Energy bill dispute

dickyseville

Hi all,

I'm in need of some advice please. In September 2014 I switched my gas and electricity over to ExtraEnergy from NPower. I paid £80+ per month for the combined energy. In March 2015 I found a cheaper deal with British Gas. I didn't think anything more about my contract and assumed all was fine. A few weeks ago I received a call from ExtraEnergy saying that I owed them £590 for the excess gas and electricity which I'd consumed in the 6 months that I was with them (ending in 2015). I didn't have any paperwork so checked NPowers final readings and British Gas initial readings and they match what ExtraEnergy have on record. When ExtraEnergy customer department called I told them I was disputing the bill because it's been 2 years since I was with them and that the bill seems excessive because I've never been that much in debt with gas or electricity. They offered to reduce my bill by £75 which I refused and said they'd need to reduce it by 75% and I would pay, which they refused. A few days later they called again asking for payment which I refused to do because I was going to take it to the Energy Ombudsman. The rep said she would send some info in the post about how the Ombudsman works etc. No letter has arrived and 2 days later I received a letter from a debt management company who said they're dealing with the case now. I told them I was raising it with the Energy Ombudsman and they said they'd call back this week to get a case reference. Last week I called the Ombudsman and raised a case and got a reference number. I tried to call the debt management company on the number they called on and it was a disused number. Is this unusual?

I think it is unreasonable to be asked for £590+ 2 years after I've finished my contract. Where do I stand? Do I pay because I don't want a bad mark on my credit record or do I push forward with the Ombudsman?

Help and advice much appreciated.

Bigphil1474

Dicky, it's worth noting that your time with ExtraEnergy was over the most expensive period for gas and electric use. When energy companies work out your monthly payment, it's usually based over the 12 month projection, but most of it will be used over the winter. If they estimated you'd use £960 over a year, you may have used two thirds of that over the period September to March. Depending on your payment dates you may have made as many as 7 payments (Sept to March) or as little as 4 (October to February).
Really you need to do the maths and work out what the cost of energy you used was, (from the meter readings and unit costs), how much did you actually pay them, plus was there any exit fees applicable. If you add all that up, it may come to £590.


In terms of the time it took them to catch up with you, I'm not an expert on the back billing rules or even if they apply in this case, but I have a feeling they can chase you up. It would be reasonable to ask them for a break down on how they got to that figure.

sheff6107

Bit confused why you didn't look at your bills at the time? Did you not see your debit was getting greater every month or did you assume the monthly payment covered it?

dickyseville

I was never given any indication by ExtraEnergy that I was in debt during my contract, not even after the 6 months when I left. It was only 2 years later that I got the letter.

footyguy

dickyseville wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm in need of some advice please. In September 2014 I switched my gas and electricity over to ExtraEnergy from NPower. I paid £80+ per month for the combined energy. In March 2015 I found a cheaper deal with British Gas. I didn't think anything more about my contract and assumed all was fine. A few weeks ago I received a call from ExtraEnergy saying that I owed them £590 for the excess gas and electricity which I'd consumed in the 6 months that I was with them (ending in 2015). I didn't have any paperwork so checked NPowers final readings and British Gas initial readings and they match what ExtraEnergy have on record. When ExtraEnergy customer department called I told them I was disputing the bill because it's been 2 years since I was with them and that the bill seems excessive because I've never been that much in debt with gas or electricity. They offered to reduce my bill by £75 which I refused and said they'd need to reduce it by 75% and I would pay, which they refused. A few days later they called again asking for payment which I refused to do because I was going to take it to the Energy Ombudsman. The rep said she would send some info in the post about how the Ombudsman works etc. No letter has arrived and 2 days later I received a letter from a debt management company who said they're dealing with the case now. I told them I was raising it with the Energy Ombudsman and they said they'd call back this week to get a case reference. Last week I called the Ombudsman and raised a case and got a reference number. I tried to call the debt management company on the number they called on and it was a disused number. Is this unusual?

I think it is unreasonable to be asked for £590+ 2 years after I've finished my contract. Where do I stand? Do I pay because I don't want a bad mark on my credit record or do I push forward with the Ombudsman?

Help and advice much appreciated.

dickyseville wrote: »

I was never given any indication by ExtraEnergy that I was in debt during my contract, not even after the 6 months when I left. It was only 2 years later that I got the letter.

You will have to pay for the energy you used as recorded by the meter according to the tariff you agreed to (or the suppliers default tariff if no other agreement was in place)

The limitations act allows creditors 6 years (5 years in Scotland) to pursue money owed.

Whilst there is also a procedure known as back billing within the energy business which resticts suppliers to domestic customers from charging for energy consumed more than 12 months ago, this only applies where the supplier is entirely held at fault.
You were aware what the start reading was that was used by your new supplier, and so you need to pay the old supplier up to that same meter redaing. If, for example, you found the old supplier failed to bill you to that meter redaing, and you had alerted them to that fact but syill they failed to bill for 2 years, then you would probably have success under the back billing process (unless the supplier had other reasons outside of its control to mitigate their position)

Each claim under the back billing process is considered on it's own merits. You can read more about this process here:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/who-contact-if-its-difficult-paying-energy-bills/energy-back-billing-your-rights

I think the offer of £75 discount by the Extra Energy was very generous in the circumstances. Now that you opted to take the matter to the ombudsman, the supplier is under no obligation to honour the settlement offered.

The ombudsman service will consider your complaint and suggest their own resolution if they uphold your complaint.

In future, ensure you take regular meter readings, submit these to the supplier and ensure the supplier includes those readings when producing regular bills/statements and that should avoid nasty catch up bills later