Electricity Estimate dilema

afroitalo

Hi folks, We've been living in this two bedroom flat for the last three years.It has electric boiler and the heaters are electircal as well. Over the years we have been recieving and paying bills as usual,and we used to get regular visits from the companies meter readers. At the end of 2006 we recieved a bill for over £2000 which I was told was due to the bill being estimated and that they disreguarded the readings their meter readers took as they seemed too high. Myself seeing the meter reades coming regularly I assumed that they had accurate readings so never actually gave a meter reading myself, besides when we moved in. On me trying to organise a payment plan the best the company will allow is for us to pay it off over 1 year which at the moment will be £200/m ontop of our regular bills. as I am a student we can not afford this. they are now getting a warrent to change our meter to a pre-pay with adjusted tarrifs to reclaim the money.
Any advice would be appreciated .
Desprately
Leigh

greyteam1959

I think a trip to your local Citizens Advice Bureau would be well worth the bus fare !!!!
There seems to be quite alot of this sort of thing going on with the utility companies at the moment

wills34

the only thing CAB can negiotiate is the payment plan

afroitalo

thanks for the speedy reply. have tried to the cab but is so busy I've not been able to get in. will keep trying .

tripled

As your supplier hasn't billed you correctly despite having meter readings, they should be prepared to give you an extended period to pay off the arrears. Contact them again and advise them that if they do not agree to spread it over two years you will be going to energywatch.

In the mean time, start making payments of £100 per month asap, even though you haven't come to an agreement yet. They have to get a court warrant to have the meter changed/removed without your permission; if it does come to this and you can demonstrate it is not your fault the account is in arrears and you are paying back as much as you can afford, no reasonable judge would grant the warrant.

I would also suggest you take a look at your electricity usage because it seems very high.

afroitalo

thanks very much,We have been making payments when we can I made clear to them if we used the electricitywe would pay for it but they would not budge. So we are going to court andI am hoping like you said we can come to a reasonable solution . As for the usage will get an electrician in to check it out.
Many thanks again...

tripled

As for the usage will get an electrician in to check it out

I'm not sure an electricity is necessary just yet, before you fork out do a few things first such as make sure you have an E7 (two rate) meter and are being charged on the E7 tariff. Also make sure you are not using the electric boiler or heating in the daytime and that you aren't wasting electricity leaving lights and appliances on when you don't need them, etc.

I would recommend trying to sort it out before going to court. Give them a last chance to come up with a reasonable payment scheme and tell them if it isn't sorted on the phone there and then you are going straight to energywatch.

While it would look as though you have a good defence, there are no guarantees and if the judge finds for the utility co then they will charge you a large sum to fit the meter, which could be several hundred pounds.