Massive Bill!

hard-done-by_2

I moved out of a shared house 3 months ago, I was paying gas and electricity on a monthly direct debit as it was registered in my name. I've just been informed by Southern Electric that I owe them 2.5 grand, the last meter reading they took was September 2012 and then March 2014. This seems like so much? what can I do? They didnt change or update my direct debit payment once in that time.

Andy_WSM

Just not enough info here for anyone to make any sort of informed comment.

What were the meter readings at the beginning and end of your tennancy?

Did you read the meters and provide readings to them?

How much per month were you paying?

What sort of & size of property? What was the insulation like?

How many people occupying it?

hard-done-by_2

The reading was estimated from Oct 2011 to Septemeber 2012 when they received an updated reading. After this date I gave them just one more reading when we moved out, it seemed to match fairly closely with the estimate, maybe I misread it. I am revisiting the property this week to check that the final reading was correct.

I always paid the same, £108 each month combined, 3 of us living there in a 3 bedroom, old property but we wernt divas with the heating.

Is there a time frame where they should ensure the meter is read? Or is that all up to the occupier?

Just seems like there should be a system to ensure that a bill like this doesnt occur. Cheers for any comments, harsh or fair

Cardew

There would(or should) have been regular bills - either paper or on-line - during your period of occupancy.

For such a debt to accrue, these bills must have been based on under-estimated meter readings; which you should have corrected by contacting SE.

£108 a month is about the UK average. So to run up a further debt of £2,500 in less than 18 months is extraordinary - this is assuming that the Sept 2012 reading(s) they took were used in the bill on that date.

As said above we need more information.

How much of the debt is gas, how much electricity.?

Was the Sept 2012 bill based on estimated readings? - it doesn't follow that they would have used the actual readings. If the computer 'thinks' they are wrong(a mis-read) it will substitute an estimated reading.

molerat

They only have to read the meters every 2 years. Anything in between is down to the user to submit reads and check any estimated bills.

£108 pm is a reasonable amount to pay so building up £2.5K debt seems dubious but not impossible. You need to post up some kWh and unit figures and meter type.

hard-done-by_2

1700 electricity and 630 for gas. The guy on the phone today said that they took the gas reading themselves but we gave the electricity reading.so surely after September 2012 my monthly payments should have jncreased?

I just cant believe the debt is so high, is there anything i should/can do now?

Listerbelle

Reported as spam

macman

What you need to do is verify the readings and then the billings. If correct, you'll need to work out a repayment schedule with the provider.