Re-Estimated Bill, £4000 owed for electricity despite paying on time every month

alittlenoid

I've been getting estimated bills from my electricity supplier, EDF, for the past 2 years. The reason they're estimated is that I had have no access to my meter until a few weeks ago - I live in a rented 2 bed flat, and access to my meter was in a part of the building I never had access to (and I did ask my landlord multiple times). When I moved in EDF also attempted, and failed to access the meter. And then COVID etc. and nobody bothered to send people round to get meter readings. I got phone calls asking for meter readings, and each time I explained I can't access the meter, they said it's fine, and they'd make a note on my account, but they never did.

These bills averaged a little over £100 per month, up to around £140 maybe in winter and I always paid on time.
Last month, with no warning or explanation, I got a bill for ~£3500. I reached out, and was told that they had re-calculated my bill, and I owed a backlog, and if I wanted it "sorted" I needed to provide a meter reading. So a full day of back and forths with my landlord, and 2 trips to Timpsons later, I now had a code and key to get into a part of the building that contains my unlabelled meter which I know must be mine because it has the right serial number according to my EDF account online. Fine. I get my readings, photos of the meter and send them to EDF.

They get back to me, say the estimate they made (based on thin air apparently, because they have no record of a meter read prior to the one I gave) was surprisingly accurate, but that I now owe ~£4000, and that based on my tarrif I have been underpaying by 150-160 every month for 2 years.

They have (generously?) offered to allow me to pay them extra on top of my existing bill for the next 3 years to pay it off.

Do I have the right to challenge this at all? To ask for transparency? Or would I be better off taking them up on the offer to spread "backpayment" over

Gerry1

alittlenoid said:

I now had a code and key to get into a part of the building that contains my unlabelled meter which I know must be mine because it has the right serial number according to my EDF account online.

Not necessarily true.  It could be supplying another flat and/or the heating and lighting in the communal areas.

You need to do a meter sanity test.  Switch everything off at the consumer unit when it's dark, then go to 'your' meter and watch the red LED marked '1000 Imp/kWh' (or whatever) for a good five minutes and make sure it never flashes even once.  Then turn on absolutely everything in the flat and check that the LED is flashing away crazily.

welshmoneylover

What was your opening read when you moved in and what is the reading now?
have you turned the supply off to make sure it is your meter? 

Robin9

Going back in time how did you manage to give EDF readings when you moved in 2 years ago.   

I assume that when you moved in you did ring the existing supplier (who was that?)   and give them readings and then you switched to EDF shortly after and gave them readings

If not I fear you may be paying for energy used by the previous tenant.

niktheguru

I suspect the OP has never had a single meter reading seeing as he has never had access to the cupboard. He has now opened pandoras box and is left with the mess when people dont read their meters. Where was the landlord and letting agent during all this. Surely on check in they would have taken a meter reading. (i know mine do) If they haven't and the OP didn't, who knows what usage was theirs, he may well be paying a massive bill which he didnt use!

knightstyle

I thought energy companies had to read meters every two years?  So Opp should have at least one proper reading.

Swipe

knightstyle said:

I thought energy companies had to read meters every two years?  So Opp should have at least one proper reading.

Not sure that's a requirement any longer

MWT

Swipe said:

knightstyle said:

I thought energy companies had to read meters every two years?  So Opp should have at least one proper reading.

Not sure that's a requirement any longer

It isn't. That was removed some time ago.

Now they have to make the effort to obtain a meter reading at least once a year but that can be from a smart meter, their own meter reader or the customer.

Given that it only took suitable motivation to persuade the OP to actually gain access it really doesn't seem there was ever a good reason not to provide the meter readings that had been requested...

I'd be inclined to take the offer to repay over time...

runaroundpauper

some years ago i had a  issue like this  ,i explained the situation to a union solicitor the reply was EQUITABLE ESTOPPLE , i sent a letter to the energy company that was  demanding  payment and the whole case /dispute was dropped ,
i am not a solicitor and cannot offer legal advice i can only provide my own experience , its something to do with lapse of time for demanding the money ,it may be worth enquiring with citizens advice or if you know somebody in the legal role

Reed_Richards

I could be wrong but I think there is a loophole.  Provided your energy supply company sends you regular bills, no matter how wrong, they have as long as they like to make a correction.  They are not supposed to send bills for energy consumed over a year ago but if everything has been based on estimates then there is no way of telling when the actual readings diverged from the estimates.

MWT

runaroundpauper said:

some years ago i had a  issue like this  ,i explained the situation to a union solicitor the reply was EQUITABLE ESTOPPLE , i sent a letter to the energy company that was  demanding  payment and the whole case /dispute was dropped ,
i am not a solicitor and cannot offer legal advice i can only provide my own experience , its something to do with lapse of time for demanding the money ,it may be worth enquiring with citizens advice or if you know somebody in the legal role

Going to have a hard time using 'equitable estoppel' here, you would have to show that the supplier knew their estimates were wrong but represented them as accurate and the OP relied on them as accurate when making payment...

This is far from the case and why the readings are marked as estimates.

This case is a great example of why you need to spend the time to get access to your meter on the day you move in and retain that access so you can check usage and provide readings each month...