First bill since changing electric company

renegade

Hello.
Had my first bill this morning from my new Electricity supplier.

1) I have a single tarriff rate sticker on my meter ( reader of meter cannot miss it)
2)
I have been charged for Night units only
3) No charge for Day units.

I know this cannot be correct especially as I have ended up in credit having paid my first month by DD
What would you advise me to do, what would you do ?

Terrylw1

Hi,

Off peak only meters do exist. Your Supplier may have set you up on this in error.

Did you have 2 meters and 1 was removed? That can cause an incorrect billing in this way. Maybe the data has become crossed and they think you still have the old off peak meter?

No one has off peak only without another type of meter but an off peak meter in many cases (where not E7 2 rate) is the same as a standard 1 rate peak meter so it may need converting in their systems. As long as you are getting fulltime power, that won't matter for your electric appliances though.

You should be charged at peak only, but they have to set up your meter supplementary data to match an equivalent tariff in many Suppliers or they end up billing incorrectly like this.

Eventually, they will notice and change it. The question of whether they will amend your backdated consumption will however be based on the individual that deals with your case. Some may just draw a line in the sand and some will amend your previous bills and land you in debt.

You could tell them or you could let them discover it. However, you won't have much ground if you can't afford to pay a larger billl later. Although, you could argue it's partially their fault and settle on a repayment plan rather than 1 big payment.

Your choice really, just be prepared for a larger bill later. You should really tell them, but it's no big sin to wait and see what they do either.

I know from previous experience of this (as a Supplier) that in order to not generate a complaint, if it's no big loss I have allowed the customer to benefit from off peak rates and just started to bill them as peak from the point I noticed it. However, not everyone may think the same. We used to do it to not mess the customer about and cause an Energywatch complaint.

Also, if your Supplier has recorded your supply number as off peak, they are paying off peak rates to the distributor. Now, they may not backdate tht either hence being in the same place as you...they have the facility to backdate it 14 months for their payments to the distributor (doesn't affect you though) as long as another meter change event is not in the way but they may choose not to and pay off peak themselves.

renegade

Thanks for that Terrywl, as you say, its down to me to inform them of their error. I did have off peak when I was with my old supplier and even when I asked for it to be removed they still billed me off peak rates, I never knew where I was with my usage, thats why I changed.
I didnt think about what they pay their supplier!
I think I will sit on it until I get my next bill and see how that reads.:T

Terrylw1

Did you originally have 2 meters by any chance? So, 1 peak, 1 off peak but they were seperate?

If so, your old Supplier has removed the off peak supply but your data held against the meter has not been changed. This happens sometimes when the Meter Operator does the work and then switches the MPAN's round when they communicate the meter removal to your Supplier.

If thats the case, then your Supplier just needs to make a quick update to the local distributor (and yes, they will be getting charged based on an off peak supply)

If you've always had 1 meter, then it's a data issue. Any Supplier could easily change it and correct the issue. Sometimes they have to change an older meter if their is no data combination available to them (I won't go into all this as its more complicated than you need be bothered with)

The new Supplier will have known this when you joined them, so in my opinion...their loss.

Just be aware you make get a bill later with extra charges to cover some of this. Seems you got away with it with your old Supplier so you probably will with your new one.

I've seen tariffs like this last for years in 1 Supplier (major group) and they only started sorting them when they migrated their customers into a new billing system.

They've had lots of chances to spot it, so whats wrong with you, the customer winning for once