First Utility - Bangs head against wall

Shrimply

Hi guys, I'm not sure if anyone is able to help, or if there is help to be had.

However, I started renting a flat mid September, The supplier was Scottish Power, and I organised a switch to First Utility. I seem to have been sending them both emails ever since.

On Scottish Powers end they have finally issued me with both final bills ( the electricity 9 weeks after the gas). These bills used my meter readings, and I have paid off the balance, although the account is not yet marked as closed. That will be the next email.

First Utility have marked my meter readings as invalid since I submitted them, and I've been told, they needed to be confirmed with industry standards, they needed to be agreed with the previous supplier etc etc. I've always debated this for the gas, given Scottish Power had closed the gas account with the meter reading I supplied, so they must have agreed with it, and it must have been confirmed with the industry ( whatever this means).

Anyway the last email I sent them basically said, given that I'd had final bills from Scottish Power, what was their excuse for the opening readings not being validated.

And the response I got back made me scratch my head, I'm not entirely sure what it means, and it seems the most complicated and roundabout way of doing things. And the time scales involved, to get a sensible bill from them... I mean, what do you say.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the issues that you have been experiencing with the meter details on your account and with the incorrect initial meter readings on your account.

I have now investigated this issue for you and I can see that there is a marker on your account which indicates that we have found an issue on your account which is causing problems with billing you.

In your case, this does appear to be an issue linked with your opening meter readings.

In order to resolve this, I have requested that we move your account onto a different platform. Doing this will allow us to resolve the issues currently causing problems on your account and we will then be able to produce accurate monthly bills for you.

The first part of this process creates a new account for you. This usually takes up to two weeks to complete and once done I will email you with your new account number and online account login details. All of the payments and the Direct Debit on your account will be brought over to this new system. At this point, we will also ensure that the appropriate teams are aware of and working to fix the errors on your account.

It will then take between four and six weeks for us to produce a correct and updated bill for you.

I apologise for any inconvenience caused by this issue and I hope that you are happy with the measures that we are taking to fix the issues on yoru account for you.

If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Anyone got any thoughts other than wait and hope for the best?

Swipe

I love to know what backend account and billing software platform they use that only allows them to fix an error by creating a new account. I still can't fathom why it takes them 7 - 10 days to generate a bill each month, whereas other providers can do it within seconds when you submit your meter readings

Shrimply

Well exactly, I'm a bit perplexed, especially given that the correct readings are listed on the account, just not validated.

The message from them says a whole load of not very much and, well, the whole thing seems mental.

When I read the message my initial reaction was that there was no way this is going to go smoothly, I'll end up on the wrong tariff, or being billed twice, or who knows what else.

Shrimply

So an update, to give them their due the issues seem to be fixed. They have now accepted all my readings for billing.

However, this is under the same account, which doesn't tie in with what they said above. They have also managed to correct an incorrect meter serial number, and I was told they would be in contact about this, which they haven't.

Communication seems to be a definite issue, but fingers crossed that everything is sorted... We will see.