Disputed Energy Bill

clorinda

I am in dispute with a large energy company over a final bill. I was told initially that I was in credit by a large amount, which I too believed to be the case. However, having admitted they have had trouble reconciling the readings, they now say that I owe them a further £300, and are threatening to refer it to credit collection. I have told them this is disputed, and will refer it to the Ombudsman, but don't know whether to pay the bill in the meantime, as I am worried about extra charges, and credit implications, if I don't pay up?

rogerblack

Have you got actual readings?

clorinda

I have a final reading, but the problem is that they replaced the electric meter, can find no record of having done so and admit that they cannot reconcile the readings. Although there is no dispute over the gas account , they have not finalised this account either!

victor2

You should have a ticket attached to your electricity meter showing what the reading was on both the old one and the new one, and when it was installed. If you have that and they have no record, I would think they would accept that as proof.

Atidi

clorinda wrote: »

I am in dispute with a large energy company over a final bill. I was told initially that I was in credit by a large amount, which I too believed to be the case. However, having admitted they have had trouble reconciling the readings, they now say that I owe them a further £300, and are threatening to refer it to credit collection. I have told them this is disputed, and will refer it to the Ombudsman, but don't know whether to pay the bill in the meantime, as I am worried about extra charges, and credit implications, if I don't pay up?

clorinda wrote: »

I have a final reading, but the problem is that they replaced the electric meter, can find no record of having done so and admit that they cannot reconcile the readings. Although there is no dispute over the gas account , they have not finalised this account either!

If the account is in dispute, none of the large suppliers will refer the matter to collection agencies or credit reference agencies, at least not until they have given a response to your complaint and then you will be given a new date by which to pay.
Is the £300 the result of their investigations and the amount they now say you owe? (i.e. no longer considered in dispute by the supplier?)

If the gas bill is not in dispute, you should pay this; you will be sent another bill later as a final bill if you have closed the account.

clorinda

The added complication is that the property has been demolished, so the meter is no longer in existence!

dogshome

When a meter is changed, the service crew are supposed to leave card giving the old meters reading and the date, as it was removed.
I guess from your post that no card was left.

A demand for unsubstantiated payment simply isn't on - To get money the supplier must produce a detailed bill, which your case they cannot do - There is a way to overcome the problem and that is estimating on your previously and correctly recorded consumption, the amount of power you are likely to have used during the 'lost' period, then this is agreed between you.

The threat of DCA action to get payment of an unsubstanciated bill is disgraceful. ( is this n'power by any chance ? ) and the way to stop these shinnigans is to WRITE a letter headed Complaint, with this on file the supplier has to stop all efforts to collect payment until the matter is settled, and if they have not settled it in 8 weeks you go to the Ombudsman.

clorinda

Thanks for the advice, which was very helpful. The company in question is Scottish Power - their record keeping is appalling, I have notified them many times that the property has been demolished, and the account closed.Their operative went out to do a site survey 2 months ago to check this, but they are still chasing me for meter readings, and trying to bill me on a property that no longer exists!

Terrylw1

You've got 2 scenarios to reconcile:

- the meter change opening & closing readings.

- the final reading for the removed meter prior to demolition.

Every visit to change or remove a meter results in the operative updating a handheld which the office guys then send out via a data flow to your supplier and they pass the readings for validation via another agent who sends them on to the supplier afterwards.

So, there is an audit trail.

It could be that the readings have been failed in validation. This can cause problems as Deemed ones are created. Its not uncommon for an installation read to be Deemed at zero where the meter was installed with a higher reading.

So, get them to confirm everything.

If they can't find details of the metet change...have they contacted their Meter Operator who did the work, were any readings taken by meter readers that show a new meter number, etc.

Raise a complaint to stop follow up and get better help. Then after 8 weeks you can refer it to the ombudsman.

Be wary if they estimate your usage because readings were lost. Get a full breakdown and because its based on your consumption prior, its open to opinion.

You are not expected to pay a disputed amount until its resolved, only what you agree with.

Scottish_Power

Hi Clorinda

Would you like me to look into this for you? Please e-mail me your details to [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Thanks

David @ ScottishPower