Can I claim money back from SSE?

Justine_C

Hi everyone,

I don't know if anyone has had a similar situation to this before, but I'll do my best to record what has happened:

- I rented a small 1 bed flat in Bristol from Sept 2012-March 2013 by myself
- I worked Mon-Fri 9-6; and was out of the house from 7.30am until 7pm weekdays
- I was rarely about at the weekend due to my social life
- The flat was electric only with storage heaters in lounge and bedroom (1 in each of these rooms)
- I paid a monthly direct debit of £55 for electricity to SSE (paid on time every month in full)
- Feb 2012 showed me being about £115 in credit with SSE
- At the end of my tenancy (March 2013); I contacted SSE who explained that they would tot up the remaining balances and let me know how much was due to be paid
- March 2013 - I receive 2 final warning letters asking me to pay £462.50 BUT I never received a final bill
- April 2013 - I sent SSE a letter asking for a final bill to explain where this charge had come from but no response from SSE
- 6 months later, I am referred to a credit agency asking for the outstanding money plus an extra £80 for their charges
- I ignored this - this was probably a mistake!
- The credit agency chased me again another 9 months later asking for the amount owed
- I was in a better financial position; and didn't want to get a CCJ or bad debt so I paid the credit agency in full - although they never sent me confirmation of this. (I have not received letter since 2014).

As I did not receive a final bill; I am worried that there could have been a mistake in the amount owed.

Given that it is now a couple of years later; am I still able to query this with SSE? And if so, how would I best go about this?

Thanks,

Justine

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.


You were in the flat just 6 months? so I take it that Feb 2012 in your post is a mistake?


The simple answer is you are unlikely to be able to claim anything back as you have given no reasons in your post why the sum owed was incorrect. Even if a bill was produced, how could you dispute the meter readings after 3 years?

macman

As above-you can't dispute a bill you don't have, based on meter readings you didn't take. Did you supply a forwarding address? You can dispute the bill for up to 6 years, but based on the lack of evidence of any misbilling, it will get you nowhere.
If the opening and closing reads matched the billing, then the bill should be accurate. £55pm is extremely low for an all electric flat, even on E7, and with NSH's, the heating would have been on whether you were there or not.