First Utility at fault?

Breakthebank

I have been with First Utility for a number of years.

In August 2017 I had one of their smart meters fitted.

In October 2018 I was in so much credit they refunded me £350 and put me on a different tariff and I was paying £50 a month for Gas and Electric.

Today (20.12.2018) I received an email from them saying that they were increasing my monthly payments from £50 a month to £168 a month and that I’m in debt to the time of £688.

After an hour on the phone it transpires that my smart meter has never sent them a reading for gas. The lady I spoke to in the phone said that from August 2017 - October 2018 “we just assumed you weren’t using gas so didn’t bother to charge you”. In October 2018, when they put me in the new tariff, “we decided to estimate your bill because we weren’t getting readings” hence why it has suddenly run up.

First Utility admit the meter must be faulty and have said that they will send someone out to look at it “in the next 4 weeks or so”, but want to know how I’m going to pay this £688 outstanding and the £168 a month. They have suggested I pay double each month - once for the gas and electric I use and again to pay off the “debt”, I said that’s impossible (I am the only one working and I’m currently on maternity leave) so they’ve suggested a pre payment meter - which I have said no to.

I have argued the toss and they agreed to put the account on hold until the smart meter can be looked at.

Can anyone advise where I stand? I don’t see this is my fault, how can they assume I don’t use gas when I asked for a gas and electric smart meter back in August 2017 and I’ve been with them a good few years and always paid gas. And the smart meter has been faulty since it was fitted - which they acknowledged on the phone.

Streaky_Bacon

Ofgem's backbilling rules will apply to you, but not for the whole period.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/who-contact-if-its-difficult-paying-energy-bills/energy-backbilling-your-rights

They can go back 12 months, so can change the billing for the period from 20th Dec 2017, so they can't change how much they charged you between August and Dec 19th 2017.

However, you still have the last 12 months and the faulty meter to resolve.

How often do you receive a bill?

D_M_E

£688 for an estimated gas use - you need to contest this, that amount of gas used in a year suggests you live in a five or six bedroom property or an old draughtty one with no insulation.

matelodave

Did you not have a quick look at your bills on your account, just out of interest or diod you jsut ignore them

FU do have the major part of the blame but you didn't check your bills, didn't notice that you weren't being charged for gas, didn't check that the bills were using up-to-date readings from the meters.

The fact that you have smart meters doesn't absolve you from all responsibiilty of checking stuff and making sure that you are paying for what you are using.

You'll probably get away with the back-billing provisions but you'll still have 12 months worth to pay back.

May I suggest that you put a bit more effort into checking your on-line account - ideally monthly so you can identify when something is going wrong when it happens, rather than 12-18months down the line.

Mr.Everready

D_M_E wrote: »

£688 for an estimated gas use - you need to contest this, that amount of gas used in a year suggests you live in a five or six bedroom property or an old draughtty one with no insulation.

I don't think £688 is excessive. May to November for me was over £400. Remember gas boilers don't just supply heat to the radiators.