£856 electricity bill shocker

seaswimmer

It's not often that you get to work with an appalling company and a good one side by side. Pure Planet (the villain in this piece) tried, for more than a year, to charge us a four-figure sum for fuel used on an empty house that we owned, which was awaiting renovation. We sent them plenty of proof that the house was empty, including accurate meter readings - but they would not budge. The usual grind-down tactics were deployed: mazes of call centres, referrals to a non-working app - you've all been there no doubt. 

When the house was done up and we moved in, Pure Planet, still refusing to believe that we had not been living there, gave our new supplier (Octopus) incorrectly high starting readings. We were unaware of any of this however. The discrepancy between the made-up Pure Planet numbers and our own (accurate) monthly meter readings, we later learned, threw the Octopus system out completely. They ended up first auto-refunding us all of our bills a month or so after we paid them (odd, but we weren't going to complain), and then suddenly, a year after we moved in, clawing the whole lot back, plus £460 extra - totalling £856 for one quarter!

I phoned in an irate mood and, I'm pleased to say, the call handler very carefully and patiently explained the whole saga. The extra, it turns out, had been re-calculated on the basis of our (real) lower opening reading, and so was legitimate. She took full responsibility for not communicating with me about what had been going on all the while, and also for hitting us with a kraken of a bill. No back-and-forth, no fuss. She was also kind enough to refund me some of the money as a goodwill gesture. Meantime, Pure Planet have gone bust and good riddance. Result

pinkshoes

Is there a consumer rights question?

Did you pay Pure Planet the correct amount for when you owned the house and hadn't moved in yet? It's irrelevant that you weren't living there. You would have to pay a standing change for supply of electricity plus any you used while it was being renovated. A standing charge can vary depending on tariff, anything from 5p to 60p per day.

TheMilkmansDad

seems like a general rant with limited facts for anyone to comment on. Suggest the OP either asks the question implied or provide a bit more detail (or both!).

Ergates

pinkshoes said:

Is there a consumer rights question?

Did you pay Pure Planet the correct amount for when you owned the house and hadn't moved in yet? It's irrelevant that you weren't living there. You would have to pay a standing change for supply of electricity plus any you used while it was being renovated. A standing charge can vary depending on tariff, anything from 5p to 60p per day.

Sounds more like Pure were billing based on estimated readings and ignoring the actual readings supplied by the OP - hence the confusion when Octopus took over.  They were sent an estimated reading from Pure, then an actual reading from the OP which was significantly less than the initial reading.

My question to the OP would be - when Pure were using their estimated readings, were you paying for the estimated amount or for the actual amount used?   If you were paying the estimated amount, did you get refunded when you switched suppliers as your account should have been significantly in credit?

seaswimmer

Pure kept billing for estimated amounts, even though we were ready (with meter readings, empty house register documents etc.) to pay for what was used. They simply refused to shift, and folded only when they went bust - handing the problem on to Octopus to deal with. It's true that this is a bit of a rant, but I guess there are lessons worth learning: don't be intimidated, insist on clear communication until you obtain it, and give recognition for good service when it is due. Energy suppliers short-change too many people.

seaswimmer

(Ergates: we refused to pay the estimates)

seaswimmer

 - they were £700 in excess of what we had used. Thankfully now we won't have to pay them.

Money_Grabber13579

seaswimmer said:

 - they were £700 in excess of what we had used. Thankfully now we won't have to pay them.

If you mean you don’t have to pay them because they’ve gone bust (and I’m not sure if that is why you mean), that’s not how it works…

Ergates

Money_Grabber13579 said:

seaswimmer said:

 - they were £700 in excess of what we had used. Thankfully now we won't have to pay them.

If you mean you don’t have to pay them because they’ve gone bust (and I’m not sure if that is why you mean), that’s not how it works…

It is if they bills were in excess of what was actually used - because they've gone bust and been replaced by a more competent company that uses actual meter readings.

400ixl

There is still an administrator in place who will be looking to receive payments for all outstanding debts. Just because a new supplier has taken over the new service, may not change you having a historical problem to resolve.

seaswimmer

No - a week before Pure Planet folded, they re-billed us for the actual sum owed, based on the meter readings we had given them, which we gladly paid - £523 rather than £1239. It took us a year of refusal on our part to back down before they did this however. Octopus, by contrast, were excellent communicators throughout all the confusion - thanks to this, the problem is now solved & dealt with.