Unexpected large bill

MWT

YMRhodes said:

I have used glide for years, never had a problem until now. and we worked out a system for the bills, they were just not the best at getting them to me on time.

Gerry wasn't being mean, just honest, the only question to which 'Glide' is the right answer, is 'How can I spend the maximum amount possible on my energy bills?'

But  you are where you are and so you just have to go back to meter readings, compare your actual usage against what they are billing you for and make sure they are using actual readings not estimates, especially for the most recent bill...

JohnB47

YMRhodes said:

JohnB47 said:

There are so many questions to ask you but the key one is, do you have readings for Jun 2019 when the last tenants moved out?
Other questions are:
Do you have regular readings from Jun 2019 until now, so that they show a usage pattern? Did you get bills from Glide?
If you pay by Direct Debit, on what basis was the amount decided?
Other questions will follow, no doubt but these are for starters.

we have the meter reading from the day they left. and almost every month after that including this month except december and march. we never really recieved bills other than the "thank you for your payment". we paid an allotted amount that they set up at the start and it never changed. we got one other "annual usage charge" in the 2 years that my other housemates were here and we thought we had one once they left, turns out they never did it and just lumped us with it now. 

I'm not sure what the problem is. You have readings taken when the last tenants moved out and many readings since then. Are you saying that Glide are trying to charge you for energy used by the previous tenants? If so, just remind them of the readings taken at that time. If, however, you are saying that Glide do have those readings and have been taking too little payment from you in the last years, then if their bill is correct, surely you have to pay it?
Their tariff seems horrific. Is the landlord getting some sort of kickback for using Glide?

matelodave

You only get an unexpected bill when you've not been sending in regular readings or checking your bills to ensure that they are using the reading that you sent in.
The main reason being that, if you send in readings you know what you've used, if you check your bill then you know what it's going to cost and you should know what you've paid. The difference between what you've paid and what it cost is how much you owe so you should never ever end up with an unexpected bill - It's really simple

SnowTiger

JohnB47 said:
I'm not sure what the problem is. You have readings taken when the last tenants moved out and many readings since then. Are you saying that Glide are trying to charge you for energy used by the previous tenants?

My take on it is that OP and partner lived in a shared household of four until June 2019 when the other two tenants moved out.

Glide offers a one bill solution for utilities: energy, broadband, water and TV licence.  I wonder if OP has any more surprises to come.

MWT

The problem is most likely related to the change from  a couple to a single sharer and the fact that the bills were not reconciled correctly at that point.

They should have used the meter readings at the point the couple left to bring the usage correctly up to date and bill everyone correctly for the additional amount over what had been paid. Then the new sharer arrives and the new bill sharing proceeds from there with a zero opening balance.

If that bit wasn't done there could be some mess around what is really owed by the sharers who left verse those staying and the new sharer.

None of it hard to work out that if you have the tariff and the meter readings ...

Bottom line though, as is so often the case, the regular payments are not really covering the actual costs, hence the need for the catch-up billing...