parents but if you find out there is another £200-300 on the bill for warrants etc I would explain this to them and see if they would help towards them.

Even if you clear the debt the supplier may charge you (£50-60) to charge the meter back to credit, you will need to pass a credit check and probably pay by DD.

Hope this helps you.

Hi

The 3 final statements I had was showing the final amount plus the warrant charges as its detailed on there.
After talking to them telling them I have found a way to pay the entire bill that is when they mentioned additional charges and then sent new bill with the figures i quoted above.
Have explained it all. Scottish Power says they cant do anything. Even when offered to pay it and maybe accepting it with few quid shaved off.

dogshome

The operative words here are "There Should be an Exchange card", but quite often on this site there are posts that meters have been changed with no note of the old meters readings left behind.
Last year with an Electric meter change, I had to chase the fitters van down the road in my car to get the reading from the old meter.

jessie179
With extra charges coming at you from all directions it must be difficult to know what to tackle first.

However, if the figures you gave on the 17 Oct - 9 Nov and 9 Nov - 29 Nov billings are correct, follow the route of examining the bills prior to the first meter change to establish what your annual use was, then use that to challange the bills since in a letter headed Complaint

jessie179

dogshome wrote: »

From the numbers in your post, there is something very wrong with the billing

17 Oct - 9 Nov is 24 days
77 units/869 Kwh works out to 35 Kwh a day, which is roughly 13,030 Kwh a year and reasonable for a well insulated 3 Bed terrace
9 Nov - 29 Nov is 21 days
572 units/6368 Kwh works out to 303 Kwh a day, which is roughly 110,680 Kw a year, which is an absolutely astounding amount.

I suspect that with the, (is it 3 so far?), meter changes there is a billing error as to what one of the meters read when it was installed - Meter swaps don't always use new meters reading Zero, they can be re-conditioned one's that already have a lot on the clock

If you don't have the previous bills, get onto your supplier and ask for copies of all the bills prior to the 1st meter change - They have to supply them
When you get them, work out what your Kwh consumption was over a year and use that to challange the reads on the new billing.

That is what I said and also explained that it is impossible that my bill is that high. My boiler and CH is on a timer but because I am home with the baby during the day it recently finally started getting a bit colder meaning I might switch it on but normally layer my clothing. Also other reason boiler normally gets nice and warm and keep our upstairs warmer and my 4 year old mostly play with her toys in there and I am then upstairs as baby can crawl between our 3 rooms.

dogshome

Phone calls to the suppliers Customer Service Desk are not the way to go with this problem, as the staff have very limited powers to investigate, and more often than not simply think no further than what the screen in front of them says.

Putting your problem in writing heading the letter Complaint , moves the whole thing up the management chain to people empowered to investigate and change things if need be. It also puts you on the track to take the problem to the Ombudsman if you don't get satisfactory answers in 6 weeks and whilst the Complaint is ongoing, you should be free from payment demands

jessie179

dogshome wrote: »

Phone calls to the suppliers Customer Service Desk are not the way to go with this problem, as the staff have very limited powers to investigate, and more often than not simply think no further than what the screen in front of them says.

Putting your problem in writing heading the letter Complaint , moves the whole thing up the management chain to people empowered to investigate and change things if need be. It also puts you on the track to take the problem to the Ombudsman if you don't get satisfactory answers in 6 weeks and whilst the Complaint is ongoing, you should be free from payment demands

I do have an open complaint with them and I have been dealing directly with the complaints department and a manager. Was the manager that told me that bad news.

UPDATE: Yesterday manager called me back and asked for a new reading on the metre to get to the final total.
He then admitted there must have been a mistake when the new one was installed. Removed the additional charges but still added a few quid on but less the the almost £300 that was added on before. I am still going to get the uipdated bill in the post. Then can see exactly what is happening.

He also agreed that they can install a new credit metre without having to wait the 12 month period or without credit checking me.