Energy company got us in debt

Laurab01x

Thank you for all your responses, this has been helpful  

Hasbeen

Laurab01x said:

Yes our supplier has been taking our DD each month. I personally do not deal with the account, my partner does and all of the correspondence was going into his junk mail, when I was with British Gas, if they didn’t receive a meter reading they would call to chase it up. We assumed that since we hadn’t received anything nothing had changed. But they still should of told us that we were underpaying at the beginning and then saying that we’ve under paid the whole time. Our usage hasn’t really changed as my partner checked our statements. 

I think the correct heading of your post is:  My partner has got us into debt? 
However! 
A DD each month goes into a pot to pay for your energy. Too much and you are in credit, too little you are in debt.
Obviously too little in your scenario?

Your partner should have been checking his email including junk folder. Where I suspect all the actual correspondence is from your energy company? 

You say he has checked the statements now, do they all have E for estimate against them? Rather suspect they will have as perhaps no monthly actual readings have been given? Over two years?  Any up to date actual readings at all would help.

Is this arrear for Gas, Electric, or both?

Do you have your energy switch start readings and also current readings from the real meter's at the moment. Not from the IHD toy thing.

And also your estimated? current readings that your energy company has sent to you.

And no. Sorry it is not complete neglect on their part, sadly the other way round. As you both had access to the meters to work out your usage and to provide actual recommended monthly readings, to your energy provider.

Please post as much info as you can to give posters a chance of giving helpful advice.

The_Fat_Controller

I hope your partner's backside will not be too sore when you give them a kick !
Bills missing for nearly two years, why didn't anyone notice ?

Robin9

Laurab01x said:

W. Our usage from 1st Aug 2018- 1st Aug 2019 was 4965 kWh estimated £847.62  Assuming about 15p /kWh thats about right  - about £70 / month.

What was your meter reading on 1st Aug 2018 and what is it now ?
Get into practise of reading your meter every month regardless and enter the readings online.

Laurab01x

This is for electricity only. We have a small 1 bedroom flat with all energy saving LED bulbs and low energy A rated appliances.  Well they first said we owed £1000 and we submitted a reading and it went down to £700 which still seems ridiculous. I am more than happy to take some blame in this but the matter is we simply cannot afford to pay £700 in one lump sum and the new monthly amount they have quoted is also too much, so what can we do from here? 

Laurab01x

My partner has checked all his inbox and spam folders and it appears that we have never had a request for a meter reading. 

Robin9

What have you been paying as a DD.?

Laurab01x

Sorry read his message wrong, he did receive requests for meter readings but they went into
spam he assumed we had a smart meter fitted. We have been paying £32.00 a month. I think it sounds like the only thing we can do is contact them and try and request a payment plan that we can afford 

maisie_cat

Laurab01x said:

Hi Tim,  it seems wrong to quote someone lower than they were paying before to then tell them they were underpaying the entire time? I would of been happy to pay more and surely this should of been reviewed and we should of been contacted but we weren’t, nothing in the spam folder either. To let us build up this amount of debt seems wrong and we should
of been called at the very least to let us know. 

It depends on what data was used for the quote, the options are value (not necessarily DD) amount or KWH usage. You provide the data and the algorithm calculates using an average tariff that includes unit charge and standing charge.  If the KWH figure is too low initially or subsequently changes the "quote" DD will be wrong.
I have a spreadsheet that I use and every single quotation tool, including MSE is wrong, almost always too low.
Has a meter reading been taken in 2 years? I'm sure they have a duty to take them, but you also have a duty to provide them. Have they been sending a correct bill showing a debit but haven't increased the direct debit?
Whether you have to pay the debt will depend on what has been done, emails going to spam will not change anything 

 

Talldave

Laurab01x said:

Sorry read his message wrong, he did receive requests for meter readings but they went into
spam he assumed we had a smart meter fitted. We have been paying £32.00 a month. I think it sounds like the only thing we can do is contact them and try and request a payment plan that we can afford 

If the flat is electricity only, that figure would immediately ring alarm bells. I assume there's no gas heating?