screwed over

unhappy36

hi all,

please help!

i moved into my current flat on dec 12 last year.
my new land lord gave me the number for churwell energy who he thought supplied the elec to the property.

it turned out however that as my property was used for temp housing
refuges before it came to me and the elec supplier is opus engergy
(a commercial supplier)

after the confusion was cleared up i contacted opus energy and gave them a meter reading on january 7th.
2 weeks later i recieved a bill for period - 12/12/12 to 6/2/13
for £730 !

i called opus thinking this was mistake and gave another reading
only to be told the amount is correct as i am a residential customer on an 'out of contract rate' i was then advised to pay the bill asap and switch supplier asap.

i contacted the local law centre a couple of days later who cant see
me until 28/3/13.

i have since recieved another bill upto 6/3/13 for a total of £995 !

i called opus again told them i could no afford to pay this and am waiting for an appointment with the law centre.

to which their response was to send me a letter threatening disconnection or legal procedings unless the full amount is paid immeadiatly.

i am currently trying to switch to sainsburys energy (application went in on 26/1/12 also had to pay a security deposit.
they say they will be taking over the account on 1/4/13.

info: my flat 2 bed fully electric, i only ever heat 1 room and rarely cook as my daughter is at college and has a busy social life
so is out more than in (i cook maybe 4 times a week) the hot water is set to come on for 1 hour at 7am.

rates charged: 20.95 pence per kwh with a standing charge of 95
pence per day.

am i screwed?

macman

12p per kWh is a typical residential rate. You won't be able to switch if you owe more than about £200-the existing supplier will block the transfer.
Something is wrong here, as a typical switch takes 4-5 weeks, not 8 weeks.

unhappy36

when i originally tried switch i was told that the security deposit team's
card payment system was down and i would have to wait until it was back
up and running before being to pay. had to wait around 2 weeks, not sure
if they were trying to fob me off, but its paid now

Bark01

macman wrote: »

12p per kWh is a typical residential rate. You won't be able to switch if you owe more than about £200-the existing supplier will block the transfer.
Something is wrong here, as a typical switch takes 4-5 weeks, not 8 weeks.

The issue is that they seem to be registered as a commercial meter point not a residential meter point and Opus energy are the worst of the worst when it comes to commercial suppliers.

Fire_Fox

Is this based on meter readings taken by you (not the landlord or agent) on the day you moved in? Is the bill based on the correct number of KWH used, if so what did you use? Is it based on the correct dates? Check and double check everything, you may be being charged for energy before you moved in. Why didn't you register with Opus in the first week? Churwell should have told you who supplied the property.

Do not wait until you sought legal advice, start making regular payments now of whatever you can afford/ think is reasonable. You admit you have used power and you do owe them something. Stop responding to formal letter with informal telephone calls, use their formal complaints procedure, send your letters recorded delivery and keep copies of everything. If complaints procedure is exhausted you can move onto the ombudsman.

OPUS_Energy

I am the Operations Directorat Opus and would really like my team to look into this for you as there seemsto be a lot of confusion. Please can you email me at [EMAIL="operationsdirector@opusenergy.com"]operationsdirector@opusenergy.com[/EMAIL]quoting the reference number MSE140313 so that I can help. Andy Nash

unhappy36 wrote: »

hi all,

please help!

i moved into my current flat on dec 12 last year.
my new land lord gave me the number for churwell energy who he thought supplied the elec to the property.

it turned out however that as my property was used for temp housing
refuges before it came to me and the elec supplier is opus engergy
(a commercial supplier)

after the confusion was cleared up i contacted opus energy and gave them a meter reading on january 7th.
2 weeks later i recieved a bill for period - 12/12/12 to 6/2/13
for £730 !

i called opus thinking this was mistake and gave another reading
only to be told the amount is correct as i am a residential customer on an 'out of contract rate' i was then advised to pay the bill asap and switch supplier asap.

i contacted the local law centre a couple of days later who cant see
me until 28/3/13.

i have since recieved another bill upto 6/3/13 for a total of £995 !

i called opus again told them i could no afford to pay this and am waiting for an appointment with the law centre.

to which their response was to send me a letter threatening disconnection or legal procedings unless the full amount is paid immeadiatly.

i am currently trying to switch to sainsburys energy (application went in on 26/1/12 also had to pay a security deposit.
they say they will be taking over the account on 1/4/13.

info: my flat 2 bed fully electric, i only ever heat 1 room and rarely cook as my daughter is at college and has a busy social life
so is out more than in (i cook maybe 4 times a week) the hot water is set to come on for 1 hour at 7am.

rates charged: 20.95 pence per kwh with a standing charge of 95
pence per day.

am i screwed?

busteroo

Opus Energy have made my life a misery.

My boyfriend and I recently took over a very small premises to run our new business from. The previous tenant had informed them of the change of name on the account for us to take over and consequently Opus should bill our new company.

We only went with Opus because the previous tenant told us the usual payment for a month was £40 and they had not had any problems.
I wish I had not had any problems!!!!!

I call on the 6th March when I haven't heard from Opus and they say that I need to arrange a new contract as nothing has been done.
So I do this and nothing is mentioned about the period up until this point. (6th March).

Then I receive a bill for one months usage for £862.66 !!!!! Apparently for the period before my contract was agreed.
This is ridiculous given that the space has about 3 people working 3 days a week on a laptop each only and each work by a desk lamp only!!!!!

I call them up as this bill doesn't even have the correct meter reading on it that I gave when arranging the contract and I am assured I will be re billed as it was highly over estimated from the start from Feb 1st.
Of course, I never received the bill and repeatedly while I was then abroad they tried to take the payment of £862.66 even though they knew it was incorrect and too high!

After having to spend another 20 mins or so on the telephone last week to explain why we have not yet paid this amount and that we have not received the new bill they then say they need another meter reading for April.
Today I receive a bill from Opus saying my account is paid up to date. This is ridiculous, not only that, but apparently they owe me £9.61!!!! For goodness sake.
I have now just spent 30 mins on the phone from my mobile trying to for once sort out this mess. Also when I am supposed to be at work.

On the most recent bill (the one where they think I owe them money) they only have one 'ACTUAL' meter read, not only can this not be correct as it is not in line with mine, but no one called to give this it was completely made up!
I call today to put them right as an act of good will and to try and make my account accurate. However all this has done is to be informed that now I have a balance of over £600.

For the period of 1st Feb – 6th March they are billing me on a 'out of contract charge'. Even though the previous tenant was with them and informed them of the new account name etc. Had I not been recommended I would have organised a new supplier on the 1st Feb instantly. I stayed with Opus because I was recommended – despite other internet / web blogs advising otherwise! It seems Opus do not reward that loyalty all we got was a kick in the teeth. No one at customer services could help, or were willing to compensate me for the fact that I have only had BAD customer service / efficiency from them.

Not only this but the amount they charged for just over 30 days is in the region of 1700% more! How is this allowed?????

I feel let down for staying with them, and not only this but if a company are going to charge these astronomical prices for out of contract charges then surely they have to inform the tenant. The previous tenant gave at least a week or maybe a month notice of ending their contract with Opus. So why didn't Opus send out a letter ready for when we moved in informing us of the charges. Because they are the supplier to the property basically they are allowed to charge what they like and it seems they are exploiting this. When I called today they admitted they didn't write a letter to us until the 18th Feb – up to when we were blissfully unaware and thinking we were on a contract with them.

I said today, we wouldn't have received the letter until the 22nd Feb (we never received such letter) - SURPRISE SURPRISE. How is that acceptable?

How can I get out of this mess? I even tried searching out of contract charges on their website. Nothing comes up. Just another way that even if I wanted to find out what these were I couldn't!

bob_bank_spanker

Out of contract charges are very, very high in the world of business energy. Just "staying with them" on the basis of the previous tenants recommendation isn't enough unfortunately, one needs to phone up and register the date of taking on the tenancy, and agree a contract. Surely you did this to submit your opening meter reading though?

dogshome

From your post it appears that your flat was some sort of commercially operated hostel, and as such would have paid for 'Business Energy' with 20% VAT and been charged Council Tax for business premises

The key is are you now being charged Council Tax on 'Domestic' banding ? - If so this proves you are occupying a domestic dwelling and Opus have no right to even supply you, let alone charge Busness rates or apply 20% VAT

If you have a domestic council tax bill, send a copy to Opus saying you are content to pay for the power/gas you have used, but only if it is charged at domestic rates and a VAT rate of 5% is applied

busteroo

Hi Bob Bank Spanker.
A letter was written from the previous tenant informing Opus in a continuing conversation via email with a member of staff there. The final meter reading for them and the start up reading for us to apply to our account.
This wasnt done. When we realised this the amount in 2 weeks had already reached over £200. We were abroad and no one else could then read the meter again until we returned when we called asap however there is no compensation for any of this. We were subjected to costs we were not informed of or could not prevent