SSE Threatening Debt recovery Action rather than responding to a Complaint

Jayaneric

The payments are in the Payments column, the figures from the bill are highlighted in yellow. Examining the bill you see it starts with the account being in credit of 212, the bills reduce this each time by the amount of the bill but do not include the payments made.

MWT

Have a look at the bill which precedes the one in your screenshots, for the period to 26th March 20, and tell us what the balance was on that bill please...

Robin9

There will be a yellow sticker on the new meter showing the old meter read - what is it please. (is that what the 19091 is - in which case the18736  is your correct and your neighbour has a big bill to pay due to the previous estimated ones)

The new meter will have read 0000.0 on the 22/4 - what is it today please

Jayaneric

All the readings are estimate, there are only three actual readings 18698 made on the 24/2/21, 19091 taken by the engineer repkacing the old meter with a SMART meter on the 22/4/21 and the current reading which is on the smart meter  297 which I add to the last old meter reading to give 19388

MWT

I suspect the problem is going to be in that opening balance, it almost certainly already includes the payments made, as it is an amended statement covering multiple billing periods...

...so it should be clear from the difference in that opening balance and the one stated on the preceding statement for the period to 26th March 20 if that can be checked...

Rhubarb_Shed

Has your neighbour actually made any payments during this period?
I think the "payments" listed under 'Payment history' are just deductions from the original £212.29 credit balance, which has since run out, hence now the debit balance (made larger by the inaccurate estimates that had been used previously).

[Deleted User]

Jayaneric said:

The payments are in the Payments column, the figures from the bill are highlighted in yellow. Examining the bill you see it starts with the account being in credit of 212, the bills reduce this each time by the amount of the bill but do not include the payments made.

I repeat what I said earlier. Ignore the statements in front of you. Go back to a statement that is based on an ACTUAL meter reading and then deduct this from the final reading taken off the old meter. Calculate the unit cost. Count the number of days between the two actual readings: calculate the standing charge. Add VAT. You then have your charges. 

Add the debit/credit balance to the charges and deduct all payments made (I would use my Bank statement to check). You then have a credit/debit balance. Compare this to what the supplier is claiming.

Remember, some suppliers choose to reverse all estimated bills when an actual meter reading is provided. They then raise a revised bill.

niktheguru

I agree with the other posters, this is one big catchup bill and the lady is going to owe quite a bit of money for the usage.

However I do understand what Jayeneric is trying to say. There is a £37 payment and a £35 payment that is not accounted for in the bills. It will be difficult to go back and sort this out as it looks like there hasn't been an actual read for sometime, so she has been underpaying for at least a year. There must be more pages to the bills where payments are included. Or what do the previous bills say about payments?

QrizB

niktheguru said:

However I do understand what Jayeneric is trying to say. There is a £37 payment and a £35 payment that is not accounted for in the bills.

I'm not convinced those are actual payments, It could be a quirk of SSE's billing system. It would seem odd for SSE to take payments exactly equal to the preceding bill value when the account is significantly in credit.

[Deleted User] said:

Add the debit/credit balance to the charges and deduct all payments made (I would use my Bank statement to check). You then have a credit/debit balance. Compare this to what the supplier is claiming.

Yes, check your neighbour's bank statements and see whether those "payments" in 2020 were actually paid.

niktheguru

QrizB said:

niktheguru said:

However I do understand what Jayeneric is trying to say. There is a £37 payment and a £35 payment that is not accounted for in the bills.

I'm not convinced those are actual payments, It could be a quirk of SSE's billing system. It would seem odd for SSE to take payments exactly equal to the preceding bill value when the account is significantly in credit.

[Deleted User] said:

Add the debit/credit balance to the charges and deduct all payments made (I would use my Bank statement to check). You then have a credit/debit balance. Compare this to what the supplier is claiming.

Yes, check your neighbour's bank statements and see whether those "payments" in 2020 were actually paid.

Agree with this. I have asked the OP twice about what payment method is used, but yet to get an answer. Checking bank statements or receipts is crucial here.