Bills for Deceased Father

Vande

Good Afternoon,
My father passed away last July and I have finally come to the end of sorting out all his paperwork, apart from one thing - the electricity and gas bills.
In November I gave SSE accurate meter readings for both, and paid them in full.
When the house sale went through in March they sent a final bill which, as I was unable to obtain more readings, were estimates.
Can anyone advise please if £108 for electricity and £103.83 for gas are fair amounts for a quite small two bedroom semi-detached house which was not used at all for the four months apart from heating being left on low?
I have tried to phone them to discuss but they kept me waiting 40 minutes, then passed me from pillar to post before hanging up on me.  They also take a week to respond to every single sentence I send them on Facebook Messenger.

I suppose I will just have to pay it, but was interested to know what others think first.

lisyloo

It's unusual not to get readings before completion.
If the new owners are ordinary honest people can you not ask them for the readings? e.g. write to them?

molerat

Electric does seem high with no one in residence but gas is possible with the heating left on.  Without actual reads though you are unlikely to get them to back down, it is all down to the honesty of the new owner. Why didn't you get your agent to take a read on completion day ?

Gerry1

It's not possible to be specific without knowing your kWh and standing charge rates, but it's been a cold winter.  The electricity is probably a little high, assuming it was used only for security lighting and boiler operation, but as there was no actual meter reading there's probably not much you can do about it now.  You should have tasked your estate agent to take the final readings before handing over the keys.

Sorry if that sounds a bit harsh, but unfortunately that's the reality.  The gas isn't worth disputing, especially with no evidence, and once you've subtracted the electricity standing charge any overcharge is likely to be quite small.  Even if you only used half of what was estimated, your refund could be as low as £40 so is it really worth all the effort given that you're quite likely to be unsuccessful?

macman

Heating on 'low' '(define that) for 4 months through a cold winter: assuming gas CH, then £104 for gas is extremely reasonable. 
Electricity, less so: what was it actually powering, other than the boiler electronics, which is negligible. But remember that you'll still be paying an s/c regardless of usage.
What was the actual kWh usage on each supply? £££'s tell us nothing.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter what you think, because without closing reads you cannot dispute the bills anyway. Why were you unable to provide reads? If you are not nearby then the EA would normally offer to do this on day of completion if asked.

rp1974

Sounds a resonable amount to me being mindful it's been one of the coldest periods for a while.
Couldnt someone,anyone have read the meters to provide accurate instead of estimated readings?.
Given it's not an excessive or huge amount why drag it out further for little reason?,best pay it and put it to bed.

Vande

Thank you all.  I wasn't aware that you could get an estate agent to take readings for you.
As for things still being powered by electricity, possibly just a cooker background clock or whatever as we unplugged the fridge and the freezer and everything else was removed, even the telephone.
Sounds like we should just pay it then to save it dragging on any longer, as will soon be the full year since his passing.
Kind regards.