When is a "Final Bill" not a "Final Bill"?

JTBasketman

I received the Final Electricity Bill of my late mothers house as we had sold it. This was for a couple of thousand and was paid in full. The Estate has now been distributed (big chunk to Local Authority for residential care and double council taxes, empty property). After 3 months I have now received a "Revised Final Bill" addressed to Executors, asking for another £265. It is the same Final meter reading but they seem to have re-jigged the use over different time periods etc. There had been several years of estimated bills after my mother had gone into care etc.

My main question is: Is this correct procedure for an Energy Provider??

If so it creates problems. I know the other beneficiaries of the estate will not want to contribute to this, as it was very difficult to come to a final agreement for distribution the Estate with all the bills and reasons for them etc.

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

[Deleted User]

This is a tricky one as all companies make accounting errors and they have the right to re-bill. I assume that your Mother never provided actual meter readings? Suppliers have a Licence obligation to obtain a meter reading once every 12 months. I would look at past bills and see when the last customer or meter man reading was used for billing. If it is over 12 months, then it might be worth playing the Back Billing card; that said, the supplier might counter argue that they couldn’t get access because of your Mother’s health care issues.

rp1974

Can't guarantee it,but fairly sure energy suppliers can chase debts for six years!,and they will do.
Once all relevant people have been made aware of the matter,they are equally liable for settling the debt,as far as I know,wether they like it or not.
If no agreement can be reached can only see it going to court eventually,point out to all parties that it's in all of your interests to stop it going that far,especially for the sake of £265.

JTBasketman

Dolor, thank you for your reply. I'm not sure, as I'm still going through boxes of paperwork, but there are many bills missing, looks like it was all based on estimates for over 3 years (no one living at the property) until the final readings we provided. I did fill out the cards the meter reader left and placed in the window, but it doesn't appear that these were used.

JTBasketman

rp1974, thank you for your reply. I understand that they can chase debts, but we were not in debt as we had paid their "Final Bill". If we have to pay, I would probably pay the whole £265 just so I don't have to deal with the other parties again. The last few years have been very stressful for one reason and another. I really don't need anymore of that. 

Back to the "Final Electricity Bill" I had assumed that it meant "Final" and would legally have that meaning, particularly as it has no " * " saying *subject to future revisions.

Can they keep issuing "Revised Final Bills" as they please, or is there some restriction on how many they can issue and how long the time period is?

phillw

JTBasketman said:

Can they keep issuing "Revised Final Bills" as they please, or is there some restriction on how many they can issue and how long the time period is?

Yes, they can. In theory they can't backbill more than a year, but there are caveats for example if you haven't provided meter readings & it relies on you complaining about it as they can ask for whatever money they want.

I would raise a complaint that they calculated the original bill incorrectly & that they had been informed of the death and that they had a duty to provide an accurate bill in a timely manner.

My guess is that they issued the bill early to avoid having to pay compensation before the readings were validated. But it's probably better to let them come up with their excuse.

Ask them for a dead lock letter to take to the ombudsman if they don't accept responsibility and write it off.

superbigal

Why is the 1st final bill wrong if you supplied closing reading ?

rp1974

Hi,OP I was going to suggest that if you could pay it to do so and put the matter behind you,did'nt as I thought it might sound a bit uncaring and insensitive though it wasn't meant to be.
If you do pay it at least you can put all this to bed and stop worrying about it.
Any further attempt at final billing I would refer to the Ombudsman,how many final bills or attempts at providing a final bill are you expected to accept?,one revision is ample opportunity for the supplier in my view.
Hope things improve for you,however this turns out.

[Deleted User]

superbigal said:

Why is the 1st final bill wrong if you supplied closing reading ?

The previous bills (3 years) were based just on estimates. It follows that if the Final reading differed markedly from what the supplier would have estimated on the same date then all previous estimates were wrong. By the sound of it, all the supplier has done is a re-profiling of the estimates based on the period between two actual readings. If tariff prices have changed during the re-profiling period then this is not unreasonable. 

welshmoneylover

Did you provide the actual meter readings to close down her account?
this is where a final bill can be revised if it’s been based on a previous estimate reading and the real one is provided at a later date.
its very common apparently and happens a lot especially with rental properties.

Ectophile

This could be a case where you need legal advice.  If you have followed all the processes correctly as executor, and all the money has been distributed, then that's tough for the electricity company.  There is no money left to pay them.