Sent elec bill 2014 - 2017

Rose80

I have recently moved out of a property and supplied a final read.

I have been sent a bill for 2500, of which 1000 paid so asking for 1500 (approx)

The day reading on the meter stopped moving completely in early 2015 and I made Flow aware of this straight away. The night reading continued to move, though if this was working correctly I don't know.

The company for 2 years made appointments for enginners to come fix it, every one cancelled. Each time I asked for a new one. (I live in the north of Scotland and they admitted difficulties finding someone). I told them I was cancelling my DD till they sorted it all out, as at the beginning of the problems they said I had overpaid and was approx £700 in credit.

Does anyone know what my rights would be here?
I am assuming they can only backdate a bill for a year as I read online, and I believe they have to allow you the same time to pay a bill as the time period covers. I am just not sure I am happy to pay what they are asking as there is nothing to say the meter was working correctly on th night setting. On the bill I have recieved they are both night and day charged the same, which I don't remember being th case when I signed up.

Tia

Cardew

Without knowing the full details, your assumption that they can only backdate for a year is questionable.

The 12 month back-billing provision is not a regulation but the major companies voluntarily adhere to its provisions; not sure of the position of Flow energy. You can read the code here:

http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/customers/energy-industry-codes/code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills.html

footyguy

Rose80 wrote: »

I have recently moved out of a property and supplied a final read.

I have been sent a bill for 2500, of which 1000 paid so asking for 1500 (approx)

The day reading on the meter stopped moving completely in early 2015 and I made Flow aware of this straight away. The night reading continued to move, though if this was working correctly I don't know.

The company for 2 years made appointments for enginners to come fix it, every one cancelled. Each time I asked for a new one. (I live in the north of Scotland and they admitted difficulties finding someone). I told them I was cancelling my DD till they sorted it all out, as at the beginning of the problems they said I had overpaid and was approx £700 in credit.

Does anyone know what my rights would be here?
I am assuming they can only backdate a bill for a year as I read online, and I believe they have to allow you the same time to pay a bill as the time period covers. I am just not sure I am happy to pay what they are asking as there is nothing to say the meter was working correctly on th night setting. On the bill I have recieved they are both night and day charged the same, which I don't remember being th case when I signed up.

Tia

Hi, I don't know why you aloowed this to go on for so long? :huh:

After 2 or 3 broken appointments in the trot, I think I would have followed the suppliers complaint procedure

Anyway, you ask where you stand.
You should have got £30 for each broken appointment (I think this started Jan 2016, so you may not if there were any earlier appointments broken)

As the meter has been bust for 2 years, you will now face re-billing based on estimated consumption. As you have since moved out, then it will have to be based on whatever historical data they have ... and I suspect you will have great difficulty in successfully challenging it if you don't agree, sorry.

I'm with Cardew on this one. I don't think you will get any joy from the back billing rule you are hopping for.

footyguy

Cardew wrote: »

Without knowing the full details, your assumption that they can only backdate for a year is questionable.

The 12 month back-billing provision is not a regulation but the major companies voluntarily adhere to its provisions; not sure of the position of Flow energy. You can read the code here:

http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/customers/energy-industry-codes/code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills.html

Whilst the 12 month back billing code is voluntary, Ofgem expect all suppliers to essentially embrace the spirit of the code under their fair billing mantra.

So it doesn't really matter whether or not Flow have signed up to it

However, I don't think it applies to this type of issue, anyway.

quiet_advisor

footyguy wrote: »

Whilst the 12 month back billing code is voluntary, Ofgem expect all suppliers to essentially embrace the spirit of the code under their fair billing mantra.

So it doesn't really matter whether or not Flow have signed up to it

However, I don't think it applies to this type of issue, anyway.

Ofgem might well expect suppliers to honour the 12 month back billing rule, but it cannot insist.Some suppliers have not applied it as Ofgem expected and customers have been disadvantaged through no fault of their own.

Ofgem recognises the present weaknesses and abuse in the market, following feedback from customers of actual experience, and is presently in the process of introducing tighter and clearer licence conditions. Ofgem is in a much stronger position to protect customers where the requirement is enshrined in a the licence - the present voluntary agreement does not appear to have delivered adequate protection in all cases. Would you trust all energy suppliers to voluntarily put customers interests ahead of shareholders?

FullForce

quiet_advisor wrote: »

Ofgem might well expect suppliers to honour the 12 month back billing rule, but it cannot insist.Some suppliers have not applied it as Ofgem expected and customers have been disadvantaged through no fault of their own.

Ofgem recognises the present weaknesses and abuse in the market, following feedback from customers of actual experience, and is presently in the process of introducing tighter and clearer licence conditions. Ofgem is in a much stronger position to protect customers where the requirement is enshrined in a the licence - the present voluntary agreement does not appear to have delivered adequate protection in all cases. Would you trust all energy suppliers to voluntarily put customers interests ahead of shareholders?

Ofgem does not generally deal with individual consumer complaints at all.

You need to follow the supplier's complaint procedure in the first instance, and they will consider any claim under the back billing rules if you ask them to.

If no satisfaction, as per the supplier's complaint procedure, you can ask the ombudsman service to help. They too will consider claims under the back billing principle, as per Ofgem's directions.
If you accept the ombudsmans proposed resolution to any complaint, the supplier is obligated to act in accordance with that resolution.

All claims underr the back billing principle are investigated based on their own merits ... as it says in the back billing rules.