Aaargh - Imperial Meter and charged for metric. Please help!

Hanky

Between around 2004 and 2008 I signed up for a dual fuel deal with a company. To cut a long story short, around a year ago it transpired that they had ticked the "metric meter" box and not the "imperial meter" box. This meant that the bill was being vastly underpaid all that time (although it seemed like a reasonable amount to pay at the time compared to other people I knew).

People from the company came round to read the meter and no one ever said anything at all... I had no idea they were charging metric and not imperial - I didn't even know there were two types of meters! I even remember phoning in a meter reading once and the bloke on the phone was saying that the numbers I was giving him weren't right but I told him that was exactly what was on the meter.

So, basically, I paid each and every bill on time and paid the final bill based on the meter readings... which they accepted or read themselves. It only came to light about a year after I had gone and the new person paid the extra they owed so it is all sorted and being charged correctly now.

I have got wind of the fact that it appears that they are now trying to chase the debt. I always pay what I owe - I have no debts with anyone and I had no reason to believe the bills they were sending me were low, but this is going to be £££thousands :eek:

Is it right that they can do this, given it was their mistake??

Thank you.

spiro

When you get a gas bill there are 3 things that you should check:

• Meter reading is correct
• Meter serial number on bill and meter match.
• Meter type (metric/imperial) on bill and meter match.

I can only guess that the new occupant or his suppliers meter reader have identified the mismatch in the industry data. You need to look at your old bills and see how many times your suppliers meter reader read your meter. If they had read it several times during the period then you have a case for arguing they should have spotted it themselves.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

The first thing is to determine if your supplier has signed up to the code for accurate bills and backbilling - the BIG 6 are.

Although you have a responsibility to check your bills(the official line is 'ignorance' is not an excuse) if they accept the situation as you have explained it, then the 12 months back-billing rule should apply. i.e. you should only be asked to pay back the diofference for 12 months preceeding the date the discrepancy was discovered.

Hanky

Thank you both. You're right of course - I should have had it out with them that I was giving the correct reading so the numbers should have fitted, but I had no idea that there were even two different meters so it never entered my mind! Sadly, I don't have any of the old bills as I dumped them after paying the final one sent to me. I didn't for a minute think I would have a need for them any more!

They are not one of the big 6, but I have just read their customer charter, which states "if we have been at fault by significantly underestimating the amount of energy you use or by
not sending your bills, we will accept responsibility for this. We will not charge you for any
additional energy you used more than a year before we discovered the mistake. This is subject
to adherence to customer responsibilities, as listed below. If we have reasonable evidence
that you are wilfully avoiding payment of the energy you have used or are not adhering to your
customer responsibilities, as listed below, we reserve the right to pursue full payment."

So that sounds quite positive for me that they will not pursue me for more than a years outstanding debt as I tick all boxes of the customer responsibilities such as allowing regular access to the meters to their employees to be read.

Thank you ever so much for responding. A years underpayment I can probably cope with and I'm ever so grateful for you helping me.

DUTR

Hanky wrote: »

Thank you both. You're right of course - I should have had it out with them that I was giving the correct reading so the numbers should have fitted, but I had no idea that there were even two different meters so it never entered my mind! Sadly, I don't have any of the old bills as I dumped them after paying the final one sent to me. I didn't for a minute think I would have a need for them any more!

They are not one of the big 6, but I have just read their customer charter, which states "if we have been at fault by significantly underestimating the amount of energy you use or by
not sending your bills, we will accept responsibility for this. We will not charge you for any
additional energy you used more than a year before we discovered the mistake. This is subject
to adherence to customer responsibilities, as listed below. If we have reasonable evidence
that you are wilfully avoiding payment of the energy you have used or are not adhering to your
customer responsibilities, as listed below, we reserve the right to pursue full payment."

So that sounds quite positive for me that they will not pursue me for more than a years outstanding debt as I tick all boxes of the customer responsibilities such as allowing regular access to the meters to their employees to be read.

Thank you ever so much for responding. A years underpayment I can probably cope with and I'm ever so grateful for you helping me.

As you mentioned in you 1st post, and you now know, you have been under paying, ignorance is not a defence, there is little argument in that you know you used the fuel and it has to be paid for , inconvenient yes, fair? yes.

Hanky

Well, I think there is an argument, DUTR and I'm sure most people can interpret is a reasonable one under the circumstances. Given the fact I have used fuel AND I paid for it to the best of my knowledge, I'm not sure what your point is really.

DUTR

Hanky wrote: »

Well, I think there is an argument, DUTR and I'm sure most people can interpret is a reasonable one under the circumstances. Given the fact I have used fuel AND I paid for it to the best of my knowledge, I'm not sure what your point is really.

The point is , to the best of your knowledge is not the actual fuel that you used, you used it , you pay for it, what if your boss short paid you, and said to the best of their knowledge they thought they were paying you correctly, would that be acceptable to you? ..... I didn't think so either.
Whilst others were getting bills almost 3 times the size of yours, should have been the time when you had concerns, too many try a blag to get out of their responsibilities, hopefully the energy company will agree a payment plan for you.

Hanky

People weren't getting bills 3 times the size of mine. I said that in my first post when I said "it seemed like a reasonable amount to pay at the time compared to other people I knew". I also had a log burner so was not having the central heating on as much as others might. Had I been aware of the actual fuel I had used, I would have looked at ways of cutting down - as it was, I thought I was paying a reasonable amount of money for it based on what I had been paying at my previous property so thought I didn't need to cut it down.

I take offence to your inference that I have tried to blag out of my responsibilities as I think I pretty much made it clear in the same post that that is not the way I live my life in respect to finances.

I'm sure most people would assume all was well if they were paying similar amounts to that expected, based on the cost at the last property. The people the company sent round to read the meter failed to see anything wrong with what they were sent out to do and when I phoned in the meter readings myself the person on the end of the phone failed to highlight a potential problem. Based on the helpful comments on this thread I believe that the company have to take a share of the responsibility - if you read a few sentences earlier, I said that if the bills were coming in at 3 times the amount I was already been billed I would have looked to cut my useage back.

Hanky

Oh, and the analogy of the salary is not a clever one. When you start a job, you have an agreed salary so you would notice immediately if you were not paid it. When you start a duel fuel contract, you have an estimated useage and subsequent cost - in this case it was very close to my previous (similar) property.

DUTR

Hanky wrote: »

People weren't getting bills 3 times the size of mine. I said that in my first post when I said "it seemed like a reasonable amount to pay at the time compared to other people I knew". I also had a log burner so was not having the central heating on as much as others might. Had I been aware of the actual fuel I had used, I would have looked at ways of cutting down - as it was, I thought I was paying a reasonable amount of money for it based on what I had been paying at my previous property so thought I didn't need to cut it down.

I take offence to your inference that I have tried to blag out of my responsibilities as I think I pretty much made it clear in the same post that that is not the way I live my life in respect to finances.

I'm sure most people would assume all was well if they were paying similar amounts to that expected, based on the cost at the last property. The people the company sent round to read the meter failed to see anything wrong with what they were sent out to do and when I phoned in the meter readings myself the person on the end of the phone failed to highlight a potential problem. Based on the helpful comments on this thread I believe that the company have to take a share of the responsibility - if you read a few sentences earlier, I said that if the bills were coming in at 3 times the amount I was already been billed I would have looked to cut my useage back.

It depends if the previous property was of similar size with similar energy requirments, I agree the energy company should take a share in the responsibilty, in that I mean offer a price payment plan, not let the customer off from paying for the energy used, hence why I do see it as trying to blag out of paying it.

Hanky wrote: »

Oh, and the analogy of the salary is not a clever one. When you start a job, you have an agreed salary so you would notice immediately if you were not paid it. When you start a duel fuel contract, you have an estimated useage and subsequent cost - in this case it was very close to my previous (similar) property.

The analogy was not meant to be clever, when you started the agreement with the energy company you agreed upon a tariff at the time for the kwh used, this is indeed calculated from meter readings, however by your own admission, the meter readings were incorrect, based initially on your error and the company's good will to trust you

jalexa

Hanky wrote: »

In my opinion you should dismiss the "naysayers" who wish to represent valid application of the Billing Code backbilling provisions as "blagging". (I realise your supplier is not a Big 6 signatory, but it's the principle I address in this post).

Refer to Billing Code "scenario 9/2". This refers to a supplier failing to collect direct debits. Even though I personally cannot comprehend a customer not spotting that, that is considered a bone fide "back-billing" claim. If the industry accepts that, there is no need for either accusation or guilt.

On your issue, I am confident that was clear "industry error" and you had no responsibily for checking anything other than the meter reading and then only if you didn't want to accept the estimated reading, which is your perogative.

But I am happy to debate here with any "naysayers" specifically what the nearest "Billing Code" scenario says.