Student - Large eon bill. Help!

shhh2000

Dear Forum,
My daughter started Uni and took a private bedsit instead of student lodgings. First time she had lived away from home and been in charge of bills, etc. She moved in at start of September 2013. At end of September she received an estimated eon bill for £50 addressed to The Occupier. She paid it. Her next bill was in April 2014, still estimated, still addressed to the occupier for over £600. She called to query it and was asked to give her name, etc. She got the meter read by eon and then a revised bill arrived for over £700. When she queried this eon told her that no 'opening reading' was given for when she moved in. The landlord is no help and doesn't have a reading. She moved back home at the end of April and ended the tenancy
Where does she stand on this? Does she have any grounds to dispute the bill? Do you think billing of £750 for September to April for a bedsit is reasonable? Any advice would be appreciated. She knows she must pay for electricity but doesn't know if this is the correct charge, nor why no bills were sent between September and April.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

shhh2000 wrote: »

Dear Forum,
My daughter started Uni and took a private bedsit instead of student lodgings. First time she had lived away from home and been in charge of bills, etc. She moved in at start of September 2013. At end of September she received an estimated eon bill for £50 addressed to The Occupier. She paid it. Her next bill was in April 2014, still estimated, still addressed to the occupier for over £600. She called to query it and was asked to give her name, etc. She got the meter read by eon and then a revised bill arrived for over £700. When she queried this eon told her that no 'opening reading' was given for when she moved in. The landlord is no help and doesn't have a reading. She moved back home at the end of April and ended the tenancy
Where does she stand on this? Does she have any grounds to dispute the bill? Do you think billing of £750 for September to April for a bedsit is reasonable? Any advice would be appreciated. She knows she must pay for electricity but doesn't know if this is the correct charge, nor why no bills were sent between September and April.

A valuable life lesson - when you take over a property, contact the energy supplier and give an opening read!

£750 for the period you mention is a little high, but not outrageously so. In any case, it's immaterial - how on earth can it be disproved without an opening read?

macman

As above-without an opening read she has little evidence to dispute the billing. Did she not take her own closing read?
It's not the LL's job to sort this out if the utility accounts are payable by the tenant, although most will insist on agreed opening reads if they are sensible.
Did your daughter not register for any of the utility accounts (water etc)? Assuming an all electric flat, £750 through the winter is perfectly possible.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi shhh2000

Totally understand the pitfalls when taking on a property for the first time. Without accurate meter readings, though, we'll have had to rely on estimates to issue your daughter's bills.

It looks like the first April bill was under-estimated as it went up once we had an accurate reading.

As Bluebirdman and macman say, wherever possible it's best to let us have actual readings. This helps us keep things accurate.

Has your daughter told us she's given up the tenancy? If not, please ask her to let us know. It'll be great if she took readings when she moved out. These will help us send her an accurate final bill. If not, it'll be another estimate I'm afraid.

She can phone us or use the Home Moves form on our website if she prefers.

Last year, new accounts generally went on to monthly, quarterly or six monthly billing cycles depending on the individual circumstances. Looks like your daughter went on to a six monthly cycle.

Not much help to your daughter now, I know, but we've recently changed this to mainly either monthly or quarterly cycles.

Sorry I can't be of more help here but without readings there's little more I can suggest.

Malc