Elderly Parents getting Ripped Off

xlnc99

matelodave said:

TBH I think the OP is floundering in a heap of bills, a meter they don't really understand and lots of helpful but confusing advice as well.
They really need someone who knows what they are doing to sit down and help them but a good start would be to take Gerry's suggestion and do a quick and dirty calculation of total consumption multiplied by the tariff to get the total cost and then work out how much has been paid. That should get near enough to know whether you are hundreds in credit or debit.

Can you tell me how to do this?comeandgo said:

My local CAB has someone who will visit on request and go through energy bills and change to cheaper provider if client agrees to it.  Is this something your parents could do?  

comeandgo said:

My local CAB has someone who will visit on request and go through energy bills and change to cheaper provider if client agrees to it.  Is this something your parents could do?  

What is a CAB?

xlnc99

Wobbly_Bob said:

Of course. I was simply pointing out, that from June through till May (12 months), on the bills quoted, the DD should have been circa £206. That of course is not to say that the bills are correct, just that from the bills given, the DD appears to be incorrect.

An easy way would be to ring them. Ask them for their actual recorded readings (and when the last one was taken). Ask them how much the account is in credit.

I dealt with a company a number of years ago who happily allowed my elderly mother to accrue a £600 credit. Which obviously when i found out, had paid back to her bank account!.

I have calculated the credits and it is incorrect. They have done something dodgy with the figures - i will get into this (i have previously stated these figures on the thread) once i sort the electricity and gas out

Robin9

CAB Citizens Advise Bureau

Talldave

xlnc99 said:

Before i get into the switch process - How can i claim back the made up costs for Jan/Feb - £600 worth of clearly false electricity charges

You'd have to prove they were made up. The only plausible possibility is that the Using Now register was being submitted as the reading (does it increment in sync with Imp Kwh?) prior to January. 

That said, even the most stubborn of energy companies would be hard pushed to account for an elderly couple using 130kWh a day, day in day out for a month?

Gerry1

Priority Services Register

elsien

xlnc99 said:

matelodave said:

TBH I think the OP is floundering in a heap of bills, a meter they don't really understand and lots of helpful but confusing advice as well.
They really need someone who knows what they are doing to sit down and help them but a good start would be to take Gerry's suggestion and do a quick and dirty calculation of total consumption multiplied by the tariff to get the total cost and then work out how much has been paid. That should get near enough to know whether you are hundreds in credit or debit.

Can you tell me how to do this?comeandgo said:

My local CAB has someone who will visit on request and go through energy bills and change to cheaper provider if client agrees to it.  Is this something your parents could do?  

comeandgo said:

My local CAB has someone who will visit on request and go through energy bills and change to cheaper provider if client agrees to it.  Is this something your parents could do?  

What is a CAB?

I think it is very unlikely that Citizen's advice will be doing any home visits at present. In my area they are only doing telephone support, which given the lack of clarity at the moment isn't going to be of any help at all. 

Gerry1

xlnc99 said:

Also - thanks for all the help - but if someone can point me to through what it is i am meant to be looking out for so i can make sense of all this. Perhaps there is a website you can direct me too so i can research all this in detail an 'energy for dummies' or similar. 

Smart Meters for Dummies

xlnc99

Thanks for the info guys.

To sum up the electricity - Most of it seems intact. But for Jan/Feb clearly high usuage which as @Talldave has stated doesnt make sense for those two months. I will be Scottish Power the companies in regards to this and ask them about refunding the charges due to either 

1 - wrong information submitted by parents?
2 - Using now register was been submitted? 

The majority seem to say most of the other months electricity bills seem intact so i will be making a complaint and then switching providers from the suggestion that people on here have been kind enough to share

xlnc99

Can i ask before i finish the electricity and move on to GAS 

What should be a normal electric bill monthly for two elderly people?
4 bedroom detached house, 5 bathrooms
Sounds bigger then it is, but its really not that big. IT had an extension done years ago.

Gerry1

You shouldn't need to do anything if one meter reading is too high.  It should correct itself automatically on the next accurate reading.  You don't submit a reading saying how much you've used in the last month, you tell them how much as been used since the meter was installed and they work out how much it has increased since the last reading and then bill accordingly.  (Note that this isn't the same thing as collecting that sum via the DD.)

In any case, it should sort itself out with the final bill.  You appear to be already in the last 49 days so you can switch the gas without penalty.  Doing nothing is not an option because otherwise they will soon end up on the expensive default tariff.  What are you waiting for?