Energy switching fun and games

nigelpm

Almost laughable this. Will avoid naming companies for now.

I switched suppliers recently and received a bill from my old supplier showing an estimated final reading (which is effectively £70 more than I should be paying)

That's odd I thought - I'm sure I told both the old and new supplier what the meter reads were on the day of switch over.

Spoke to new supplier who confirmed that they hadn't received the reads I'd provided to them (I can evidence that I did send them).

They suggested I give them the reads for that day (which I did) but they noted that unless it was a significant change to the reads already provided (above 250Kw/h for elec and similar for gas) that they wouldn't pursue it. It falls just below this.


Whilst it's only a nominal amount of money I will lose (perhaps £15 from different tariff) and effectively prepaying £70 worth of energy I'm still annoyed that I should lose out at all and why should this process be that difficult.

Any suggestion on the best way to proceed.

A few thoughts....

Can the old supplier chase me for payment when it is an estimated reading? And particularly when I haven't used the energy.

Surely, the onus is however on the new supplier to have sent the correct reading the old supplier and hence really they are ones in the wrong here.

Wolf3

Unfortunately they are specific rules for amending the Change of Supplier reads. If the reads are less than 250 units for Electricity or 45 and 120 units for 4/5 dial gas meters, they wont change them and there is no redress for this.
With regards to an estimated final bill, yes they can chase you for payment as your new supplier wont bill you for that energy usage. You could try and complain and you could possibly get an offer of goodwill but those reads are set in stone if their differences are below those thresholds

Wolf3

as a side note, it is up to the new supplier to provide the correct Change of Supplier read, however if they don't submit it in time, then an estimated read is produced based on your estimated consumption and meter read history

nigelpm

Thanks Wolf.

Very annoying although I can see why it makes sense to have a de minimus amount.

I'd have thought the de minimus should be more like a few days worth for the average usage - so more like 50 Kw/h of elec or 30 units of gas but has to be set somewhere I guess.

Out of interest how does one chase a debt for services which haven't yet been provided though - this is alien to me.

Would be really interested if anyone has pursued this and the outcome.

wavelets

nigelpm wrote: »

Almost laughable this. Will avoid naming companies for now.

I switched suppliers recently and received a bill from my old supplier showing an estimated final reading (which is effectively £70 more than I should be paying)

That's odd I thought - I'm sure I told both the old and new supplier what the meter reads were on the day of switch over.

Spoke to new supplier who confirmed that they hadn't received the reads I'd provided to them (I can evidence that I did send them).

They suggested I give them the reads for that day (which I did) but they noted that unless it was a significant change to the reads already provided (above 250Kw/h for elec and similar for gas) that they wouldn't pursue it. It falls just below this.


Whilst it's only a nominal amount of money I will lose (perhaps £15 from different tariff) and effectively prepaying £70 worth of energy I'm still annoyed that I should lose out at all and why should this process be that difficult.

Any suggestion on the best way to proceed.

A few thoughts....

Can the old supplier chase me for payment when it is an estimated reading? And particularly when I haven't used the energy.

Surely, the onus is however on the new supplier to have sent the correct reading the old supplier and hence really they are ones in the wrong here.

The final reading of the outgoing supplier should be the same as the start reading of the new supplier.

Whist getting the agreed, common reading modified can be achieved in certain circumstances as already explained, the outcome will be what you don't pay one supplier, you will have the pay the other (give or take a few pennies due to variation in tariff details)

It could be that the reading you gave on switching was not verified by the appropraite authority.

nigelpm

wavelets wrote: »

you will have the pay the other (give or take a few pennies due to variation in tariff details)

It could be that the reading you gave on switching was not verified by the appropraite authority.

It's about £15 rather than pennies which isn't the end of the world but still annoying.

Who verifies the reading and why?

pooch

nigelpm wrote: »

...Who verifies the reading and why?

The Meter Reading Agency must validate the reading.

Why? In an attempt to avoid errors caused by incorrect customer readings.

PenryP

I've just switched from Npower to a new supplier - and have another odd situation with final meter readings. I provided the readings to both new and old suppliers, and have just received my final bill from Npower for Gas ! (still waiting on electric).

On the final bill for Gas from Npower they've added 50 units on top of the final reading!. It also says it's their reading rather than a customer reading!. I just called my new supplier, and they've confirmed the reading they provided to Npower. I then called Npower, and they claimed the reading was taken by an engineer on day before the changeover date! rather than being proved to them by both me and the new supplier! - (my meter is still 35 units below the reading too)

Yet another Npower bill cancelled, and replacement should be issued in a couple of weeks or so !- they've said they need to ask my new supplier for the reading again! - Am now waiting for the final electric bill and wondering how many "extra" units they'll be adding to that one !!

nigelpm

PenryP wrote: »

I've just switched from Npower to a new supplier - and have another odd situation with final meter readings. I provided the readings to both new and old suppliers, and have just received my final bill from Npower for Gas ! (still waiting on electric).

On the final bill for Gas from Npower they've added 50 units on top of the final reading!. It also says it's their reading rather than a customer reading!. I just called my new supplier, and they've confirmed the reading they provided to Npower. I then called Npower, and they claimed the reading was taken by an engineer on day before the changeover date! rather than being proved to them by both me and the new supplier! - (my meter is still 35 units below the reading too)

Yet another Npower bill cancelled, and replacement should be issued in a couple of weeks or so !- they've said they need to ask my new supplier for the reading again! - Am now waiting for the final electric bill and wondering how many "extra" units they'll be adding to that one !!

Unreal this stuff.

Just thinking about how much this must cost the industry (and ultimately the consumer) - these continuous screw ups.

Vortigern

nigelpm wrote: »

Unreal this stuff.

Just thinking about how much this must cost the industry (and ultimately the consumer) - these continuous screw ups.

Meter Reading Agency - some meddling quango not answerable to customers?

I'm having a similar journey from SP to Ovo. Neither party comes out well. Both have ignored, rejected or lost my meter readings. Neither is prepared to accept my date-stamped photos of my meters for 'verification'

Ovo suggested that my reading was rejected because I gave only 4 digits. I suspect that their software has removed the leading zero from my 5-digit reading - not that it makes the slightest difference numerically. The difference between their estimate and my reading was 28 cu.m (or 315kWh) which doesn't amount to much.

The electricity estimate was (incredibly) within 0.10 kWh of my actual reading. Yes - that's 6 kilowatt minutes! I should add that it was their estimate that was given to 2 decimal places not my actual read.

No real financial loss to me, just the inconvenience of chasing up both power companies to produce their final/initial bills. I'm still awaiting an initial bill from Ovo.

pooch

Vortigern wrote: »

Meter Reading Agency - some meddling quango not answerable to customers?

I love your conspiracy theory.

It sounds so much more exciting than the reality, details of which I shall not bore you with presently

Vortigern wrote: »

The electricity estimate was (incredibly) within 0.10 kWh of my actual reading. Yes - that's 6 kilowatt minutes! I should add that it was their estimate that was given to 2 decimal places not my actual read.

I've only ever seen electricity bills calculated to the whole kWh.

If you have one that isn't, you should probably consider sticking it on ebay or summut - it's proabably worth a fortune just because of it's uniqueness.