No bills from Powergen

Fozz

Hi, would appreciate some advice! We are with Powergen but have not had a bill for 2 years. At first I rang them to chase, but for the past 18months my husband has said don't bother, they'll catch up with us in time so haven't contacted them. Have supplied meter readings so far.
Now that they are only supposed to bill for last 12 months,what would be our position now? Am worried because I haven't contacted them for so long, would they say this is partly our fault and still bill us for the whole time? If so would we be within our rights to say we can only pay them over an agreed time as we haven't been able to put the money away.
Any comments welcome, have only just disovered the site, don't know how I did without it!!

dobbie82

:mad: powergen

I would get on the phone to them asap. would you have the money put aside for 2 years of electric?

I lived in a flat for 2 and a half years, twice they sent a guy round to read the meter otherwise it was estimated. (Meter outside my door so didnt need to be in for him to read it)

I used to get say a bill in april, then maybe 2,3,4 month later, never anything regular. Anyway I set up a direct debit so at least I was paying towards it. then when \i moved out I got a bill for nigh on £1000 as they reckon there was a mistake with meter readings! and they say its too late to appeal etc :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Cardew

I am not sure that the 2 years bill backdating has been reduced to 1 year yet.

I am also not sure it is your right to pay them back over a long period; but it is normal practice.

Fozz

I plucked up courage to phone Powergen, it seems that our account got lost somewhere during a change to a new computer system. Anyway, they are setting up a new account, which will take " a couple of months"!! We will only be billed for the last twelve months,( this only took effect from the beginning of this month.) Also we can arrange to pay the arrears gradually, this will be sorted out when we get the first bill.
It's a relief to have it sorted out at last without having over 2 years bills to pay!

saxmund

So, if you knew you weren't getting billed, why didn't you make provision to pay it later? I can understand why you didn't volunteer to (it's their mistake, and the money is beter off in your account than theirs) but why wouldn't you put the money aside to pay later? You were fully aware of it and continues using their product. Sorry, devil's advocate here, but just as if you should own up if money that isn't your own turns up in your bank account, surely you should be expected to pay for a product you are using.

Fozz

Yes I do see your point, and ideally we should have been putting money away, but it is easier said than done on a very tight budget. Also, yes we have got away with over a year's free electricity as it has turned out, but we were prepared to pay what we owed even if it took ages. The fact that the rules have been changed in our favour reflects on the terrible state that the power industry has got into, and the many many customers who have had similar problems.
This is the second time this has happened to us, last time it was TXU, I had to get my local radio station involved, when they emailed them lo and behold we got our bill!
I honestly think that this is a fair compromise, and hope that the power companies are finally getting their act together.