Massive electricity bill that I can not explain!

12amat

Hi folks,



I really hope you can help with an extremely stressful situation that I am having with my electricity supplier EDF energy. The level of customer service that I have received so far has been appalling. This is the story:

I discovered that there was a massive discrepancy between the reading that I had in February 2013 and April 2013. Basically in just over 2 month time, according to the reading, I have used pretty much the same amount of electricity that I use in 2 years time. Obviously there was something wrong, so I got in touch with EDF and they told me that an engineer needs to come to inspect my meter. On the 1st of July 2013, (after 2 and a half months)an engineer came to my house to inspect the meter and he said that the meter was fine. So according to him I should pay the discrepancy as it is not EDF's fault (or meter's fault). The amount of money, according to my rough calculation, for the discrepancy of 12000Kwh should be around £1800.

Obviously, you can easily understand my level of stress as there is no way that I have used this much electricity and also I cannot afford to pay £1800 in one go. I have all my bills from 2008, since I moved in, and they can easily check that there must be a mistake.
Since April I have been tried to have an EDF manager to call me to solve this issue but nobody ever called me back, I always had to deal with a customer service advisor via” live chat”.

I have all my bills since 2008 and they can easily see that the discrepancy between Feb 2013 and April 2013 is extremely weird. All the customer service representative as well thought that it was very odd and that there must be a mistake.
Plus it is only me and my wife who live in the house and we both work Monday to Friday, we leave the house at 6.30am and come back at 6.30pm, if not later. So the house is always empty for at least 12 hrs every weekday.

We are extremely stressed because we know that we didn't do anything wrong or different than usual in order to have this massive electricity consumption(again, 2 years consumption in 2 month time!) and the fact that probably we have to pay around £1800 bill is making us living a nightmare.

On the 5th of July I received an email from a customer service advisor who is following my case, saying :


"The account would be rebilled to reflect the updated meter reading. If the meter is not faulty and all over general meter details were previously checked, I can see no other explanation than that the meter readings that were supplied previously were incorrect. "



It is very hard to believe for me that for 5 years I gave them the wrong reading numbers. I am not a genius but I am not even that dumb! I can easily prove them that the average consumption that we use for the electricity is around 5500-6500 Kwh per year but to prove this, unfortunately, I need one year.



The customer service advisor assured me in one of his emails that EDF will find a solution to this problem and he also told me to relax (easy to say!). Well, his solution was the above, rebill me with the updated reading.



I am not going to pay for electricity that I know I did NOT use. If they are so sure that I gave them the wrong meter readings they can prove that to me, as I know for sure we have never used that amount of electricity and we shouldn't be charged for it.



To add more frustration to this situation, when I came back from work that day I found a bill of £1715.04! I was shocked about EDF speed when it comes to delivering a bill and getting money but when it comes to solving a problem for which I am not responsible, or getting back to me regarding my problem, it took them 2 and a half months! Anyway ....



As a customer, I requested them to work this out with common sense. I paid my last bill based on my annual statement (£229). I am more than happy to continue to pay this amount of money, which I feel it is right, for one year until April 2014. After that they can come and check personally the meter and calculate the consumption and they will see that it will be around 5500-6500Kwh/year.

Or even better, they could take my word and update the meter with the new figure that EDF will read, as they think I mis read the meter, and start a new account still under my name.

What else can I do? If the don't help me to solve this situation I will get in touch with Om budsma n. Also, I need to mention that since we moved in 2008 they never came to check the meter or read it. The last time that that meter was checked was in 1989 and the meter itself was built in 1969. I will not pay for electricity that I didn't use based on suppositions, hypothesis or like EDF said "evidence that suggest ...."

Please help because we are extremely stressed.

many thanks

Simon7685

Firstly I think you have posted this in the wrong place, this is the credit cards forum.

Regards your situation, I don't really know what to advise, although I do think there is something about a meter has to be changed every so many years. Whether or not you could rely on that though I'm not sure.

Hopefully someone will come along and mover this thread to the right forum and you will get some sound advise. I hope you manage to get it sorted soon.

rabbit_burrow

£229 per year is extremely low in the current economy. Less than £5 per week. Are you certain that you haven't read the meters wrong?

I use around £15 per week. I use a gas cooker, so my usage is purely on showers, washing machine, electrical appliances, lighting.

What is your usage like? How many times do you use the washing machine? How many hours on lighting/computer/TV etc.

Looking at the EDF website, based on their standard (variable) tariff, average usage of 6000kWh (what you have given) would cost about £850-£900 (depending on where you live) per year plus £69 in standing charges.

It does appear that your calculations could be wrong tbh.

rogerblack

12amat wrote: »

It is very hard to believe for me that for 5 years I gave them the wrong reading numbers. I am not a genius but I am not even that dumb! I can easily prove them that the average consumption that we use for the electricity is around 5500-6500 Kwh per year but to prove this, unfortunately, I need one year.

Look back over your bills.
Find out when the meter was read by their engineers.
Find out if the reading now is consistent with what they think - or if it's 10000 (say) units lower.

The fundamental problem is that 7500 units per month is not an impossible amount of electricity to use - it's very unlikely - but for example an outside pool heater left on could do this.

Is your meter a economy 7, or a normal one?
If it's economy 7 the issue could have been that it's been read the wrong way round in the past - so you've been charged at the wrong rates for the units.
For some people this can result in a large bill.

[Deleted User]

What sort of electric meter do you have, is it a "dial " meter ( 6 rotating dials ) ? Sometimes we are sent out to do check reads for EDF and we are descibed as " an engineer " Well I would nt describe myself as such, none of us know much about the inner workings of electric meters, we just have a look at the numbers, and cables/ seals etc to look for tampers. The little white digital meter, made by Ampy has been known to overead . Last week I spoke to a customer in Howden , East Yorks who s Ampy meter had been recording about double the rate and it was revealed by BG fitting a check meter alongside it. If you go down the route of requesting a check meter fitted there may be a charge if your meter is found to be ok.
Rogerblack is correct about eco 7 meters read transposed for years. The suppliers initially dish out a massive catch up bill to see if you are compliant in paying it. Fighting your corner will get them to back down if its shown to be the meter readers messing it up also

12amat

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your reply.

I have a dial meter made in 1969, so very old fashion. I just want to clarify that the £229 is not per year but per quarter. My annual consumption during the 5 years was, on average, 6000Kwh/year = roughly £800/year, which for 2 people in a 2 bedroom house is kind of normal, considering, as I said, that me and my wife MON-FRI leave the house empty for 12 hours every weekday.

EDF accused me to gave the meter wrong for 5 years. Can they see that this is unreal?

I am so stressed because I have always been honest and I don't deserve this. Thanks for your replies.

[Deleted User]

I have met plenty of people, over the years , reading dial meters incorrectly. Check the method you are using to rule out mess ups. Its not always where the dial pointer is pointing to. when the pointers align on borders is where they go wrong. Check the dial to the right of the one you are reading, if its before the zero its the lower, after the zero it sthe higher. The 10,000 dial is very slow moving and can be on a border for a long time. I think your useage is fine, mine is coming up to 2600kwhrs in 11 months.

OldFartPlumber

12amat wrote: »

Hi Guys,



EDF accused me to give the meter wrong for 5 years. Can they see that this is unreal?

I am so stressed because I have always been honest and I don't deserve this. Thanks for your replies.

The supplier is obliged to send their own reader physically to the meter at least once a year - so you are only responsible for your readings ! Therefore they are responsible too . As you`ve got all the bills , you might be able to pinpoint where an incorrect reading was entered , that maybe threw subsequent ones out

[Deleted User]

Companys like EDF and Scot Power dont bother themselves sticking to Ofgems 2 year minimum inspection rule. It cost them more , so they dont bother. So far in the approx 4 or 5 years I ve been doing EDF work not once have they sent me for a 2 year " must be read "inspection. From my short time reading Scot Powers they will be the same judging by a lady who refused access saying no ones read the meter in over 5 years. BG do at least conform to annual inspections

molerat

OldFartPlumber wrote: »

The supplier is obliged to send their own reader physically to the meter at least once a year - so you are only responsible for your readings ! Therefore they are responsible too . As you`ve got all the bills , you might be able to pinpoint where an incorrect reading was entered , that maybe threw subsequent ones out

A supplier is only required to read once every 2 years. If a supplier is changed then the clock resets to zero so in theory there may never be an inspection / read.

12amat

In 5 years that I have been living here EDF never checked my meter, simply because they always showed up MON-FRI 9-5 (exactly when me and my wife are at work), therefore nobody was in the house to open the door.
Something happened to my meter between Feb and April this year.
They insist that nothing happened but that I just gave them the wrong meter reading for the last 5 years!

I can totally read a meter and if they are a bit smart they can easily check that during this 5 years period there was a regular pattern. Also from April until now my consumption has been of 600Kwh (which is my average during a summer period for 3 months). Why EDF can not see this!? Why?

I can't pay £1700 based on their assumption or from a meter that is from 1969 and that the last time that has been tested was in 1989!

In their opinion I mis read the meter for 5 years? well... prove it then! I can prove that my consumption is around 6000Kwh/year but I need a full year to prove that, from April 2013 to April 2014 and so far, as I said, I used up 600Kwh right on line with my annual consumption of 6000Kwh/year.