Ecotricity demanding payment for very odd bill

tonyenkiducx

I've had a bill from ecotricity for the month of May 2019, for a property I have not lived at for over 12 months, for a total of £1237.01.  I've spoken to them on the phone three times now, and had three email conversations with a support person, and every time after I manage to convince them that clearly something is wrong with their system they say they will go away and speak to someone who can fix it.  Obviously I have never heard back from any of these people, and every new conversation has to be done from scratch because they don't seem to have any system for taking notes.  I'm one more pointless phone call away from sending them an invoice for all my time they have wasted, but I would still like to get the issue sorted.

What are my routes for escalating this?  They are getting increasingly demanding with their letters and emails, which I assume are automated, but will no doubt end with a debt collector.

Gerry1

Did you send them a final meter reading and did they send you a final bill?

tonyenkiducx

We had a "moving company" as part of our new tenancy who were suppose to deal with all of that for us, but they did an awful job.  So there is a very good chance that they did not properly close the account.  That being said, we had a bill after we moved out which covered the correct period, and our account on the Ecotricity website shows as being closed.  This new bill just randomly appeared in it a couple of weeks ago.

tonyenkiducx

Also worth mentioning, the bill was entirely for off peak electricity.  No on peak at all.

MWT

Did you at least make your own notes on the final meter readings when you moved out, or was that left to the "moving company" as well?

If so did they tell you what their readings were and do those match the bill you received back then?

Gerry1

tonyenkiducx said:

Also worth mentioning, the bill was entirely for off peak electricity.  No on peak at all.

Potentially bad news, I'm afraid.  They can bill for this, but you may not have to pay it because of the back billing regulations.  Sadly, they're not very watertight if your account was in credit.

“We’ve just noticed that your electricity statements between since you came on supply with us are incorrect – we’re really sorry about that. This has happened because your meter should have been gained as Economy 7 (two registers -one for day usage, the other for night usage) but we gained it as single rate. As a result, you have only been billed for one of the two registers on your meter and undercharged."

The Ombudsman sided with Ovo. 

tonyenkiducx

I did have all of that information twelve months ago, but I've since disposed of it.  I've contacted the flat owner and they are trying to locate the readings as well, but they are also struggling to find the records.

The thing is, this was a year ago.  There's been two other tenants in that flat since, both with new providers.  There's zero chance that some new readings have appeared for them to put into a bill and send on to me, this is clearly a mistake.  The bill covers almost a full years worth of electricity at the property, it even indicates in the bill that this amount represents a 100% increase on my estimated yearly rates.

I'll pay for anything I've used, even if it's the £1200, but they are unable(Or un-willing) to confirm why this bill has appeared just now, and I'm not paying a random bill with no explanation.

MWT

tonyenkiducx said:

I'll pay for anything I've used, even if it's the £1200, but they are unable(Or un-willing) to confirm why this bill has appeared just now, and I'm not paying a random bill with no explanation.

Nor should you of course.

Did you receive a refund when you left them, or did you still have anything left to pay on the final bill that you received at the time?

... actually did you receive a refund at any time while you were with them?

tonyenkiducx

MWT said:

Did you receive a refund when you left them, or did you still have anything left to pay on the final bill that you received at the time?

... actually did you receive a refund at any time while you were with them?

I received a bill for just over £200, which was about what I expected, and paid it.   Looking at my bank this was 2 weeks after I left the property.  I've never had a refund, although this is hard to confirm as my online account is completely empty now, just the 2 bills in there, the "final" one, and the new "final" one.

MWT

tonyenkiducx said:

Also worth mentioning, the bill was entirely for off peak electricity.  No on peak at all.

... and your original final bill did show both peak and off-peak having been used?

Does this new 'final' bill have the same opening reading as the closing one on the original final bill?

tonyenkiducx

Sorry for not replying, had to go sleep last night.  I've had some update this morning, I got the final meter readings from the landlord, and they do not match the bill at all, both values are off by a mile.  I'm going to call ecotricity, get them updated and them I assume I'll get a proper bill.  I assume then if there is a problem then they will need to speak to the Landlord.