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Powergen

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Some of you may recall that earlier this year I bought my house off my sister and we finally got moved in April 2007.
On moving in, as you do, we took the meter readings and passed a copy of these to BIL who promptly contacted Powergen, their supplier, and gave them the final readings.
I also contacted them with the readings and gave them my details as the new account holder. They told me at the time there was a problem with the meter and phoned me the next day and I gave them the seriel number from the meter which they were happy with.

Weeks passed and I heard nothing from Powergen and thought everything was ok until I started receiving letters addressed "to the occupier", or "Miss XXXX" telling me that they had no record of my meter (despite me already passing these details on!). I contacted them and they told me they had no record of me at my address which I informed them was impossible since they had sent me letters with my name on them!!!

Again we had to go through the rigmarole (SP?) of me reading off the seriel number from the meter, and giving them another set of readings, and then they decided that wasn't good enough and they were sending out someone to check the meter which they duly did.

Since that time I have received no further contact from them although the meter has been read twice by the folk that come round with the wee machines.

Today I contacted them AGAIN, only to be told that there is nothing, yes NOTHING shown against my account despite all the contact I have had with them (2 lots of meter readings supplied by me and 2 lots from the official readings). Apparently the previous occupants (my sister!) has never been sent a final bill and they are only just getting around to doing this:mad: . The long and the short of it would seem that I am now about to have a bill for 6 months worth of electricity drop through my door which I will be expected to pay at the drop of a hat due to some other persons negligence and incompetence.

Absolutely fuming. They have been told to put a note on the account that should I not have received the bill within the next 8 days I will be making a formal complaint about the service (lack of) that I have received from their company.

I wouldn't mind if they turned round and gave me the 6 months leccie for free but I severely doubt this will happen!!!!! :rotfl:

Sorry for the long post but I am really annoyed about this "mishap" that is going to cost me a fortune just before Christmas. :mad:
"Life may not always be the party you wish for, but whilst here you may aswell dance"!!!
Murphy's NMPC Memb No 239!
Dippychick's De-clutter club Member No 6! - onto room no 2!
My Avatar? Arnie and Casey, proud parents to Storm and Tsu born 19/01/2009!!! - both now in new homes and called Murron and Burger!

Comments

  • PowerGen complaints procedure - recommend use e-mail, my experience is that it's a waste of time to telephone

    http://www.powergen.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/50603CF6-E36F-4FD0-95F0-8BEE34396DE3/0/COP_Complaints311007.pdf
  • Terrylw1
    Terrylw1 Posts: 7,038 Forumite
    Yes, but if they have no account to bill you on - how exactly has that comment reached anywhere?

    Wait and see if you get anything. If not, write to them and copy in Energywatch. Have you been speaking to managers? If not, you should have been as it may have speeded things up.

    Closing one account & opening another is the easiest thing to do. They do it hundreds of times a week.

    If they are happy with the meter & readings, it shoukd be very simple.

    The meter readers visit based on agreed schedules with Suppliers. Suppliers will only use those readings if your quarter bill is due - termed a billing window.

    Otherwise, there is no obligation to use them, but they have to store them.

    You say you have letters with your name on? Are they welcome letters? if so, is there an account number on them? If so, you have an account so ask them to check whats going on with it. If not, it seems very strange that they have your name.

    The fact that they have disagreed with your readings & sent someone out would suggest that there is an issue e.g. they have never recieved the details for a meter change or the meter details are incorrect per the data from the Meter Operator.

    If the meter details are incorrect, you want them sorting or you could receive large bills for something you haven't used due to this.

    It just seems to me that they haven't told you everything ans something is blocking them closing the old account. Just sounds to me like a meter change issue that they have a problem with. Those issues generally can take a month to resolve with visits.

    As far as the 6 months goes, they will agree to spread this over your year if you ask. You have used the utility and are liable for payment. Once it's sorted ask them to spread it if theres a problem.
    :rotfl: It's better to live 1 year as a tiger than a lifetime as a worm...but then, whoever heard of a wormskin rug!!!:rotfl:
  • Terry, they do have an account to bill me on though, that is exactly my problem. I am the person who gave them my name when I gave them the same meter readings as my sister gave them on the exchange of the property.
    Its not my meter readings they disagreed with, but they reckoned they didn't have the serial number of the meter which is a load of B****cks since the meter was installed when the house was built in 1999 and both my sister and the occupant previous to her both had Powergen accounts and suffered no problems. For some reason when I gave them the serial number twice they were incompetent enough to fail to record it on the account against the property and sent someone out to look at it basically to read off exactly the same numbers that I had already given them.
    They were so stumped as to what Powergen wanted I actually had to tell them why they were here! Communication is a wonderful thing which Powergen seem to have slipped on severely.

    Powergen have failed miserably in their customer service and based on the 6 months hassle I have had, as someone who actually wants to do things above board and on time, and pay my bills, I will not be recommending the company to anyone - and infact as soon as possible I will be leaving them and their shoddy service and heading off to another company.
    "Life may not always be the party you wish for, but whilst here you may aswell dance"!!!
    Murphy's NMPC Memb No 239!
    Dippychick's De-clutter club Member No 6! - onto room no 2!
    My Avatar? Arnie and Casey, proud parents to Storm and Tsu born 19/01/2009!!! - both now in new homes and called Murron and Burger!
  • Terrylw1
    Terrylw1 Posts: 7,038 Forumite
    I don't blame you. They are one of the utilities you frequently see the same service issues about.

    They get your meter details from the Meter Operator, they are not allowed to update based on meter details you give (however, of course they can use readings) as they need to get the records from the Meter Operator who owns the meter and consequently sends all updated details to Suppliers. So, I don't think it's clear whats gone wrong with the old account that could be causing this.

    The engineers that come out get instructions from the Supplier. So, Suppliers fault there. If they took the meter details on your instruction, they should have sent this data back to the Supplier within 10WD's.

    If they have an account for you, if they can't use your readings, they can still produce a bill to an estimate. So, it all sounds strange and I have to say in my opinion they are not telling you the whole truth. If you have an account, they could bill and tak it from their.

    Their stories just seem to contradict the actual situation.

    Maybe writing to Energywatch it the way forward and let them sort it out with them.
    :rotfl: It's better to live 1 year as a tiger than a lifetime as a worm...but then, whoever heard of a wormskin rug!!!:rotfl:
  • I certainly think Energywatch is the way forward as I am not getting anywhere at all with Powergen. If they have not gotten back to me by this coming Friday as I stated to them I will be speaking with managers and making a formal complaint as the service just isnt good enough. As you said earlier they close/open hundreds of accounts every day so why should this one be any different??? Have spoken to my sister about them and she didnt realise she hadn't had a final bill for my property as she moved house twice in very quick succession after being in a stop-gap property for only 2 months. She has now received a letter from them telling her she was in credit on her account and giving her a cheque for the credit....but still not copy of final bill!!!!
    "Life may not always be the party you wish for, but whilst here you may aswell dance"!!!
    Murphy's NMPC Memb No 239!
    Dippychick's De-clutter club Member No 6! - onto room no 2!
    My Avatar? Arnie and Casey, proud parents to Storm and Tsu born 19/01/2009!!! - both now in new homes and called Murron and Burger!
  • Terrylw1
    Terrylw1 Posts: 7,038 Forumite
    Oh dear. So either they have not sent the bill but closed her account or they have just sent her a credit off her account and not actualy closed it yet. If the latter is the case, she most likely will geta bill chasing for payment!

    Honestly, go to Energywatch. Then at least a complaints team will have to deal with it and EW will be keeping an eye on them.

    Can't really help on this I'm afraid as I don't think they are telling you everything.
    :rotfl: It's better to live 1 year as a tiger than a lifetime as a worm...but then, whoever heard of a wormskin rug!!!:rotfl:
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