Help! Revised gas bills going back to 2009

Abigailchipperfield

I hope someone can help us.

My mum had a letter 6 months ago from Atlantic to say they believed she had had a new meter fitted. We explained that as far as we were aware the meter was the same as when my parents lived there in 2005.

They sent her a letter to say it turned out that her meter at their end had been configured as a 5 digit meter and hers is only 4 digits and therefore her bills would need to be revised.

5 months later after not hearing anything since the beginning of January and they have just sent her a bill for £760!

We don't understand at all why this is, my parents moved there in 2005,my father died in 2010 when my mum took the account over and the bills go back to 2009. They are for the same amount of units pretty much but seems to be twice the cost!

Are they allowed to do this? She has paid everything since 2005 that they have asked them to pay - how can they now turn round and ask a pensioner for £760?! I'm not at all happy about this but no idea what to do?

Thanks
Abigail

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

From what you say it seems probable that they were charging on the basis that the meter is a metric gas meter when in fact it is an Imperial gas meter.

To clarify:

A gas unit on a Metric meter is 1 cubic metre of gas and is approx 11.2 kWh.

A gas unit on an Imperial meter is 100 cubic feet and is approx 31.5kWh.

This means that if your mother had used, say, 100 gas units they would have charged her for approx 1,120kWh on the assumption it was a Metric meter.

However if indeed it is an Imperial meter she should have been charged for approx 3,150kWh for that 100 gas units.

Had your mother been with one of the major Utility companies, who are signed up to the Billing Code for accurate bills, they would have accepted responsibility for the error and written off all, or most, of the charge.

However I don't believe Atlantic have signed up to that code.

I certainly wouldn't pay the bill and fight Atlantic. If they won't write it off go to the Energy Ombudsman

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/energy.html

dogshome

As Cardew has posted, this extra billing is probably due to a mix-up as to what type of meter was installed.

Verify this for yourself by looking at the meter - On the face plate it will be marked either m3 for a Metric Meter, or ft3 if it's an Imperial model - These markings are usually quite small.

Next look at a previous bill and divide the Kwh charged by the units used - If the answer is appx. 11, you have been billed for a Metric Meter, if it's appx 31 you have been billed for an Imperial Meter.

However, if it has been billed the wrong way round all is not lost - The suppliers have a duty to provide accurate bills which Atlantic have not done, and in these circumstances the "The no back-billing beyond 12 months Agreement" should apply, which means that they should not claim payment for anything over 12 months earlier than the date thier first underpayment notice was issued - Also Atlantic should allow the debt to be re-paid by installments negotiated at a level your Mum can afford

I'm afraid that if indeed the billing was Metric when it should have been Imperial, your Mum's future gas bills will rise by 181% for the same level of use

jalexa

Cardew wrote: »

Had your mother been with one of the major Utility companies, who are signed up to the Billing Code for accurate bills, they would have accepted responsibility for the error and written off all, or most, of the charge.

However I don't believe Atlantic have signed up to that code.

I certainly wouldn't pay the bill and fight Atlantic. If they won't write it off go to the Energy Ombudsman

That is true, however the failure to sign-up is explained by their own code of practice having similar effect. Page 22 may be relevant.

http://www.atlantic.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CoreMarketingSites/Assets/Documents/CustomerCharterAtlantic.pdf

Cardew

jalexa wrote: »

That is true, however the failure to sign-up is explained by their own code of practice having similar effect. Page 22 may be relevant.

http://www.atlantic.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CoreMarketingSites/Assets/Documents/CustomerCharterAtlantic.pdf

Agreed, this seems to cover the situation.

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.

For our most vulnerable customers, we will not backdate a bill where we have been at fault.

This will be at the Company’s discretion, based on individual circumstances.