Hit by a massive bill upon closing energy account

Andy_WSM

Concerned75 wrote: »

Are you all commenting above talking about changing your supplier over short periods of time or been a customer for 10+yrs, which a lot of pensioners are, as I know of first hand AND when I tried to switch my father's utility, they tried to present a large bill. He isn't foolish or lazy with his payments as some of you who know diddy squat are trying to suggest, in fact like a lot people his age, he's probably paid MORE than he's used over the years, because they don't understand how modern energy usage and graphs etc.. works. They don't quibble the bills, they just pay it, so perhaps you should think before you generalise and post your comments in future.

Rubbish! You pay for energy consumed as recorded by the meter at the rates agreed with your supplier. They can't just charge an arbitary amount and charge more because someone is "old" or hasn't bothered to move suppliers for 10 years.

Robin9

Concerned75 wrote: »

.................. in fact like a lot people his age, he's probably paid MORE than he's used over the years, because they don't understand how modern energy usage and graphs etc.. works. They don't quibble the bills, they just pay it, so perhaps you should think before you generalise and post your comments in future.

Concerned 75 - please explain how your father can pay for more than he's used. He could perhaps be paying more than he should - hopefully now you are doing the switching for him his bills will drop.

My experience with parents is "we daren't turn it on because we can't afford it"

Mojisola

badmemory wrote: »

I base my comments about the suppliers wanting you in debt on my experience.

My supplier keeps trying to lower my direct debit, when it is blatantly obvious that this would lead to me being hundreds of pounds in debt at the end of my fix.

All the suppliers we've been with have tried to increase the DD - never the other way round.

trickytree1963

Most Suppliers will let you switch if you have a debit balance and an active DD. They just take the final bill after the switch in full by DD (or at least attempt to).

Concerned75

Concerned 75 - please explain how your father can pay for more than he's used. He could perhaps be paying more than he should - hopefully now you are doing the switching for him his bills will drop.

My experience with parents is "we daren't turn it on because we can't afford it"

It's an old Victorian house with an adjourning wall to next door under the stairs.
Before he had his electric meter moved inside the house at the front door, his electric bills were high. In the end, we found out somehow the neighbours at that time were skimming off his electric for theirs.
It was an old style meter, for the benefit of Andy_WSM. I don't know the ins and outs of when they have to been legally changed to modern day meters, as I don't work for the electric/gas board or am I an engineer.

Robin9

Concerned75 wrote: »

It's an old Victorian house with an adjourning wall to next door under the stairs.
Before he had his electric meter moved inside the house at the front door, his electric bills were high. In the end, we found out somehow the neighbours at that time were skimming off his electric for theirs.
It was an old style meter, for the benefit of Andy_WSM. I don't know the ins and outs of when they have to been legally changed to modern day meters, as I don't work for the electric/gas board or am I an engineer.

That's a completely different issue and nothing to do with big bills when you switch.

Andy_WSM

Concerned75 wrote: »

It was an old style meter, for the benefit of Andy_WSM. I don't know the ins and outs of when they have to been legally changed to modern day meters, as I don't work for the electric/gas board or am I an engineer.

When you are talking about electricity it doesn't matter whether the meter is old or new, they still measure in kWh. Completely irrelevant - and as Robin says, someone stealing your Dads electricity is unrelated to switching.

For clarity, gas meters are slightly different and age makes a difference to the billing units (Metric or Imperial) but not to the overall cost as a conversion is applied.

spiro

Andy_WSM wrote: »

For clarity, gas meters are slightly different and age makes a difference to the billing units (Metric or Imperial) but not to the overall cost as a conversion is applied.

For gas you are still billed in kWh, the difference is the conversion used to get from units to kWh.

EachPenny

Concerned75 wrote: »

Are you all commenting above talking about changing your supplier over short periods of time or been a customer for 10+yrs, which a lot of pensioners are, as I know of first hand AND when I tried to switch my father's utility, they tried to present a large bill. He isn't foolish or lazy with his payments as some of you who know diddy squat are trying to suggest, in fact like a lot people his age, he's probably paid MORE than he's used over the years, because they don't understand how modern energy usage and graphs etc.. works. They don't quibble the bills, they just pay it, so perhaps you should think before you generalise and post your comments in future.

If your objection to the 'lazy' was my use of it, then yes, I did know 'diddy squat' about your father's situation as you don't appear to have said anything about him up to this point. That's why my comments were ones about the situation in general, and especially about people relying on technology (apps/smart meters) to make sure they get billed correctly rather than doing some checks themselves.

As others have already said, barring other people stealing his energy, he won't have paid for more energy than he has used, but might have paid more than necessary.

How long you have been a customer is largely irrelevant. The meters measure use and the readings you submit determine how much you pay at the time. At some point the energy company will get an accurate meter reading and there will be a reckoning to bring the quantity billed into line with the quantity consumed. Some companies will even adjust what was charged on previous bills - especially if there has been a price change - to make the amount charged as near correct as possible.

That is why you were wrong when you said this:

Concerned75 wrote: »

It doesn't matter how you submit a reading; a guesstimate or a meticulous one, you always get a big bill when you switch utilities.

If you submit a guesstimate then you get a bill which is charging you for nearly the right amount of energy used to date. If you submit a meticulous reading then you will be charged for the exact amount of energy used to date. In neither situation will you get a 'big bill' when you switch.

You will only get a big bill when you switch if - for whatever reason - the estimated meter readings on the previous bill(s) were significantly lower than they were in reality. That is why it is important to check the readings on the bills against your meter if you don't want to end up with a big bill in future.

In terms of timescales, customers are asked to sumbit 'regular' readings, most companies try and read your meter at least once a year. Many companies, if they haven't had reliable readings for more than about two years start to get twitchy and send you letters saying they need to visit, often because they have to carry out a 'safety check'. On one occasion - after two and a half years - I started getting letters saying the energy company (I'd been with for 15+ years) was applying for a warrant and would be coming to break in to carry out a 'safety check'.

So the probability of a 10+ year customer not having their meter accurately read at any point during that time is incredibly small - and would suggest a major, and perhaps unique, system failure.

Finally, it is also not 'quibbling' to make sure your bill is roughly right, although it might be quibbling to demand the energy company sends you a new bill if the estimated readings are only slightly more than they actually are.

To use an analogy which people of the older generation would understand better than the youth of today. In the days of attended pumps at petrol stations my dad (like many people) would just ask the attendant to 'fill it up' or 'put five pounds in'. (In those days it often amounted to the same thing ). At your 'regular' pertol station that was all you had to do, and then pay, because you knew the attendant would give you the right amount of fuel. If you went to a 'strange' petrol station you might give the pump a quick (furtive) glance to make sure the attendant had given you what you were about to pay for as once you had driven off there was no way to challenge it.

If petrol pump attendants behaved the way the energy companies now do, then we would give the pump very close scrutiny every time to make sure not only the amount dispensed was correct, but the price per gallon was also right (some of us might even check the pump calibration certificate ).

But when it comes to gas and electric we don't have to worry so much because the 'pump' is actually sitting in (or on) our homes and we can see at any time we like whether we are being charged for the right quantity. It gets better, beacuse if the quantity charged is wrong we can challenge it at any time, we are not limited to doing it at the time the fuel is consumed or the payment is made.

So that is what it comes down to... would you buy fuel today from a 'strange' petrol station without checking the pump readings (aka meter) to make sure you had been given what you were paying for?