taking powergen to court

queeniebuttercup

Hi

I am a prepayment metre customer and they say I owe £888 as my meter is faulty andn the prices havent been updated automatically.

After speaking to energy watch I was told that they can only back bill 2 years. The amount owed is now £380.

I am not disputing that I havent had the electricity, but they have admitted that
a The meter is faulty
b That the last statment I reieved was feb 05

There is no way I could have done anythibng to prevent getting in debt and they have had access every 3 months to read the meter.

I have asked for their terms and conditions for prepayment customers and they do not have any.

As a prepayment meter customer I pay more than a dd customer, also if you are not prepayment customer they will only claim back 1 year of undercharging.

I feel a county court judge would be sypathetic as Most other utilities including british gas will wipe any undercharge they make if they are at fault. It will only cost me £50 to take them to court but I feel happy to pay this as im not going to be that much worse off.

I would like to hear others views please.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

The whole subject of pre-payment tariffs not actually being 'pre-payment' is a mess.

You can understand the companies wanting to keep the provision of retrospective payment for meters that need updating manually; otherwise people would try to prevent them gaining access to the property. Also when(as recently) prices decrease, it is in the interest of the customer.

However that doesn't apply in your case. Personally I doubt if Powergen will actually let it go to court for £380; the bad publicity will put them off.

Quentin

Why are you taking them to the small claims court?

You don't need to make any claim on them do you?

If anyone is going to sue it will be powergen taking the action against you.

dellxps

Did powergen contact you letting you know that the prices on your meter needed changing? if not i can see why you would be angry, but your debt has come down from £888 to £380, i'd be more than happy with that.

Cardew

Quentin wrote: »

Why are you taking them to the small claims court?

You don't need to make any claim on them do you?

If anyone is going to sue it will be powergen taking the action against you.

Whilst you are obviously correct, the difficulty will be finding a way to get the debt off the OP's credit record.

I had assumed that the OP wanted to go to court to have the debt declared 'null and void'.

Powergen will simply hand things over to a debt collection agency; with all the hassle that entails.

Terrylw1

Hi,

Ok, in Ofgem's statement it doesn't state PP this and credit meters this. So, get them to stick to the Ofgem ruling. If they contacted you after I think it's July 2007, then it's one year and thats it.

Ofgem text:

"suppliers must stop ‘back-billing’ customers beyond two years, if no bill is issued and
the supplier is at fault. This will reduce to one year in 2007
energy suppliers must set up an independent body, with the power to award
compensation, to resolve disputes quickly, and
they must review their domestic customers’ contract terms to ensure compliance with

consumer rights legislation."


This would normally appy to the whole bill but in your case would apply to the additional charges. Sadly, you are supplied by one of 3 who do this ridiculous backbilling on PP's. I have to say, they can easily see this and it''s just their laziness. They could easily check it.

Take a look at this link. CAB & Energywatch are trying to get Ofgem to force Suppliers to stop this. Sadly, Ofgem aren't that great themselves and have allowed such shady practices to exist. They've known about them for years and the only thing that has made them listen is the fuel poverty issue.

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/campaigns/policy_campaign_publications/consultation_responses/cr_utilities/supply_licence_review_-_further_proposals

queeniebuttercup

Thanks for the replies.

Energy watch say they are entitled to back bill prepayment customers 2 years.

I have decided to pay of £280 and leave a debt of £100, doing this means I can change supplier, and by switching I will be saving £30 per month. Could of been better not to pay it out in one go but I dont want to give them any more custom.

Filled in court papers yesterday and need to take them in and pay the £50.

Even if theyare willing to come to court I think Ive got a good case that
1. there are no terms or conditions (so how am i suppose to know what could of happened with regards to back billing)
2. statments every 2 years, could of known I was in debt
3. Its a key meter that should automatically charge new prices.
4. If you recieve a normal bill, they will only back bill 1 year
5. can list other companies that will wipe their charges when their at fault.

I will see this through until the end as im furious and feel that people on prepayments pay higher electricity through them anyway and are generally on a lower income.

queeniebuttercup

Also forgot, if I didnt switch supplier paying them of £20 a week I would of been stuck with them until 2009

Quentin

queeniebuttercup wrote: »

Filled in court papers yesterday and need to take them in and pay the £50.

Have you had any advice on this?

The small claim court is for people to sue to get paid money that is owed to them. You aren't owed any money.

Before you pay your £50, it might be worth while talking to the CAB about this.

queeniebuttercup

CAB were not helpful and couldnt really tell me anything. What Powergen has done is not really legal, as they have no terms and conditions for prepayment customers, no where does it state if the meter is faulty it is the customers fault. I do see your point though, I cannot leave it and let them take me to court for non payment as I will be paying through the meter.

Quentin

CAB was just a suggestion as a possible source of free advice over your intention to issue a summons against powergen.

Just trying to save you wasting the £50 fee.