Energy bill back dating

Oliverst14

Hello everyone 

I do hope someone can help me with a problem I'm having.

Recently after being with brilliant energy (went bust) and being automatically transferred to SSE I noticed they had put me on their highest tarriff so I changed to Scottish Power. (Jan 2020)

Iv had a rather stressful year as alot of people have as my business has shut down due to coronavirus so the last thing on my mind has been the gas and electric meter. Anyway we finally put our meter reading in last week and boy oh boy was I in for a shock. The amount of electric we have supposedly used in a year was 17000kwh for a 3 bedroom semi with 2 x adults and 1 child and 2 infant. It equates to a yearly spend on electric of close to £2500 and according to them we are in defecit of £1500. As you may expect I nearly fell off my chair. 

So anyhow I decided to check exactly how much energy we have actually used this week (being winter it's actually higher right now anyway so good test) we used 71kwh from Monday to Sunday so multiply that over the year and we're looking at around 3692kwh of electric which is almost exactly what I would expect and actually lower than expected by the supplier. 

Iv then gone back cause its clearly not a meter fault and I suspect I know what's happened, I think brilliant energy have given SSE the wrong meter reading with a read of 17780 rather than what I suspect should have been 27780, since then we have been estimated readings from sse and Scottish Power. Iv checked the start read for Scottish Power and it says estimated and the end read for sse says it was provided by Scottish Power on my final statement. 

I'm unable to actually get bills from brilliant energy as we were on paperless billing and they have gone bust so now have no access to bills so I'm unable to check any further back so it's hard for me to prove that brilliant have given the wrong reading as sse shows estimates from the very first one and so does Scottish power. (I'm very suprised as I would have expected once for one of these companies to come and visit to read the meter) 

I'm now looking about and it seems that Scottish Power can only charge for energy that was used in the last 12 months, I can prove that my energy usage is clearly not what they are trying to say it is but how can I prove what energy was actually used during this period? Or don't I have to? 

Do the energy company have the right to say that becusee there is no proof then they are able to charge me? 

I'm a little confused as it sounds like I will be protected by the ofgem backdating regs but how then does ofgem expect the energy company to come up with a sum of how much energy was actually used. 

To me it would make sense that they take a month's worth of current usage average it through the year and create a bill based on this figure however I have a feeling its going to be very difficult to get them to see things that way. 

I truly have no idea where this rediculous figure has come from but I'm trying to make sense of it and this is the only explanation I can think, we pay £97 a month for both gas and electric which seems to be slightly higher than most people in our position so I doubt we have been paying too little for an extended period of time like seems to be the case with alot of these stories. Ultimately I don't think I need to make sense of it if I know the backdating rules will protect me cause its quite clear I haven't used that much energy in a year, anyone with half a brain can see that for current usage (no circumstances have changed)

It's extremely worrying though as they have forced the DD up to £363 which is unmanageable for us so any advise or help would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks in advance 

Look forward to any help I may get 

Hasbeen

So you relied on an estimated readings to start with and seemingly did not check this or indeed provide any actual monthly readings or even check your bills in over a year??   

Suggest you post in the Energy forum. Click on the big black Energy button. Where you will get great advice from experts on this problem.  They will actually give you the correct terms applied to back billing. Sorry. This is not a consumer rights question.

Robin9

@Oliverst14  When you repost please can you go back in time - pre Brilliant Energy - and see if you have any bills which give a meter reading with the letter A  against them.   

What reading did you give SP when you switched - ?

Even if the 17000 units is wrong 7000 is still extremely high for a gas heated house.

Oliverst14

Hasbeen said:

So you relied on an estimated readings to start with and seemingly did not check this or indeed provide any actual monthly readings or even check your bills in over a year??   

Suggest you post in the Energy forum. Click on the big black Energy button. Where you will get great advice from experts on this problem.  They will actually give you the correct terms applied to back billing. Sorry. This is not a consumer rights question.

As I explained its not been a good year for us and the last thing on my mind was reading the energy meter. We have had almost no income as both myself and my other half are self employed. It may be hard to understand for people employed how difficult this period has been for people however the government have not been as forthcoming with assistance and our income has dropped to around £10000 pa. It's been incredibly stressful so yes maybe not the best situation to rely on estimates however by paying £97 a month and seeing that most people I know pay considerably less I didn't see this as a huge problem for the short term. Plus that still doesn't equate to anywhere near our usage so kind of invalid point. 

I did actually check to see if their was an energy section but must have missed. I will report in their.

Thanks 

Oliverst14

Robin9 said:

@Oliverst14  When you repost please can you go back in time - pre Brilliant Energy - and see if you have any bills which give a meter reading with the letter A  against them.   

What reading did you give SP when you switched - ?

Even if the 17000 units is wrong 7000 is still extremely high for a gas heated house.

Thanks for your reply 

I have indeed tried to go further back than brilliant energy. Unluckily prior to brilliant energy we were with first utility who are also no longer in business, they were taken over though by Shell energy however account logins are not the same. 

I have approached Shell energy and requested the information however I'm just awaiting their response. 

We gave no reading to SP on joining, it was done through u switch and we just transfered. As far as I can see no reading was requested and SP used an estimated reading.

I have read somewhere SP are renowned for this and should get an indioendant meter read company to come and check the meter on connection however this has not been done. 

Oliverst14

Hasbeen said:

So you relied on an estimated readings to start with and seemingly did not check this or indeed provide any actual monthly readings or even check your bills in over a year??   

Suggest you post in the Energy forum. Click on the big black Energy button. Where you will get great advice from experts on this problem.  They will actually give you the correct terms applied to back billing. Sorry. This is not a consumer rights question.

Iv reposted in the energy section. I must have missed it the first time as I'm using a phone and the menu system isn't great on here. 

Thanks again 

If a moderator would like to shut down this thread or combine with the other thread please do so. 

Robin9

Oliverst14 said:

Robin9 said:

@Oliverst14  When you repost please can you go back in time - pre Brilliant Energy - and see if you have any bills which give a meter reading with the letter A  against them.   

What reading did you give SP when you switched - ?

Even if the 17000 units is wrong 7000 is still extremely high for a gas heated house.

Thanks for your reply 

I have indeed tried to go further back than brilliant energy. Unluckily prior to brilliant energy we were with first utility who are also no longer in business, they were taken over though by Shell energy however account logins are not the same. 

I have approached Shell energy and requested the information however I'm just awaiting their response. 

We gave no reading to SP on joining, it was done through u switch and we just transfered. As far as I can see no reading was requested and SP used an estimated reading.

I have read somewhere SP are renowned for this and should get an indioendant meter read company to come and check the meter on connection however this has not been done. 

You've got no records of your own -  a spreadsheet - no printed copies of old bills - no emails with readings in - no emails from any of your suppliers with bills attached  ...................... ?????????????????????/

I know this last year has been bad for many but it appears you've not been in control of  your meter reads for a long time.

Just a thought - how old is your meter - I suspect its a SMETS1 judging by the consumption and perhaps 5/6 years old. If it was modern then your supplier may be able to extract historical data.

What's your meter reading today ?

mikb

Oliverst14 said:

Robin9 said:

@Oliverst14  When you repost please can you go back in time - pre Brilliant Energy - and see if you have any bills which give a meter reading with the letter A  against them.   

What reading did you give SP when you switched - ?

Even if the 17000 units is wrong 7000 is still extremely high for a gas heated house.

Thanks for your reply 

I have indeed tried to go further back than brilliant energy. Unluckily prior to brilliant energy we were with first utility who are also no longer in business, they were taken over though by Shell energy however account logins are not the same. 

I have approached Shell energy and requested the information however I'm just awaiting their response. 

We gave no reading to SP on joining, it was done through u switch and we just transfered. As far as I can see no reading was requested and SP used an estimated reading.

I have read somewhere SP are renowned for this and should get an indioendant meter read company to come and check the meter on connection however this has not been done. 

As a former First Utility/Shell Customer, the transfer to Shell Energy appeared pretty much cosmetic. New logos. New look. Everything still as before. My login worked across this so it could be that simply as you are no longer a customer (of either) they have purged your account.

Mine is currently in a "You are no longer a customer but you can see historical bills" state.

At some point, I expect that to disappear.