Electric meter read £300 incorrect, please help

Louise10

I moved energy supplier from British Gas to First Utilityon the 7th May. I made contact with First Utility over the phone to set the account up and was told a direct debit of £36 per month would be sufficient after giving them my usage information.

I had smart meters with British Gas so each month the amount of fuel I used was calculated and the fill amount was taken from my account. So I paid the final bill and the account was closed.

At first I was not aware that the move to First Utility was complete as received no paperwork. The first time I knew this had happened was when First Utility started to take payments from my account.

I called First Utility who gave me my log in details and said I needed to supply a meter reading once a month for my gas and electricity. We agreeed on a date each month.

When this date came I submitted my meter reading and could immediately see there was a problem with my electricity reading. With British Gas I spent on average £60 a month with gas and electricity. The new read from First Utility showed I had spent £274.97 in one month on electricity between 1th June and 16th July. I immediately contacted First Utility and was told that there must have been some mistake and reassured me that there was an issue somewhere and it would be resolved. First Utility said they would look in to the problem for me and come back with a resolution.

On the 14th August I started a dispute with First Utility. I was asked to take photos of my meters one week apart to show my usage which I did and emailed this over. A revised opening read was suggested and sent over to I believe British Gas. British Gas rejected this because my account was paid as per the final bill and closed and taken by a smart meter reading.

My complaint handler did say there was obviously a problem and I had not spent £274 in one month. The issue is not with British Gas because the account was paid and closed.

In October my dispute then got given to a new complaint handler. We agreed that I could have a faulty meter so it was proposed I was given brand new smart meters. My usage would be measured for a month to 6 weeks instead of the usual 3 months. After this period of time my usage would be analysed and I would be refunded the difference and then we would move forward from there. A date was agreed and the meters were fitted.

In that period of time, I noticed that my direct debit payment had not come out of my account for 2 months. I called First Utility and was told that this was cancelled when my payment was refunded. I was very upset about this because I was not informed in any way, I had no letter from First Utility or any email and this made by ‘debt’ to them even higher! The direct debit was reset up but obviously my payments were behind.

After the 6 weeks passed I received a call from my complaint handler saying that the new meters were showing roughly the same amount of energy usage as the old meters. For this reason they said the problem was with British Gas and the final read. I reiterated again that I had smart meters and I paid the full amount by direct debit each month, plus my direct debit averaged, as it does now, at £50 per month not £275. First Utility asked to see British Gas final bill which I sent over to them along with some other bills to show my my usage each month. I rang British Gas again who again advised me that my account was paid and cleared and subsequently closed.

At this moment I am looking for advice on how to proceed as this has been going on for so long now. On the last call, they asked me if I had filled a pool in this period where the bill was high. I live in a small first floor flat! I don’t even own a house. We have not used 3 times the amount of electricity!

wavelets

Louise10 wrote: »

I moved energy supplier from British Gas to First Utilityon the 7th May. I made contact with First Utility over the phone to set the account up and was told a direct debit of £36 per month would be sufficient after giving them my usage information.

I had smart meters with British Gas so each month the amount of fuel I used was calculated and the fill amount was taken from my account. So I paid the final bill and the account was closed.

At first I was not aware that the move to First Utility was complete as received no paperwork. The first time I knew this had happened was when First Utility started to take payments from my account.

I called First Utility who gave me my log in details and said I needed to supply a meter reading once a month for my gas and electricity. We agreeed on a date each month.

When this date came I submitted my meter reading and could immediately see there was a problem with my electricity reading. With British Gas I spent on average £60 a month with gas and electricity. The new read from First Utility showed I had spent £274.97 in one month on electricity between 1th June and 16th July. I immediately contacted First Utility and was told that there must have been some mistake and reassured me that there was an issue somewhere and it would be resolved. First Utility said they would look in to the problem for me and come back with a resolution.

On the 14th August I started a dispute with First Utility. I was asked to take photos of my meters one week apart to show my usage which I did and emailed this over. A revised opening read was suggested and sent over to I believe British Gas. British Gas rejected this because my account was paid as per the final bill and closed and taken by a smart meter reading.

My complaint handler did say there was obviously a problem and I had not spent £274 in one month. The issue is not with British Gas because the account was paid and closed.

In October my dispute then got given to a new complaint handler. We agreed that I could have a faulty meter so it was proposed I was given brand new smart meters. My usage would be measured for a month to 6 weeks instead of the usual 3 months. After this period of time my usage would be analysed and I would be refunded the difference and then we would move forward from there. A date was agreed and the meters were fitted.

In that period of time, I noticed that my direct debit payment had not come out of my account for 2 months. I called First Utility and was told that this was cancelled when my payment was refunded. I was very upset about this because I was not informed in any way, I had no letter from First Utility or any email and this made by ‘debt’ to them even higher! The direct debit was reset up but obviously my payments were behind.

After the 6 weeks passed I received a call from my complaint handler saying that the new meters were showing roughly the same amount of energy usage as the old meters. For this reason they said the problem was with British Gas and the final read. I reiterated again that I had smart meters and I paid the full amount by direct debit each month, plus my direct debit averaged, as it does now, at £50 per month not £275. First Utility asked to see British Gas final bill which I sent over to them along with some other bills to show my my usage each month. I rang British Gas again who again advised me that my account was paid and cleared and subsequently closed.

At this moment I am looking for advice on how to proceed as this has been going on for so long now. On the last call, they asked me if I had filled a pool in this period where the bill was high. I live in a small first floor flat! I don’t even own a house. We have not used 3 times the amount of electricity!

Welcome to MSE :hello:

I've been waiting here to see if you would come back so I could clarify some points with you, but you disappeared as soon as you posted this

So let's cut to the chase.

You were previously using about £60pm of electricity with BG.
You got a cracking deal with FU, where the same usage was only going to cost you £36pm. So almost half the cost :money:
(Sounds suspicious to me, but I'm sure you carefully checked all the details before going ahead)

However, in month 1, you received a bill for almost £275
After investigation, it seems there was an issue with the agreed start reading used by FU (being the final meter reading used by BG)

I could go into whether it matched the start reading you provided, but I said I'd cut to the chase.

What you don't pay one supplier, you'd need to pay the other. But BG was almost twice as expensive as FU.

So you could either have a long drawn out argument and try to get FU to cut their £275 down to the £36 you were expecting.
If agreed, that would mean you wouldn't need to pay FU the remaining £239
But you would have to pay BG that instead, and as they were charging almost twice as much, that means you would end up owing BG about £400.:eek:

Be careful what you wish for.

Take care!

Louise10

Hi, sorry went straight to sleep. Just to clarify, the final meter reading with BG was fine, it was a smart meter reading and was accurate. As I had no access to my First Utility account because I received no log in details a deemed read by First Utility was used which matched BG. It was one unit more.

The issue was eith at the switch over or something else which I don’t know, as I didn’t have access to the account I don’t know when this increase happened. At no point have we EVER used £275 worth of electricity in one month, we use £50/£60 combined This was in a summer month as well.

We are in a long dispute now with First Utility, we have proof from BG on how much we use each month and with readings on the new meters with First Utility.

I need ideas on what could have happened to the meter which would suddenly have spiked at such a large amount. The whole dispute has been going on since June.

brianposter

Louise10 wrote: »

The issue was eith at the switch over or something else which I don’t know, as I didn’t have access to the account I don’t know when this increase happened.

But surely you now have access to the account.

missmaybesaver

Hiya,

So if I’m reading things correctly, the issue isn’t with the opening/switch reading. As this was accurate (from the smart meter) and both suppliers used the same reading.

But instead it’s with the next reading you submitted, which generated a high charge?

Are you able to post your readings and the dates?