are powergen right to charge me for their error

mrelephant_2

I'll try and keep it short.

I have been living in rented house for just over 2yrs and have 2 electric meters (one i assune is economy)

Meter readings for both have been taken on a regular basis and my D/D's set at £32.50 over last 12mths..I live on my own in a 2 bedroom terrace and just assumed this must be how much it is....

However i have just recieved a bill for £1024 as oppossed to past bills of @ £130....naturally i rang Powergen and asked to speak to a manager, who explained that whilst i had been living there i had not been getting charged for one of the 2 meters, She admitted it was an error on Powergens part, but unfortunatley now it had come to light after my recent meter reading, i now had to be backdated for the electricity i had used but not charged for. She did say they are prepared to offer me 4 yrs to pay it off and reduce the bill by £350. But this still means i have to pay back £674 at £14 a month...and i'm now having my monthly D/D doubled to cover the 2 meters.

The doubling of my D/D i can accept, as this is what i should have been getting charged since day one, but to have to pay back over £600 for a mistake i haven't made i think is unfair......or am i being unreasonable???

Derek

Cardew

This is something of a grey area and there are Utility company employees on this forum who will be in a better position than I to advise on current regulations.

There is no doubt that if you did not get a bill at all(obviously not your issue) you can only be charged for 12 months in arrears.

However with estimated readings they can charge for arrears in excess of 12 months I believe.

Where you stand I suspect isn't covered by the regulations and Powergen are apparently one of the worst companies for trying to claim back.

2 thoughts!
How do they know what the reading was on the meter(for which you haven't ben charged) was when you moved in?

Secondly PowerGen are certainly 'trying it on'. Their 'opening offer' should normally be a discount of 25% on what you owe.

My gut feeling is that they can only backdate you 12 months for the unpaid consumption.

I most certainly would not pay more than that without taking the case to Energywatch.

One further point - don't telephone any more; put everything in writing. I would simply write and say it is their error and under what regulation can they demand payment and say you will be taking the case to Energywatch.

MarkyMarkD

Or, you can see it the other way and say that they aren't asking you to pay any more than they should have asked you to pay in the first place, and that you owe them the amount they are demanding.

Terrylw1

So, they have stated that you have never been charged for this meter?

If thats the case, they can only backdate your bill by 12 months and no further (unless your case was identified to you prior to the change to 12 months in July 2007. If they did notify you earlier, then it was 24 months and I seem to recall reading a clause to state you would be bound by the original clause prior to July 2007 as long as they had notified you)

To address MMD's comment - yes you have used it but Ofgem have rules in place about backbilling charges. In 2005 it was introduced as no further back then 2 years. This changes to 1 year as of July 2007.

So, you need an explanation of where this bill has come from. You should also challenge them in your case because they have no record of your consumption on that meter. So, how can they estimate the last 12 months??? They may wish to monitor you usage for a month to work this out - fair enough but remember it's a winter quarter so they should not use that for a whole year estimation.

You are backed by Ofgem on this so don't let them bill you any further than Ofgem state.

I would question why you have 2 meters. Do you have 1 standard rate & one off peak meter. The off peak meter being one that gives 1,2 or 3 bursts through the day?

Very few houses thesedays have 2 meters for use other than 1 standard & 1 OP (very often replaced now by modern E7)

Are you sure that meter is wired to your fusebox?

It's slightly strange to me in that if they haven't billed you either a) no readings have been taken for years. Have they been reading your meters? or b) they had not set the meter up on their billing system so they couldnt bill it.