SOS Help with Powergen

beefster

Powergen called me a couple of weeks ago to ask me to read the electric meter. When I did this I was told I had been charged for some considerable time, night rate for day units used and vice versa. Today I receive a recalculated bill from them going back to 2002 saying that I owe them £1600 as a result of their mistake !!! Did I want to pay it in one go or would I like 6 months interest free credit to pay !!!! Has anyone else come across this and am I liable to pay ??

tripled

They are supposed to read the meter every two years, it may be worth asking them why they didn't pick this up before now. Are you sure you gave tem the readings the right way around?

beefster

tripled wrote: »

They are supposed to read the meter every two years, it may be worth asking them why they didn't pick this up before now. Are you sure you gave tem the readings the right way around?

It was powergen who read the meter

tripled

Sorry... that's not what you said in your original post.

space_rider

If they have got it wrong for so long then that`s hardly your fault. I would ring them again and ask them for an explanation and suggest they give you a huge reduction. They should definetly have attempted to read your meter in all that time. Was the meter read by them at any time? If so then they should have realised their mistake and corrected it then and not 5 years later.

firesidemaid

i don't know if this applies to utilities across the board, but i hada problem with anglian water. they had sent me lower bills as if the house was empty - i didn't realise until year 2.

i rang them and they said i had to pay the difference for the previous year. when i asked what would have happened if i had carried on 'not realising', they said they could only back-charge me for one extra year - ie. any current year plus one previous.

i don't know if this also applies to gas/elec. i would contact ofgas etc to find out about your situation.

beefster

Thanks for the advise. Would appreciate some more from anyone who has had similar probs.

Crystaltipps_2

If we assume that the bill is now right, (and I would probably ask for a meter man to read it again to be doubly sure as even meter men get it wrong sometimes) you should be able to get a much more reasonable payment period than 6 months.

The usual policy is to give as long as Powergen have taken to resolve the problem, although 5 years may be a bit extreme. If you would rather pay it off in one go, and are able to, then you should be able to get a bit of a discount.