I am being billed £328 for 2 months by e-On after moving to a new property

niktheguru

You guys have been very helpful and a huge eye opener to the level of injustice and unfair play that goes on. Its unbelievable

There is not really much injustice and unfair play. What you get is only as good as what you put in. Customers need to take more responsibility over their energy usage, provide regular meter readings (or get a functioning smart meter) and check that these readings are used to produce bills and not have bills based on estimates. If customers don’t provide regular readings then the estimates are going to be rubbish.

Ehi

niktheguru said:

There is not really much injustice and unfair play. What you get is only as good as what you put in. Customers need to take more responsibility over their energy usage, provide regular meter readings (or get a functioning smart meter) and check that these readings are used to produce bills and not have bills based on estimates. If customers don’t provide regular readings then the estimates are going to be rubbish.

I respectfully disagree 

If companies are going to use estimates, then they should transparently tell the clients what they are doing and how their charges are being generated.

I recall when I went through a divorce and spent years in court, I moved to a cheap rent property and because I wasnt thinking I recall paying about £90pcm or more (for electric alone) for 4 years and my life style was the same (single, never was at home and showered in the gym) I wasnt in the right frame of mind as I was fighting to be in my daughter's life and false accusations. I recall a few times a company rep came to take meter readings but never once advised me

Looking back, nPower just had a field day with my pocket. It would have been nice if they advised me as you guys have been extremely helpful and I havent been here that long

I repeat if you guys werent kind enough to advise, I would have been taken again and again to the barbers  :'( 

In less than 7 months I have had a refund of £187 from BULB and similar from e-On, left unchecked, imagine what I would have paid in the years to come ????

[Deleted User]

Ehi said:

niktheguru said:

There is not really much injustice and unfair play. What you get is only as good as what you put in. Customers need to take more responsibility over their energy usage, provide regular meter readings (or get a functioning smart meter) and check that these readings are used to produce bills and not have bills based on estimates. If customers don’t provide regular readings then the estimates are going to be rubbish.

I respectfully disagree 

If companies are going to use estimates, then they should transparently tell the clients what they are doing and how their charges are being generated.

Suppliers make it clear on their statements whether the meter reading being used is ‘A’ actual; ‘C’ customer; ‘E’ estimated, or smart. If consumers cannot be bothered to take note of the annotations on the provided statements  the supplier cannot really be blamed. I also believe that some suppliers make it even clearer on their statements by inviting consumers to submit an actual meter reading.



Standard Licence Conditions also make it clear that if a customer provides a reading then it should be used for billing purposes if deemed ‘reasonably accurate’. If the supplier does not deem the reading to be ‘reasonably accurate’ then it should ask the consumer to provide another meter reading. (SLC21B).

All statements have to include tariff information and, in the case of gas, the detailed volume to kWh calculation that has been used.

Tokmon

Ehi said:

niktheguru said:

There is not really much injustice and unfair play. What you get is only as good as what you put in. Customers need to take more responsibility over their energy usage, provide regular meter readings (or get a functioning smart meter) and check that these readings are used to produce bills and not have bills based on estimates. If customers don’t provide regular readings then the estimates are going to be rubbish.

I respectfully disagree 

If companies are going to use estimates, then they should transparently tell the clients what they are doing and how their charges are being generated.

I recall when I went through a divorce and spent years in court, I moved to a cheap rent property and because I wasnt thinking I recall paying about £90pcm or more (for electric alone) for 4 years and my life style was the same (single, never was at home and showered in the gym) I wasnt in the right frame of mind as I was fighting to be in my daughter's life and false accusations. I recall a few times a company rep came to take meter readings but never once advised me

Looking back, nPower just had a field day with my pocket. It would have been nice if they advised me as you guys have been extremely helpful and I havent been here that long

I repeat if you guys werent kind enough to advise, I would have been taken again and again to the barbers  :'( 

In less than 7 months I have had a refund of £187 from BULB and similar from e-On, left unchecked, imagine what I would have paid in the years to come ????

As Dolor says you just needed to read the statements!. The statement tells you all the information about how the charges are calculated and what readings are being used.  

This is one of the most common financial mistakes that people make in life when they just don't read the information that they are supplied with and then it's somehow the companies fault for not telling them...

From now on just read every bill, bank statement, credit card statement, insurance document and any other financial documents and ensure you understand what they are showing you and question anything that you don't fully understand.

If someone spends the time to actually ready the documents and ask questions then most people are more than happy to go through it and help them understand. If people can't be bothered to even look at the bill and just complain when it goes wrong then that's at least 50% their own fault for having their head in the sand.

Ehi

Yes you are right,
but the argument goes in so many ways, for those who like me (where ignorant) and had our heads shaved, companies could have done a bit more

1. Whenever we gave estimates (as I know in times past I have done so and also opened and welcomed their reps), but never have ever gotten a refund or had corrected their charges
2. Refunded the overcharges (as I have gotten now) 

*** Again I repeat, I wont have been refunded if you guys did not correctly advise me
*** again, I wont have come on here, if the sharks did not bite my arm with such a high bill. If I was charged half the amount, I might have quietly paid it off and the rip off continues

3. I wonder how many millions out there dont know what I have learnt from you guys. I was telling a friend and she was shocked, and has now been going through her bills

To be refunded close to £400 in 7 months just because you guys advised me, is shocking. Ignorance or not - and to think I could have been given a CCJ and had my life ruined too

[Deleted User]

Ehi said:

Yes you are right,
but the argument goes in so many ways, for those who like me (where ignorant) and had our heads shaved, companies could have done a bit more

1. Whenever we gave estimates (as I know in times past I have done so and also opened and welcomed their reps), but never have ever gotten a refund or had corrected their charges
2. Refunded the overcharges (as I have gotten now) 

*** Again I repeat, I wont have been refunded if you guys did not correctly advise me
*** again, I wont have come on here, if the sharks did not bite my arm with such a high bill. If I was charged half the amount, I might have quietly paid it off and the rip off continues

3. I wonder how many millions out there dont know what I have learnt from you guys. I was telling a friend and she was shocked, and has now been going through her bills

To be refunded close to £400 in 7 months just because you guys advised me, is shocking. Ignorance or not - and to think I could have been given a CCJ and had my life ruined too

You are making the classic mistake of confusing payments with usage charges. The latter is based on the tariff that you agreed to and the amount of energy that was used. There is nothing underhand going on here so I don’t understand what you mean about ‘correcting their charges’ or ‘gotten a refund’. 

Whenever there is a debit balance on an energy account, the first thing to check is that meter reading that has been used compares favourably with what the index reading is showing. If not, then submit an actual reading and ask for a new statement. Similarly, if the supplier notifies you that there is a debt on the account, then check the meter readings. The only risk of you getting a CCJ is if you do nothing. 

It would be fraud for any energy supplier to overcharge its customers for the energy that it has supplied. Suppliers may not be quick to refund a credit balance but all have a legal obligation to do so. The simple act of switching suppliers requires the losing supplier to raise a Final Bill which will have a debit or credit balance. As others have pointed out, under Ofgem rules, all credit balances must be repaid within 10 working days of the Final Bill being raised. 

The simple act of getting a smart meter installed should avoid the need for a supplier to bill on anything but actual meter readings.

Reed_Richards

In my opinion any final bill that is based on an estimate (where there is no agreed handover reading) should say:

This bill is based on an estimated reading and may be subject to later revision.

in very large letters.  Final bills that aren't final cause so much confusion with customers (and so many post here) and Customer Service staff don't always seem to know how to handle them either.      

[Deleted User]

Do you mean like this:  (snapshot from a 2017 bill on switch)

Tokmon

Ehi said:

Yes you are right,
but the argument goes in so many ways, for those who like me (where ignorant) and had our heads shaved, companies could have done a bit more

1. Whenever we gave estimates (as I know in times past I have done so and also opened and welcomed their reps), but never have ever gotten a refund or had corrected their charges
2. Refunded the overcharges (as I have gotten now) 

*** Again I repeat, I wont have been refunded if you guys did not correctly advise me
*** again, I wont have come on here, if the sharks did not bite my arm with such a high bill. If I was charged half the amount, I might have quietly paid it off and the rip off continues

3. I wonder how many millions out there dont know what I have learnt from you guys. I was telling a friend and she was shocked, and has now been going through her bills

To be refunded close to £400 in 7 months just because you guys advised me, is shocking. Ignorance or not - and to think I could have been given a CCJ and had my life ruined too

But what else would you expect them to do?

They have sent you a bill clearly showing the readings are estimated and exactly what you have been charged for. If your just going to ignore the bill and not even look at it then your just as likely to ignore any letters or emails they sent as well. 

It's common sense you should read any bills you are sent and if you can't be bothered to do that then that's your fault as the information has been supplied to you.

Reed_Richards

Dolor said:

Do you mean like this:  (snapshot from a 2017 bill on switch)

Yes, I mean exactly like that but obligatory on all such final statements.