Are Powergen Right Demanding Money????

craiggyc

Recently I was contacted by a debt collecting agency telling me that they had taken over a debt of £448 from POWERGEN that i'd let build up with them from a previous council property address. I contacted powergen about this matter as it's the first time i'd heard anything about it, plus at my old address I was actually a pre-pay customer so thought they had a mix up somewhere. I was told by POWERGEN that this was correct & the money was oustanding from the electricity meter which from may 2005 til february 2007 (although I moved into my own house in november 2006) had been undercharging me and supplying me at a lower rate. Is the meter their responsibility or mine? Am I responsible for this mistake? Do I have to pay this money even though they had meter readings etc which they tell me they obtained themselves as the meter was outside? Could they not have altered the undercharging meter when they were getting the reading from it? If someone could let me know where I stand with this matter & If I decide not to pay it & it goes to court what would happen?.... thankyou.

tripled

Technically they can backcharge for any difference between the rate set on the meter and their published rate. However they would only be able to charge you from the date you moved in, not before.

This is slightly different to most cases though in that they had access to the meter but still didn't update it, which means although technically they can still charge you have a stronger case to get it written off.

I would recommend writing to Powergen pointing out the facts, that you seem to have been charged before you moved in and that they had access to the meter so are at fault for not updating it. If you don't get a satisfactory response within 14 days, take it to energywatch.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

I am afraid that Powergen are entitled to charge you extra even though you were on a pre-pay meter.

This has been covered many times if you do a search on this forum.

The term 'pre-pay' is often misunderstood. You have to pay whatever the going tariff rate is for gas/electricity. If your meter is not set to the correct rate(i.e. is too low) you are liable for the difference for each unit consumed. All a 'pre pay' meter does, in effect, is get you to pay something toward your consumption.

It is therefore not "a mistake" as you term it. Millions of people are in the same position. It was physically impossible for all the meters to be changed to the correct rate on the day the tariff changed. Often access to the house is not possible - and if preventing access to the meter meant you got cheaper gas/electricity, who would ever let them in to change the setting?(I appreciate your meter was outside, but the meter reader presumably cannot change settings.)

The normal method of recovering the debt is to adjust the meter setting so that it recovers the debt at, say, £10 a week.

So yes, you are responsible for the debt. Often companies will reduce that debt, some even write it off now as there has been a lot of bad publicity about the situation you find yourself in.

If you were unaware about the debt it is presumably because Powergen didn't have a forwarding address for you.

The difficulty is once debt collecting agencies get involved, compromise is often not possible.

I would contact Energywatch and seek their advice.

Sorry it is not good news.