Flow Energy Final Bill through the roof

CashStrapped

@robin9

I think you have got the wrong end of the stick.

09432 is the estimated opening reading flow are insisting they use for the bill.

He gave flow confirmed meter readings in april, when he moved in (see post 9). They seemingly have ignored them. This usually means the energy company do not think they are correct readings.

The whole point of my post and calculations was to show:

1) It seems that they have night/day the wrong way round

2) If you calculate the cost using flow's calculations (with estimated opening readings)......the bill is actually a lot cheaper than using the meter readings he supplied when he moved in during april.

So, if flow insist that he should be billed using the estimated readings, he should let them. He actually tried to supply the correct readings and they ignored them!

If you look at the calculations using the customers actual readings, they make a lot more sense and are a better fit for the type of property and use one would expect. I think that these are the readings flow should be using. But don't tell them that!

So his solution is to convince them that the night/day is the wrong way round, which seems very plausible. Pay the bill they have calculated.....and hope they do not notice their error, as he seems to have been undercharged.

However, the OP may want to keep some money aside for a while, just in case flow realise their error and produce a corrected bill, which they would be entitled to do.

robsters

hello guys sorry for my late reply

so your suggesting I could end up with a bill higher then £777? there still insisting that rate 1 reading of 09432 (moving out reading) was the day reading not a night reading, I still have no idea what I should do, I made a complaint with flow they investigated it and said i still owe them £777

robsters

there now asking me to return to property to get another reading but i can no longer get access to do so this company are unbelivable there insisting i owe the £777 that rate 1 is a day reading not a night reading

robsters

spoke to the landlord he said fight the with ombudsman services but he said the back of the bill says there a disclaimer saying its your responsibility to provide metre readings, he said everything in the flat is electric so its not impossible to wack up a big bill but he said where the company went wrong is they should not be cheap and nasty and should of demanded a metre reading every quarter/ 3months thats only area i could fight them on ..... doesn't sound hopeful

grumpycrab

Do you have any other bills? e.g.one with move-in readings? And the 9 payments of £64? With Economy 7 "Rate1" is usually night rate.

viciovbuk

How did you give them your readings? I'm gonna ask because I was with flow and the link they sent me via email to give readings reported day and night reverted compared to the readings on the website.

So for a while, when I put the night reading on the web page they sent me, I was actually given the day reading as I could see on the website. Same thing for the day reading.

It ended with them asking me more than £300 and me providing them photos and proof that they were wrong and the link they sent is crap.
They made their investigation and my account was then in credit and I started using the website to give my readings.

robsters

hello

just gave them the readings over the phone but they insistant that a day reading is rate 1, wont even let me do a payment plan over the phone its email to another dept then 14 day wait call centre in south africa sometimes get a uk person but not often, so bad i just dunno what to do, getting close to simply driving to there office in suffolk to resolve it but not sure if just waste my time driving there? 3 hour drive from me

D_M_E

Stay off the phone, the call centre people don't seem to know what's going on or what to do about anything.

Writer to them and head your letter COMPLAINT in big bold letters and detail your saga, including the fact that it appears they have switched the day/night readings, and outline what resoution you want.

Send the letter by recorded delivery so you have a record they have received it.

If, as seems likely, they don't resolve the issues to your satisfaction, escalate to the Ombudsman once 8 weeks have passed.

robsters

So i used there online chat which seemed to be more helpful then the customer service on the phone, they have set up a 15 month repayment plan at £52 a month and starts in march...so at least that now buys me time and will keep the debt collectors away, I also said im sure rate 1 should be a night reading not a day reading....said will investigate this now and let me know....ombudsman said cant step in until march 27th.....does anyone know if its same with all electric companies that rate 1 should be night and not day or can it vary from company to company?

matelodave

Unfortunately this is the same problem that most people have when they dont read the meter themselves regularly, check their on-line bills or statements and even make sure that any estimated bills are corrected.

Once you've moved out and lost the ability to check your on-line account and not kept any records of your own you become effectively stuffed because you've no idea what went on, so you can't challenge it.

You can't even check whether the day and night readings on the billscorrespond with the actual day & night rates on the meter

You need to be a bit more pro-active in future by reading the meter yourself at least once a month and keeping your own records. Make sure that the on-line account is correct and that you do actually understand which register is which and that it's correctly recorded on the bills.

Do not accept estimated readings, get them corrected and SAVE copies of your monthly statements as PDF files and keep them, even when you've moved or changed suppliers because energy companies have up to six years to correct their bills.
They shouldn't have to if you've made sure that they were correct at the time.

It's a very hard lesson to learn but without having your own info you cannot know whether they are right or not