Huge electricity bill help needed...

rule

Hi I am looking for advice please.
I received a Hugh final bill that is completely unjustified...please see communications below..

I am about to write a follow up complaint email and I am aware of the energy ombudsman as a last resort, but also wanted to get your opinion in terms of the reply or how you will be handling this ..

Any help would be greatly appreciated.,.

See recent communication below :

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Forwarded message

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From: Energy <>
Date: Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 4:51 PM
Subject: RE: Customer enquiry from web <please select>
To: P<>


Dear Mr P

Thank you for your reply.

As my colleague M advised you during the telephone on 14 December 2011, the account was opened to meter readings of 5796 (day rate) and 8241 (night rate). As we did not receive actual meter readings from you at this time, estimated meter readings were used to open the account.

I have recommended that you speak to your letting agents to see if they have a recoded of any actual meter readings showing on your entry inventory, as we will be able to make any adjustments on receipt of this documentation. I understand that they have not been very helpful with this matter, however, I would persevere as this will be the easiest way to resolve these issues.

During your time at the property, we did not receive any actual meter readings, therefore, we are not able to establish a correct consumption history for you. A meter inspector attempted to visited the property to read the meter on 28 June 2011 and 6 July 2011 but they were not able to gain access. Each invoice suggests that the account holder provides regular meter readings and explains the options for doing so.

It is extremely unusual for a meter to run too fast and not record usage accurately and as we did not receive any request for the meter to be checked during your tenancy, this has not been carried out. If you had requested that the meter was checked, then we could have arranged this, however, if the meter was found not to be faulty, you would have been liable for the charges accrued for the examination. The price ranges from £60.00 to £200.00 and this is to pay for a new meter to be installed and the independent testing of the current meter.

As you are no longer resident of the address, we will not be able to arrange this accuracy test as the new tenants would need to authorise this. I reiterate that it is extremely unlikely that the meter was running fast, rather your increased usage is due to the first actual meter readings being received on the account as you vacated the address.

Our records show that the payments totalling £229.09 have been received for the account. The remaining balance of £456.79 is for the charges showing on the latest December invoice and does not reference your pervious payments made.

I can confirm that following your discussion with our offices, a hold has been placed on the account for 30 days to allow time for this enquiry to be resolved. Please be advised that we will need to receive confirmation of the opening meter readings, if they differ from the aforementioned meter readings, so that we can adjust our records. Any current meter readings will not assist with this matter as this will show consumption from after you left the property.

I appreciate that £456.79 is a large invoice to receive and we can certainly assist you in spreading the cost of these charges over six months by offering you a Payment Plan (PP). There are conditions that must be met before we can agree to offer a PP, namely that the first monthly instalment must be paid by credit/debit card at the time that the payment plan is set up and subsequent instalments can then be set up via direct debit. Payments can be collected from your bank account on the third or 17th of each month so you would need to indicate your preference. if you would like to arrange a PP once this matter is resolved, you will need to contact our offices for this to be arranged.

If you have any more queries please do not hesitate to contact us on or email us at

If you wish to respond to this email, please do so by clicking the reply button in your email program.

Kind regards

K
Correspondence Administrator
The Utility Warehouse

Email:
Phone:
Fax:
Web

From: P[mailto:[EMAIL="panos100m&#64;gmail.com"][/EMAIL]
Sent: 14 December 2011 16:36

To: Energy
Subject: Re: Customer enquiry from web <please select>

DearK
Thank you for your email.
>>The account was opened on 10 May 2011 and meter readings of 5796 (day rate) and 8241 (night rate) were >>recorded as the opening meter readings.
Masiej said that no meter reading were provided upon moving in ..where the initial meter readings that you provided estimates ?
When was the last actual reading was recorded ?
Was the meter checked for errors and if yes when?
What R means for this meter does it have an R2 display also ?
Regarding confirmation of the current meter readings and contacting the letting agency.
I have contacted the letting agency per your suggestion and requested the information from them.
However they are not very helpful and I would be surprised if they help with this ,
For example a letting agent contacts the utility companies on a new tenancy but when I moved in I had to contact you to open my account.
I will try to contact a friend that lives near Hemel Hemstead to see if he can get the info.
Please note that I have no access to the property at the moment and I can't get the meter reading myself, getting access to it and finding out what the meter reading is will require the consent of the new tenant and also them to be present.
Can you arrange for the meter reading to be taken either by contacting the new tenant or by arranging a visit to the property ?
Another concern is that even if we did get an up to date meter reading, that would also include the usage that the new tenant is using from 30 October 2011 to date isn't that correct ? .. doesn't that means that again the final total will be based on an estimate ?
Furthermore :
The figure that you have given me is excessive and I dispute it as it doesn't make any sense.
I didn't / don't use much electricity, especially because this refers to day readings when I wasn't even at home.
My personal profile :
I am a single person and I was working from 8:30-18:00 every day in Hemel hempstead.
I didn't watch TV when I was living in the property.
My oven was not working for the first three months and when this was fixed eventually I was not cooking much.
There was no Gas in the property and only electric, however the heating didn't come on until 01:00 in the morning automatically (when it was switched on) therefore this would go to the night reading, the actual night reading is lower than the estimate and that says a lot !!!
Even though that heating therefore is not applicable, in the summer months July - August -September I wasn't even using the heaters and that will explain the low estimate .
I never leave any electrical appliances or lights on
The only thing that was continuously open during the day was the fridge and I am pretty sure that this doesn’t consume anything as much!!
So given the information above this charge is completely outrageous
If we look to what I paid already :

30 Nov DD UTILITY WAREHOUSE 48.78
31 Oct UTILITY WAREHOUSE 38.59
30 Sep UTILITY WAREHOUSE 35.88
31 Aug UTILITY WAREHOUSE 35.48
29 Jul UTILITY WAREHOUSE 34.63
13 Jul UTILITY WAREHOUSE 35.73
Total: 229.09

What happens to the already paid amount (based on estimates) are they going to be readjusted and reduced from the £456.79 ? If you say that initially it was 5796, then the total consumption will be the reading that you have minus 5796 minus the money already paid right ?
Anyway a total of £229.09 paid to utility warehouse (a little bit excessive considering that I don't use much electricity as explained and also bearing in mind that this is being only an estimate but in the end of the day is somewhat acceptable )..
Now on top of that if we assume that an additional £456.79 has to be paid that gives a total of £685.88
For a single person that doesn’t use much electricity and is not home during most of the day, this charge is too much for a period of five months and 20 days this is just not justifiable .. is more than a family would pay in a year
As I explained to M please leave this payment on hold as I do not agree with the charges and I am disputing them for the reasons explained.
Please address and answer all the points on this email.
Please Investigate this in detail and escalate it if you need to this is causing great distress and anxiety as I received a Hugh bill but I didn't use near as much this amount of electricity and I feel that the charge is unjustified,
I am certain that we will resolve this.
Yours Faithfully
P


On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 8:52 AM, Energy <> wrote:
Dear Mr P

Thank you for your email. Please accept my apologies that you have had to contact us again regarding this matter.

Our records show that there is an Economy 7 meter reading in situ at the address, which means that there are two meter readings displayed. The account was opened on 10 May 2011 and meter readings of 5796 (day rate) and 8241 (night rate) were recorded as the opening meter readings.

The account was subsequently closed on 30 October 2011 using meter readings of 8990 (day rate) and 8889 (night rate). The final invoice was issued to you earlier this month based on the aforementioned meter readings and this shows an outstanding balance of £456.79.

I note that you contacted our offices yesterday and spoke with my colleague M regarding this invoice. I reiterate his comments that we will be able to make an amendments to the closing meter readings if they are confirmed as incorrect by the new tenants. I regret that until we receive confirmation of the correct meter readings, we will not be able to make any changes to the account so I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. If you are still in contact with the letting agency, I suggest that you contact them and request that they obtain the actual meter readings. Please advise us by return and we will then be able to make any adjustments for you.

If you have any more queries please do not hesitate to contact us on or email us at .

If you wish to respond to this email, please do so by clicking the reply button in your email program.

Regards

K
Correspondence Administrator
The Utility Warehouse

Email:
Phone:
Fax:
Web

From: P[mailto:
Sent: 12 December 2011 16:18
To: Energy

Subject: Re: Customer enquiry from web <please select>

Dear Sir / Madam

There must have been a mix up or any other sort of error either the readings don't correspond to what they should be (R doesn't mean day reading and there was another setting) the initial readings that you have are wrong, the ones that I provided you were wrong.... or there is a problem with the meter??..

Can you confirm what were the readings given to you by myself upon moving in?

I was staying in the property alone by myself and was at work most of the day and didn't use much electricity at home!!so to spend 450 + whatever I paid every month (around 200? ) + 50 last months bill in 6 months when I was hardly even watching tv is impossible if something I must have overpaid and this is a mistake!

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks

P
On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 3:46 PM, P< wrote:
Hi

Just received a bill of 456 gbp by email (final bill).
Surely this must be a mistake as we never consumed that much electricity, already paid 45 last month..
Can you please look at this urgently?

Thanks

P

rule

anyone folks?

victor2

It appears from reading the correspondence above that the account was originally opened with estimated readings, and the utility company never had actual readings during your tenancy, not until you moved out.
If that is correct, the starting estimates could have been low and it was only when you moved out that actual readings were obtained and a "catch-up" bill sent. This could have been for more or less than your actual usage and will have nothing to do with meter accuracy. The previous tenant to you would hardly kick up a fuss if the estimated closing reading for his final bill was lower than the actual reading and therefore cost him less.
I don't see how a formal complaint will help you, if you didn't provide any actual readings during your tenancy. Sorry, but that's how it looks to me.

jalexa

rule wrote: »

Hi I am looking for advice please.
I received a Hugh final bill that is completely unjustified..

Fraid the post is too detailed to make much sense.

The meter is proof positive of consumption unless successfully challenged for accuracy. The occupier needs to submit opening readings and closing readings and in between look out for and check any bills or statements received. The supplier is not responsible for any failure of the above. Unless informed they have no knowledge of what is happening at the premises.

However, I note one response refers to a meter reader visiting the premises on two occasions but being unable to gain access. A calling card should have been left on each occasion. *If* your position is no calling card was left then I would focus your complaint on that breach of process but *if* you ignored a card (or two) you have a very weak case.

rule

Thanks Victor

That's pretty much the story however I don't think that is fair on them to charge me based on an actual - estimate (when I moved in) ..
I mean they have the right to estimate but they bill has to be justified and reasonable , The 450 reflects only to the day reading and they estimate the night reading as lower, so they are charging me for the times that i was using mainly working and not using much electricity an excessive amount .. which I think is unfair.

In addition to that I took R and R1 when I left the property as instructed from the person on the phone but I hear for some guys at work that the R2 is what I really should have been looking for and that R might be the total.

HappyMJ

Do you have any meter readings?

rule

Thanks Jalexa

No calling card was left

rule

Yes only the final ones...
These are R and R1 that I provided them when I left , when I was on the phone with them they told me to press a button which I did .. I hear from people that R might have been the total and for some meters there might have been an R2 ..

victor2

rule wrote: »

That's pretty much the story however I don't think that is fair on them to charge me based on an actual - estimate (when I moved in)

I'm a little surprised that actual readings weren't taken when you moved in, both you and the landlord should have wanted to agree on where things stood at the start of the tenancy.
However, that appears to be what happened and nothing can change that now. If the utility company have enough actual readings for the final bill and have not used estimates then it has to be assumed that is the final position.
It is not unheard of for the day and night readings to be reversed on bills, but that does not seem to be where the problem lies.
Bit of a tough lesson, but that appears to be what it is. Just make sure you know where you started and what your consumption is in your current place.

HappyMJ

rule wrote: »

Yes only the final ones...
These are R and R1 that I provided them when I left , when I was on the phone with them they told me to press a button which I did .. I hear from people that R might have been the total and for some meters there might have been an R2 ..

So you have no idea what the initial meter readings were? You will have to accept the estimated meter readings as the initial readings and pay the bill.

ALWAYS get all the meter readings when you move into a new property. Never ever rely on the agent or the previous occupier. A photo of all the readings is best and store it on the computer and a back up in your email or somewhere else.

You could choose not to pay it and let UW take you to court to enforce the debt against you. You won't be cut off in your new house so you will just be risking a CCJ. If you pay it off within 28 days with the court costs it won't even appear on your credit record. UW might not take you to court so it's a risk you have to think about taking.

insanegloss

Just because a calling card was not left is not a reasonable basis for a complaint, in my opinion, as the bills themselves advise the customer to contact the supplier in the event of the reads being estimated.

Saying that, if you have no reads when you moved in, I'm afraid you are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I'd say it is certainly a life lesson (I learnt that one before I started working in the industry when I was a student!)

Sorry if wasn't the answer you were looking for.