massive EDF elect backcharge of £4000

fosters25

I moved into my house 3 years ago and have been receiving estimated elect bills from seeboard/edf since then of £15/ month to £28/month. usage between 420 units and 1100 units est / quarter. House is 5 BR occupied by 5 people.

They have sent meter reader out to house a couple of times, and I have sent in meter readings a couple of times in that time. Recently I received a letter saying their last meter reading was a mistake, they are continuing with estimated bills, but I could send in a new one in any case.

I called with my own reading and got a call from them saying they had massively underestimated my readings for the last 3 years and that I owed them £5,500 extra.They apologized for errors and offered to take off £1500 and get extra amount back over 2 years as they admit the misreadings were their fault. They said meter had run around a full time and they could not believe it, thinking it in error. I asked for a letter proposal and wanted time to think about it (and contact MSE!).

They said estimated readings to start were too low because house was previously unoccupied for some time and was about 9 units / day.They used this as basis for my readings in error. Previous tenant was at a rate of 55/day, and it seems we are at about 70-75/day.

So, rate per month is moving from £28/month to about £350/month. What a nightmare! It will be painful at this amount.

I feel a bit foolish bringing the whole thing to a head, I could have been on this low amount for years to come possibly, without either of us realising it was in error, but I suppose it would have come to light eventually.......

Is there anything I can do? Is the new rate reasonable? (I think it looks high) Am I liable for their errors? I believe that switching now will just cause them to bill the amount in one bill, but is that true?

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Presumably you have Electric Heating and not gas? Are you on Economy 7?

The first thing you need to get is a detailed bill and a letter with their admission of their failings.

Bearing in mind that prices have risen dramatically in the last 3 years.(doubled?)you need to ensure that you are being charged at the rate that was applicable 3 years ago for some(an estimate) of the electricity used then; then some at the rate of 2 years ago etc.

I believe that they can now only reclaim back 2 years(there are some better qualified people than I on this forum who hopefully will comment on that point)

Obviously to a certain extent you are culpable as well. £15 to £28 monthly for 5 people in a 5 bed house is living in a dreamworld!

To answer your specific questions.

Yes you are still liable to pay despite errors in estimated bills, wrong readings etc - but see above. You contract to pay for what you receive.

Secondly you will not be allowed to switch untill you have settled the bill.

I would think that their offer of £4,000 to settle(assuming £5,500 is an accurate figure of what you owe) is just to open negotiations and you should be able to reduce that by a margin.

However get something in writing from them, before you get involved in negotiations.

tripled

Cardew wrote: »

I believe that they can now only reclaim back 2 years

I know you can only back-bill 2 years if you haven't had a bill, I'm not sure if it is applies to incorrect billing as well, but it looks like they have already covered themselves anyway by knocking off the £1,500. Allowing for price increases, that probably is 1 years usage 3 years ago.

fosters25

thanks for the comments, they seem reasonable and helpful. I will also take a look at my current electrical consumption as well, and try to take daily readings for a week. I can then try and verify their estimated consumption to assist in negotiations.

Presumably, if they are only estimating, and the clock has gone around at least once recently, I would think it would not be easy to estimate how many times clock has gone around in the last 3 years???

I come from canada, and the electrical bill here at the old rate didn't look outrageously low. I should have guessed though, as everything in england is double the price in canada except for beer.

fosters25

I am not on Energy 7 as I can tell, although I do have 2 rates, one for daytime and one nighttime.

Heat is by Gas, oven is gas.

Cardew

fosters25 wrote: »

I am not on Energy 7 as I can tell, although I do have 2 rates, one for daytime and one nighttime.

Heat is by Gas, oven is gas.

If you do have a daytime and nightime rate that is Economy 7(the nightime rate will be for a period of 7 hours somewhere between 11:30pm and 8:30am)

However there will be two meter readings for Economy 7.

Are you sure that the 2 rates you refer to are not for Tier1 and Tier2? You normally pay the first 900units pa(225 a quarter) at a higher rate.

If you were on Economy 7 the lower rate would be 3-4p/kWh.

stewie_griffin

To find out what you can and can't be billed for go to http://www.energy-retail.org.uk/customerbilling.html and click on the Code of Practice For Accurate Bills PDF and FAQS PDF links.

tripled

If you are on E7 but have gas heating unless you use a lot of electricity at night you should consider changing to a standard rate tariff.

It is highly unlikely your meter would have gone round the clock more than once in 3 years unless you are a business (which doesn't seem to be the case).

fosters25

Cardew wrote: »

If you do have a daytime and nightime rate that is Economy 7(the nightime rate will be for a period of 7 hours somewhere between 11:30pm and 8:30am)

However there will be two meter readings for Economy 7.

Are you sure that the 2 rates you refer to are not for Tier1 and Tier2? You normally pay the first 900units pa(225 a quarter) at a higher rate.

If you were on Economy 7 the lower rate would be 3-4p/kWh.

The rates are 13.55p for first 175 units, and 9.3 p for remainder. Would this be economy 7 or tier 1 and 2?

Taffyfella

fosters25 wrote: »

The rates are 13.55p for first 175 units, and 9.3 p for remainder. Would this be economy 7 or tier 1 and 2?

Sounds like a standard domestic meter (tier 1 & 2).

oldwiring

Taffyfella wrote: »

Sounds like a standard domestic meter (tier 1 & 2).

Looked up EDF rates for SEEBOARD arae, which Cobham is in, You are correct.