Estimated bill for 10 years...

tootoo

I recently moved my dads gas and electricity supply.
It has arose that although he has had regular visits from the meter readers (he has seen them read both meters), only the gas readings have ever been updated. The electricity has been estimated.

He now has a bill over £1300 for the electricity used over the past 10 years. He understands it is his error ultimately as he didn't realise.
The bill however will surely be based on todays energy prices since we transferred earlier this year.

Can anyone help as to whether this can be apportioned over the years at all? I'm annoyed for him and don't see how it is fair that he should be charged full price. The ridiculous thing is when he switched suppliers, the previous ones sent him a refund cheque for a few hundred pounds (even though he gave them a meter reading himself! Guessing they were passing the problem on..) for the electricity.
I have been in touch with the current supplier and said there is an issue but I want to arm myself with the facts before I ring for dad.

Thank you

fred7777

When did he switch suppliers?

I assume from your post that he recently changed the new supplier used an estimated start reading from the old supplier. They later read the meter and calculated a bill based on the difference between the estimated start and the current reading.

Also I assume the estimated reading was far lower than the actual reading would have been.

If this is so then the current supplier is calculating the bill as if they supplied the electricity which they didn't so they aren't owed it.

Trouble is there systems aren't set up for this sort of issue so it will be a problem to get them to sort it out.

Best thing to do is to get a complaint written ASAP that the bill doesn't reflect the electricity used. After 8 weeks if it is not sorted you can complain to the ombudsman.

In my experience dealing with utility companies it won't be sorted until the ombudsman is involved.

TBagpuss

Are they trying to bill him back 10 years/ normally they should not bill that far back, particularly if they are in error.

As far as I can see, the guidance says they should not try to bill him for more than 12 months worth of back payments. If they are saying that he has had £1,300 over the last 10 years, point them to the OfGem guidance and offer £130!

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/64010/back-billing-leaflet-2012.pdf

Joyful

If he has been getting bills then the back billing does not apply. the only thing would be to dispute the start reading with the new supplier but then the previous supplier would bill him for all the rest. The new supplier can only charge him at the current rates so his gripe would not be with them. Far better to bite the bullet and see if the new supplier will let him pay over a longer period.


The only dispute would be if he could prove either he or the meter readers gave reads and they were not used.

Cardew

TBagpuss wrote: »

Are they trying to bill him back 10 years/ normally they should not bill that far back, particularly if they are in error.

As far as I can see, the guidance says they should not try to bill him for more than 12 months worth of back payments. If they are saying that he has had £1,300 over the last 10 years, point them to the OfGem guidance and offer £130!

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/64010/back-billing-leaflet-2012.pdf

As Joyful points out above you are incorrect about the back-billing provision of the voluntary Billing code.

That provision only applies where the customer has not been getting bills and it is the fault of the energy company - and the Op's father has been getting bills, albeit based on under-estimated meter readings.

I wrote this recently in another thread which explains how this situation can arise:

Ignoring actual meter readings(even from a meter reader) can be a problem with all companies. The normal reason is the computer algorithm(program).

If the computer 'thinks' that the actual meter reading is incorrect, it will ignore it and substitute an estimated reading. A good example would be if the meter reading at the end of a billing period is lower than the meter reading at the start of the billing period. The computer 'assumes' this is a mistake and will substitute an estimated reading.

In the same way if, over a period of time, the billed meter readings are much lower than the actual meter readings, the computer will continue to ignore actual meter readings until there is manual intervention by the billing department.

That said, the OP's father should clearly not be paying for the units(kWh) caused by these under-estimated readings at 2014 rates, when some of the unpaid units would have been at 2004, 2005 etc rates.

They can estimate now what the meter readings would have been in 2005, 2006, 2007, etc but they are estimated readings.

However the OP's father is in a strong 'bargaining' position in this situation as he can argue that they should have picked up that his bills had been based on estimated meter readings for 10 years.

If he is in a position to settle the outstanding amount for a cash settlement he should be able to negotiate a large reduction on the outstanding debt.

tootoo

Thank you for your replies.

He changed suppliers earlier this year. We supplied actual meter readings and the previous supplier then sent a final bill with a refund cheque! Cardew - that would make sense as to why the meter readings weren't actually used.
The new supplier has gone from the correct reading and obviously the reading supplied from the previous supplier. They haven't asked for any extra money and the DD has remained the same.
My dad can pay the amount but I have told him not too, I don't see why he should pay for at the current rate - I feel it should be apportioned.
I will write a letter, I think I'll write to the current supplier and send a copy and covering letter to the previous supplier. Then when nothing happens I shall go to the ombudsman.

Thank you again for your help.

littletommytucker

GOOD NEWS! The posters before me don't seem to be too familiar with the ERA code of practice. Your father does qualify for a write off under the code, as the supplier has received regular readings and failed to record these correctly on their systems.

You need to ask the new supplier to amend the opening reading on the account, to accurately reflect what the reading would have been on the date of the transfer.

The large bill will then be shifted to the old supplier, who, under the energy retail code of practice for actuate bills, will be liable to write off all charges over 12 months old. They'll be able to calculate roughly what your reading would have been 12 months ago to determine the write off amount.

tootoo

LTT - thank you very much

I shall word my letter accordingly.