swalec gas problem

johnrees10

Hi all,
I changed my gas supplier from british gas to swalec who I have my electricity supplied from in december 2009,and my electricity bill is paid by direct debit at £120 per month. I've spoken to them at least ten times in that time, where they have told me that I pay with a top up card in a shop???? I've told them everytime that I should be paying by direct debit...and that they have my details to take my payment for my electricity.....well they actually sorted it out last week.by sending me a gas bill going back to december 2009!!!!!!!!!!a grand total of £2923.84! any ideas as what I could do please? I dont have three grand to cough up! even though they are offering me £69.71 off my next bill if I pay quickly! Idiots!

all the best
John

lithopsian

You knew you should be paying for your electricity, but you spent the money anyway? Sympathy for you is going to be limited If you have good documentation of your attempts to convince Swalec to bill you, preferably some at least in writing, then you would have a good case to get at least some of this written off. Typically you should baulk at paying anything going back more than 12 months which is entirely the fault of the company. Offer to pay them no more than a year of usage and see if you can come to a sensible agreement. Put it in writing and explain why you don't feel you owe them anything because they refused to bill you. Give them a deadline for a response, escalate it to a formal complaint, and remember you can escalate to the ombudsman if you are still unable to reach agreement through the complaint process.

macman

The back-billing code may well apply here, but you are still going to have to pay for your last 12 month's consumption even it does.

jalexa

lithopsian wrote: »

You knew you should be paying for your electricity, but you spent the money anyway?

I read the post that lecy has been paid for at £120/month.

Sympathy for you is going to be limited

not here:D

macman

The problem that the OP has is with his gas bill-his electricity only is being billed.

dogshome

OK - Swalec supplied you with Elec prior to Dec. 2009, at which time you also transferred your gas supply to them ?

1) Swalec apparently screwed up on the gas account and thought you had a pre-payment meter that needed topping up with a Card or Key and did not issue any bills - In these circumstances you are entitled to use the 'No Back-billing beyond 12 months agreement' to pay for just the use over the last 12 months. which by the way does not start till the date on the first bill they issued

2) There may be good reasons why your household uses a lot of Elec, but by my reckoning your £120 a month D/Debit works out to roughly 11,000 kwh a year, which is twice that of a family of two adults and a couple of young children
A post of detailing broad details of your home and family would be of help

Terrylw1

Provided you have not prevented them from correcting this or simply been silent, the back billing code will apply and also ofgems policy on back billing where no bill has been produced if the meter was wrong, readings, etc.

They should also offer you compensation and a payment plan.

These codes are there to encourage them to resolve issues as much as protect the consumer. They failed and 2.5 years is ridiculous.

Raise a complaint, any resolution will be more in your favour than a phonecalll.

Swalec_company_representative

Hello,

I’m very sorry to hear of the problems you’ve had and would like to sort this situation out for you. I believe we’ll be able to use our Customer Charter to resolve this matter quickly and easily for you. So I can do this, please email me your address details and account numbers to our email address that’s posted on our profile page. Thank you, Stef.