New house. Meter readings wrong

Rain_is_Insane

Hi guys,

Moved into a new house 25th Nov (downsized like the good MSE'r I am) Apparently the last tennants meter readings for the gas differ to mine by the tune of £1240.

I had an initial estimated bill for £121 for 25th Nov to date and of course I called to explain I had submitted the "actual" readings online and could they send me a revised bill, which according to them was already being processed.

They then sent me the recalculated the bill and the difference was £1240. How in the world do I prove I couldn't possibly have used this amount in a month?? I'm presuming his bill was always estimated and he never corrected them, then gave a final reading similar to his estimated one.

From the amount of debt collectors turning up at the door in the last month for the previous tennants, this doesn't surprise me, but they are taking his meter readings over my own!!

Any ideas??

suki1001

Have you spoken to them yet?

Rain_is_Insane

Yes, as soon as got the !!!! droppingly huge bill. They rely on householders meter readings unless it has been read by one of their engineers.
They will investigate, but in the meantime "suggest" I pay the bill to "avoid further action.

Can't be done i'm afraid

JulieGeorgiana

I learned this the hard way, I always take readings on the day I move in and submit them. At the same time I photograph the meters with a date stamp on the photo.... Just in Case!

i would not pay this, because once you do they will not give the money back.

Mine cost me £100 and they never did sort it and give me my money back. You see the letting agency submitted the readings when the last tenents left... and then I paid for the empty house for two months, and I couldn't prove otherwise!

However, there is no way you used that much in such a short time... so fight it.

Good Luck x

camuk81

Please do our old house have the meter in the house, when I moved in with the other half he hadn't had a meter reading in 3 years. We had one guy who called who was abuse and very nasty. I phoned the Utility company and told them nev to send anyone and shut the door on several explaining I would do my own readings.

To little too late. The house had no central heating and no gas as a result we had a massively low bill it took 6 months to resolve!

Please argue your case.

Rain_is_Insane

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

However, there is no way you used that much in such a short time... so fight it.

Good Luck x

Thats what I'm counting on. All I have is a hob and the gas fire.

Thank you xx

JulieGeorgiana

One solution would be to take weekly readings yourself, and keep doing so... if it doesn't resolve you can prove your usage for a month or two and say that it is the same as before you started taking readings.

So they can back estimate with actual readings.

Even if your current readings are winter, and you have 3 months back estimate... it should still be lower.

i hope that made sense.

hp48910

My elec co have recently installed a much newer meter in our old property and based on the readings I provided we had used over a whopping £200 in a month. Fortunately they were very helpful and convinced there is an error, have advised we take readings daily for a week to get a better idea.

If you take readings from now, for the same amount of time you have lived at the property, the company will get a more accurate picture and you will feel more inclined to discuss.

Rain_is_Insane

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

One solution would be to take weekly readings yourself, and keep doing so... if it doesn't resolve you can prove your usage for a month or two and say that it is the same as before you started taking readings.

So they can back estimate with actual readings.

Even if your current readings are winter, and you have 3 months back estimate... it should still be lower.

i hope that made sense.

Yes it makes total sense. I'm a great believer in "if you're cold, shut up and put an extra jumper on" So my readings should be next to nothing.

My electric should be the biggest bill, and re-estimated, that came in as £42 for the same period.

Strikes me as he had the fire on constantly for years and fried everything he ate !!!

JulieGeorgiana

I hope they sort it out for you, because it's a lot of money. Next time you move you'll get your camera out and remember me

Rain_is_Insane

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

I hope they sort it out for you, because it's a lot of money. Next time you move you'll get your camera out and remember me

Oh believe me honey I will....and thank you x