Broken meter-Southern Elec to bill for past use

mrstmls

We have been a duel fuel customer of Southern Electric for many years. Last week they requested a meter reading, which I provided them with. A rep called today to state that she noticed that the electricity reading was the same figure since 2009! And that obviously the meter was broken. News to me, as we are set up with direct debit payments and bills "take care of themselves". She has arranged for a technician to come out in two weeks time to repair/replace the meter. But she also stated that they would probably then monitor our usage over a period of weeks and then calculate our past use and bill us, possibly for at least a year. I confirmed with her that the meter is their property and responsibility to maintain. It is not our responsibility to monitor our use and bill, after all they require direct debit payments. So do they have the legal right to back bill us due to their faulty equipment? Thank you.

jalexa

mrstmls wrote: »

It is not our responsibility to monitor our use and bill, after all they require direct debit payments. So do they have the legal right to back bill us due to their faulty equipment?

It is best not to be the barrack room lawyer here.

On the facts presented there has been no meter movement since 2009. The salient issue is not whether the meter is "broken" but whether or not you have received quarterly statements throughout that time. Southern Electric statements have a very clear thumbs down for an estimated read with associated guidance on what you should do. If you have ignored the guidance (since 2009), unfortunately you have seriously diminished your customer rights with regard to back-billing.

You need to refer to the Southern Electric Customer Charter and decide for yourself, page 24 refers.

http://www.southern-electric.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CoreMarketingSites/Assets/Documents/CustomerCharterSouthernElectric.pdf

Man_Overboard_2

mrstmls wrote: »

We have been a duel fuel customer of Southern Electric for many years. Last week they requested a meter reading, which I provided them with. A rep called today to state that she noticed that the electricity reading was the same figure since 2009! And that obviously the meter was broken. News to me, as we are set up with direct debit payments and bills "take care of themselves". She has arranged for a technician to come out in two weeks time to repair/replace the meter. But she also stated that they would probably then monitor our usage over a period of weeks and then calculate our past use and bill us, possibly for at least a year. I confirmed with her that the meter is their property and responsibility to maintain. It is not our responsibility to monitor our use and bill, after all they require direct debit payments. So do they have the legal right to back bill us due to their faulty equipment? Thank you.

It does seem surprising that neither you nor the supplier noticed that the meter has been stuck for three years, and that no payments were taken from your bank account. I reckon the supplier's plan to back-bill you for only one year is not unreasonable.

I wish my bills were of the sort that 'take care of themselves'!

ps - I guess you could have lied, and said that the house has been standing empty since 2009....

mrstmls

We have had quarterly bills and payments deducted from our bank account, based on THEIR "estimated" and actual readings.

chunkychocky

I don't know where you stand, but if it helps at all our water meter moved 10 units in the first 6 years of us living here, which is apparently less than you'd expect from 1 slowly dripping tap. They eventually decided to change the meter and suddenly we discovered we were getting through gallons and gallons every day. We now pay a much higher water bill, but they never backdated us. Don't know if they could have or should have but we never queried it and have never been charged extra.

mrstmls

Sorry, but lying is not an option.

Man_Overboard_2

mrstmls wrote: »

We have had quarterly bills and payments deducted from our bank account, based on THEIR "estimated" and actual readings.

Their estimated readings will have been based on your previous usage over many years, and should therefore be somewhere near the right ball park. So with any luck, your arrears may not be huge, and you might even be in credit.

If there was a mixture of actual readings and estimated readings over the three years since the meter broke down, then there must have occasions when a negative figure was calculated - it is hard to imagine how the supplier's computer systems failed to spot such an anomaly

macman

It's not your 'responsibility' to check the bill against actual meter readings. But it's insane not to. Even without a failed meter, you could have been paying far too much or far too little.
The supplier has only to read the meter once ever two years, it is normal practice (and very advisable) for you to supply reads every 3 months to avoid this kind of scenario. They have the right to back bill your for power used, subject to the provisions of the back billing code.
I wouldn't complain too much, because where usage has to be estimated, it invariably results in the customer coming out ahead.
If all your 'bills take care of themselves', then perhaps you are on the wrong forum?

Terrylw1

Your responsibility is for checking the bill matches, however this is a 2 way thing and your supplier should not be charging further back than a year if they have constantly ignored their incoming data.

A way to catch them out is ask:

- how many readings they have taken & what were the readings?
- did the agent flag the meter as stopped? There is a code they select in their handheld to do this?
- now ask what your suppliers staff did with all this.

If the answer is that they had all this data and failed to act on it...they've failed and that's on them.

Another consideration with stopped meters is, what will they pay the distributor?

The meter gets removed based on that stopped reading. So, they get free elec as well.

So, unless your supplier not only bills you but also gets their settlement bill changed...they have made 100% profit out of you.

Also, make sure it all reflects the prices of the time, not more recent higher prices.