High final bill SSE

jaisunny

Hi guys, wonder if anyone can give any advice.


I recently changed dual fuel supplier from SSE to a new supplier and supplied meter readings towards the end. Within a couple of days the SSE website updated with what is owed based on the new readings and its coming up as follows:

ELECTRICITY: £153 (DEBIT)
GAS: £35 (IN CREDIT).


We are low gas users. Rarely use the heating in the house either. Im happy with the above, we gave readings which means our £60 a month bills would definitely rise a bit. So paying £122 was not a problem.


However. This is the sneaky part.


SSE decided to recalculate again within 10 days its jumped to owing £210 on electricity and them owing us nothing for gas.


How should I challenge this? as its completely inaccurate. They've been giving us estimated readings for a while, but we've definitely been underpaying for electricity and overpaying for gas.

I have emailed them asking where the money owed has disappeared to and why its jumped to £210 on the electricity when the final meter reading calculated the cost being £153. But I suspect they'll give me some drivel that wont make sense to me.


Is this normal what this energy supplier is doing?

Robin9

jaisunny wrote: »

...................... They've been giving us estimated readings for a while, but we've definitely been underpaying for electricity and overpaying for gas......................

The only reason why your bills have estimated readings on them is because you've not been giving actual readings.

Go back in time to find a bill with actual readings on them and look to see what the bottom line is - debit or credit.

Using the readings you gave your new supplier do some simple maths and work out what the bill should be.

matelodave

The problem with accepting estimated bills is that the errors start to increase and it's only when an actual reading gets given that the magnitude of the under (or over) payments become apparent.

Over 90% of the complaints on this forum are like yours - where customers have not bothered to read the meter, not bothered to check the bills and then suddenly got a nasty shock when the ginormous final bill drops through the door because the final reading has to correct the cumulative under/over billing that's been going on.

If you don't read your meter and check that bills are correctly using actual meter readings then you cant really know whether you have been under or over paying or whether you are a light or heaving user. It's not really everso hard nowadays as most supplier have web sites which allow you to send in readings and check your online bills and statements.

jaisunny

As I say, I am happy with the increase, I was expecting it. £153 owing is about right. I have a actual meter reading from 1.5 years ago and a actual meter reading now.


The new meter readings I had given increased the electricity to owing £153 but the gas new actual meter reading was below their estimated, so initially it said they owe me £35, but as I said, it soon went from £35 to £0.00 once they knew the account was closing down.


Looks like they don't want to pay out.


Unfortunately meter reading has always been my weakness in life, I just can't remember reading them and then submitting them every month. I think a smart meter will be better for me in the near future.


The other problem I have is, when i log into my old SSE account, they've wiped the section showing meter readings! so I don't have anything anymore. I had 2 or 3 actual meter readings in 1.5 years, which I used to be able to check on their website in my account.

Dobbibill

To calculate your final bill, your old supplier will take the opening meter reading from your new supplier. This means you don't pay twice for the same energy.

Regular meter readings are definitely the way to prevent this happening in the future with your now, new supplier.

lopsyfa

jaisunny wrote: »

However. This is the sneaky part.


SSE decided to recalculate again within 10 days its jumped to owing £210 on electricity and them owing us nothing for gas.


How should I challenge this? as its completely inaccurate. They've been giving us estimated readings for a while, but we've definitely been underpaying for electricity and overpaying for gas.

I have emailed them asking where the money owed has disappeared to and why its jumped to £210 on the electricity when the final meter reading calculated the cost being £153. But I suspect they'll give me some drivel that wont make sense to me.


Is this normal what this energy supplier is doing?

They have probably recalculated the bill after getting the industry validated reading from the new supplier. If you haven't submitted readings for a long time, the validated readings can be quite different from actual reading (they use the last validated reading to 'validate' your final meter readings). But the good news is your opening meter readings will be adjusted by your new supplier, so your first bill will be lower than it would have been so you don't end up paying twice for the same energy.

matelodave

The big problem with "validated" readings is that they would be based on erroneous estimates if you hadn't been sending in actual meter readings and making sure that billing was correct.

How can readings be properly validated if the only data they've got is based on random guesses which haven't been corrected.

t0rt0ise

Just make sure that the final reading on the old supplier is the same as the start reading of the new supplier. If they aren't the same you have a problem.