Electricity: is this back-billing?

guest_star

Hi,

My partner and I have recently moved into a very small one bedroomed flat. its tiny. We have just received our first electricity bill and it costs roughly £70 a month! To me this is massive, we're hardly in, both working, and out a lot. Also its so small we have the usual gadgets and heating on a timer. My question is, could we be paying a higher rate to pay for what the last tenant owed as a subtle form of back billing? As when i phoned the provider to question our bill they said they had never had a meter reading off her only ours that we gave last week. What is suss to me is that they told me they had the start meter reading from the 1st of feb...the day we moved in. No one came to read the meter as they would need access to our flat. they then said actually they came round the day before...no one did. its a bit suss to me. could this be back billing and how can i challenge it?

Thank you to all replies

ic

Your landlord or agent probably provided the meter reading - the energy company won't send somebody round. Did you read the meter yourself on the day? Does the bill say its "actual" or "customer" read?

£70 per month for all electric on what is probably a standard plan doesn't sound wrong to me. Get yourself on to USwitch and sort yourself out with a cheaper tariff.

Nada666

Why do you have the heating on a timer if you are never in? Complete waste. Turn that off for a start.

£70 is hardly expensive. Keep an eye on your meter and get an idea of how much you use day to day and week to week until you learn how much you use for various patterns.

sheffield_lad

So many folk don't realise just how expensive electric heating is or worse claim its never used!! lol

There is thread after thread an it all amounts to the same issue, a lack of understanding of how much electricity when used for heating costs.

Roll on smart meters.

macman

Standard rate (not E7) all electric heating is the most expensive method of all. It's also heating all your hot water.
You are paying £70pm during the winter quarter (and a very cold one). Your bills will plummet once warmer weather arrives and the heating goes off.

Fire_Fox

guest_star wrote: »

Hi,

My partner and I have recently moved into a very small one bedroomed flat. its tiny. We have just received our first electricity bill and it costs roughly £70 a month! To me this is massive, we're hardly in, both working, and out a lot. Also its so small we have the usual gadgets and heating on a timer. My question is, could we be paying a higher rate to pay for what the last tenant owed as a subtle form of back billing? As when i phoned the provider to question our bill they said they had never had a meter reading off her only ours that we gave last week. What is suss to me is that they told me they had the start meter reading from the 1st of feb...the day we moved in. No one came to read the meter as they would need access to our flat. they then said actually they came round the day before...no one did. its a bit suss to me. could this be back billing and how can i challenge it?

Thank you to all replies

Welcome. Loads of threads on this if you run an advanced search. It's your responsibility as energy user and bill payer to read the meters and pass on the readings, supplier only has to read them once every two years, tenant or landlord only gives a reading for closing their own account not opening your account.

Electricity is very expensive for heating and hot water, how much you are home is less relevant than how much you actually use the heating, power shower, washing machine and tumble dryer. Gadgets and lighting use little power so are largely irrelevant. Many people claim to be low users but actually have the heating on many hours and take long showers, remember you are only at work perhaps a quarter of the hours in a week.

guest_star

howee wrote: »

So many folk don't realise just how expensive electric heating is or worse claim its never used!! lol

There is thread after thread an it all amounts to the same issue, a lack of understanding of how much electricity when used for heating costs.

Roll on smart meters.

roll on smart posters. the query is about back billing clever clogs. to everyone else, thank you for your wisdom.

macman

Sorry but your conspiracy theory about back billing is not credible. Firstly, the bills are produced entirely by the system; no one actually reads them, let alone sneaks in and adds a bit on manually to try and recover a loss on a previous account.
It's your responsibility to take a reading on day one and register, so if you didn't submit opening readings then and there was no closing reading either, then the reading has to be estimated from the day you took over the account, which was 1/2, not the day you submitted your first reading.
It will state clearly on the bill if the readings are agent, customer or estimated (A,C or E respectively). I suspect that your opening read will say E.
Even if we ran with your theory, how would the supplier benefit? The closing and opening reads have to agree, so any increase in your opening bill would result in a consequent reduction in the previous occupier's closing bill. The overall revenue collected would be the same.

Richie-from-the-Boro

- the day you moved in you were already on a 'deemed contract' with the then supplier
- that deemed contract is always by default the highest standard tariff they can put you on
- the day you moved in you did read your meters - did you ?
- that day or soon thereafter you did ring the then supplier and gave them your opening readings - did you ?

- if the answer to the above is no, then you could be paying the previous tenants bill
- you would have to pay it you have no way of defending it
- because you did not take control of your tariff and meter readings immediately

For example as a tenant leaving, I could have a reading of 555555 and submit a reading of 555444, leaving the next tenant you with a bill of 111 units of mine to pay when you eventually get around to putting your readings in. (1) People in rented accommodation often calculate a month or more consumption [particularly in the winter] and deduct it from their last readings knowing it will possibly not be picked up on. (2) Alternatively people leave giving no notice to the supplier and no readings again lumbering the next tenant / owner. (3) The more frequent one is the key-meter, here a new tenant / owner will blithely pay the old tenants arrears along with his own usage because they don't cancel the old key and get a new one.

All of the 3 scams can be avoided by taking control from day one. Yes then is your answer, you could be paying someone else's bill, but challenging it is going to be a problem unless you put your readings in immediately you moved into the dwelling. Ring your supplier, tell them your fears, and ask where to go from there.