Shock Electricity Bill

Scrounger

deathwishdave wrote: »

Can anyone advise as to what rights I have in this situation please? and how I can best handle it.

In light of the further information provided by the OP in post #7 I think that the Back Billing rule may well apply in this case.

I would raise a formal complaint with your energy supplier (and escalate to the Ombudsman if not resolved after 8 weeks).

If successful, that should reduce your outstanding bill to about £1000. :beer:
Scrounger

System

Scrounger wrote: »

In light of the further information provided by the OP in post #7 I think that the Back Billing rule may well apply in this case.

I would raise a formal complaint with your energy supplier (and escalate to the Ombudsman if not resolved after 8 weeks).

If successful, that should reduce your outstanding bill to about £1000. :beer:
Scrounger

I don't agree as one of the underpinning tenets of the Back Billing Code is that the consumer has to have made some efforts to get a bill. Had this been the case then this would have alerted the supplier to the fact that something was amiss.

From the Ofgem Website:

Each case is looked at on its own merits; however, the 12 month limit for back-bills may apply in these examples when your supplier has:

Failed to bill you at all and you have requested bills from them


Billed you using estimated meter readings instead of valid readings provided by you or a meter reader

Billed you incorrectly by mixing up meter readings, and failed to act upon information available to put this right

Failed to do anything about a query or fault you have raised regarding your account or meter and subsequently allowed a large debt to build up on your account

Failed to reassess a payment arrangement (e.g. Direct Debit) within 15 months, or failed to reassess based on a reasonable estimate.

It may not apply if you:

Have been using the gas or electricity supply but have made no attempt to contact the supplier to arrange payment. This includes moving into a property and making no attempt to let a supplier know you are the new tenant or homeowner

Have wilfully avoided payment

Have not co-operated with attempts to obtain meter readings or resolve queries requested by the supplier. This includes failing to allow access to the property or failing to respond to requests for meter details or meter readings.

As the OP did little more than contact the supplier and then failed to notice for 18 months that no DD payments had been made, I am not sure that 100% of the blame can sit with the supplier. Some compensation should be offered for poor customer service but I am not sure that writing off 5 months of the bill will necessarily happen. The rationale for the Back Billing Code is one of avoiding bill shocks. In the circumstances described by the OP it is difficult to see how a couple could fail to notice that they were not paying for their electricity. The bill therefore should not come as a great shock.

Cardew

Scrounger wrote: »

In light of the further information provided by the OP in post #7 I think that the Back Billing rule may well apply in this case.

I would raise a formal complaint with your energy supplier (and escalate to the Ombudsman if not resolved after 8 weeks).

If successful, that should reduce your outstanding bill to about £1000. :beer:
Scrounger

There is more detail for the OP in this publication.

http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication.html?task=file.download&id=6202
IMO the difficulty for the OP is(from post #7):

1. The energy company have no record of the telephone conversation giving meter readings. Although this conflicts with the statement in post #1 on 'change of circumstances' conversation in August.

2. They didn't discuss what tariff to use during the August conversation and presumably what method of payment. Companies also routinely carry out a credit check.

3. In the absence of correspondence for 18 months, is it reasonable to do nothing about obtaining, and paying for electricity?

If electricity is not used for heating, £1,500 is excessive for 16 months. It may be worth finding out the closing meter readings for the previous occupant and compare with those taken when the OP occupied the property.

deathwishdave

Thanks for the help guys, I'll keep you posted.