Energy Bill mix up

chrisvin17

I'm looking for help regarding a mix up with my energy bill through Scottish Power.

Basically, I has new electricity and gas meters installed in March 2016, provided new readings etc and accepted by SP. I didn't really take too much notice of the bills as the subsequent were summer months and obviously not too much gas usage. However, I noticed in Feb 2017 that the bills has my old meter serial numbers on them and sometimes I bills for the old and existing meters.

I contact SP straight away and provided all the requested info to them and essentially asked that they put it right and confirm my usage on the new meters and the associated balance. They have only just today (20/12/17) confirmed that my account is £1300 in debit.

Does anyone know if I am entitled to challenge this charge? I can accept fault for not checking my bill properly after the new meters were installed (even though it was their mistake that the wrong meters were being billed) but given I raised this with them 10 months ago and they continued to incorrectly charge me, I feel slightly aggrieved!

can anyone offer any advice?

System

chrisvin17 wrote: »

I'm looking for help regarding a mix up with my energy bill through Scottish Power.

Basically, I has new electricity and gas meters installed in March 2016, provided new readings etc and accepted by SP. I didn't really take too much notice of the bills as the subsequent were summer months and obviously not too much gas usage. However, I noticed in Feb 2017 that the bills has my old meter serial numbers on them and sometimes I bills for the old and existing meters.

I contact SP straight away and provided all the requested info to them and essentially asked that they put it right and confirm my usage on the new meters and the associated balance. They have only just today (20/12/17) confirmed that my account is £1300 in debit.

Does anyone know if I am entitled to challenge this charge? I can accept fault for not checking my bill properly after the new meters were installed (even though it was their mistake that the wrong meters were being billed) but given I raised this with them 10 months ago and they continued to incorrectly charge me, I feel slightly aggrieved!

can anyone offer any advice?

You can ask about The Back Billing Code; however, I struggle to see how a £1300 bill has come as a shock. Have you been paying anything towards your charges over the past 18 months?

victor2

Was the old gas meter imperial and the new one metric?
If so, AND they have billed you on readings from a metric meter as if it were imperial, that will inflate your gas bill by a factor of almost 3.

matelodave

If you've used the energy, why do you think you shouldn't pay for it?

dogshome

A real mare's nest, probably caused by SP's shaky computer software.

Was the OP supplying the meter reads for the bills, or were they down to occasional Meter Reader visits, or even entirely estimated ?

If these meter changes were made because both meters were aged beyond their 'Use by Date', it's practically certain the old Gas meter was an Imperial model and it was replaced with a Metric model.
Which as Victor 2 has pointed out, can lead to a 183% overcharge

The new Gas meter should have a label on it showing the reading of the old meter as it was taken out - The Elec meter should have a card placed near the meter showing the read of the original meter
Also
'New' meter installations are not always brand new with a 000000.00 reading, they can be a re-furbished model that is still showing the reading from when it was taken out of service.

Unless the OP is really up to speed with the Ins & Outs of energy billing, my advice would be to make an appointment with the local Citizens Advice office and take all the paperwork to the meeting

House_Martin

victor2 wrote: »

Was the old gas meter imperial and the new one metric?
If so, AND they have billed you on readings from a metric meter as if it were imperial, that will inflate your gas bill by a factor of almost 3.

It can just as easily be the other way round . I have seen many instances of the opposite with gross undercharging. It could have been they had the slow moving units of an imperial meter for many years which they had been billed at metric rates, therefore undercharging by 2.8 This normally happens at a supplier switchover .A double whammy, the meter creeps round and not only that they bill at 2.8 less per unit.
The suppliers will sometimes miss the obvious Imperial 8 digit serial number instead of a 14 digit metric meter .Computers are in charge nowadays not a human
If that is the case then the OP owes the money and should pay up.A billing mess up is a not a "free energy " gift.
They always pay up if its an overcharging mess up, so ditto if its the other way round.
People I have met with this happening were mostly well aware of how unusually cheap their winter gas bills were.Some did not know I m sure.
Looking at a gas bill it can only be spotted by seeing the units/ kwhs multiplied by 11 instead of 33 when the occupier has an imperial meter