Deliberate Low Meter Readings

ELUH1508

Hi,

I need some advice.

With the impending energy price increase, I've got a dilemma.

For the past two and a half years we have shared our home (DH AND DD) with a dementia suffering parent in order to care for them. Alot of people will know about the quirks of dementia sufferers and how hard it can be to accommodate these.
For us, it has affected us because, they find comfort in being warm and having the lights and telly on constantly. 
2 Portable heaters have been on constantly for 8 hours plus a day in their room and have ravaged through energy. 
When I saw the electricity going up, I put in slightly lower readings every so often rather than monthly, thinking we could do catch up and now I owe 28000kwh (around 6k I think) worth of electricity from the past 30 months and the prices are about to increase. I was always going to pay for the energy, it just spiralled out of control and it's ended up here. I felt too ashamed to contact my supplier to explain the situation in the first place but now I'm.ashamed because what was I messing around with.
I don't know what to do for the best, just put in the reading and pay it off monthly as quickly as possible, as the parent has been moved to a home now so our usage will return to a more average usage. I suppose I want reassurance they're not going to say I was committing fraud or something? 
My brain is scrambled! 
Help please!

MWT

ELUH1508 said:

I suppose I want reassurance they're not going to say I was committing fraud or something?

OK, this first part is tough, you have been committing fraud, we can't pretend otherwise so get used to that as a fact and then let's move forward.

You say you had no intent to permanently defraud them, so now is the moment to prove that and submit the correct meter reading so at least you can nail the amount owed at the pre-increase rates.

They are going to query the accuracy of the meter reading as it will trigger warnings as it is a lot higher than previous readings so you will have to explain that the previous readings were wrong and you now setting the record straight.

They will usually be willing to arrange a repayment plan, and that is a lot more likely to happen if you are straight with them from here onwards, you have just been very lucky that the problem was not found by a meter reader before now...

I would also suggest that you post over on the 'Debt Free..' forum here for further help in getting straight if this is not the only debt issue you are dealing with right now. 

MattMattMattUK

ELUH1508 said:

Hi,

I need some advice.

With the impending energy price increase, I've got a dilemma.

For the past two and a half years we have shared our home (DH AND DD) with a dementia suffering parent in order to care for them. Alot of people will know about the quirks of dementia sufferers and how hard it can be to accommodate these.
For us, it has affected us because, they find comfort in being warm and having the lights and telly on constantly. 
2 Portable heaters have been on constantly for 8 hours plus a day in their room and have ravaged through energy. 
When I saw the electricity going up, I put in slightly lower readings every so often rather than monthly, thinking we could do catch up and now I owe 28000kwh (around 6k I think) worth of electricity from the past 30 months and the prices are about to increase. I was always going to pay for the energy, it just spiralled out of control and it's ended up here. I felt too ashamed to contact my supplier to explain the situation in the first place but now I'm.ashamed because what was I messing around with.
I don't know what to do for the best, just put in the reading and pay it off monthly as quickly as possible, as the parent has been moved to a home now so our usage will return to a more average usage. I suppose I want reassurance they're not going to say I was committing fraud or something? 
My brain is scrambled! 
Help please!

You were committing fraud. 

The best position financially and probably morally is to submit an accurate reading, take pictures of the meter showing that reading (because a reading 28,000 kWh higher than before will trigger some kind of verification, if not outright rejection) an then when that works it's way through to the bill ask for a payment plan unless you can cover everything all in one go. 

At the current (soon to be old) rates you will owe £5,824, based on the newer rates it would be £8,120 or more (depending on your region) so it is very much in your interest to be honest about this now. If asked just claim ignorance/stupidity because if you openly admit fraud there are far bigger implications than a large bill. 

ELUH1508

Thanks everyone. I've just submitted it now and so hopefully I can just move forward.

Brie

Please ensure you have taken a photo so that you have proof it's accurate now - they probably won't believe it and will likely think you're trying to scam them due to rate increases.

Completely get why you did this.  MiL has her lounge heated to tropical levels even in the height of summer.  TV on all day, and lights.  And because we haven't been able to isolate radiators properly we are using more energy than we should as her bed room needs a good airing every single day.  I'm constantly going around turning things off, shutting doors to stop the thermostat being triggered but it's an unending battle.  

ELUH1508

Brie said:

Please ensure you have taken a photo so that you have proof it's accurate now - they probably won't believe it and will likely think you're trying to scam them due to rate increases.

Completely get why you did this.  MiL has her lounge heated to tropical levels even in the height of summer.  TV on all day, and lights.  And because we haven't been able to isolate radiators properly we are using more energy than we should as her bed room needs a good airing every single day.  I'm constantly going around turning things off, shutting doors to stop the thermostat being triggered but it's an unending battle.  

Thanks Brie, yes I've taken a photo to record it. 

Ah I know it is a constant battle and what can you do about the time you're in bed and have the heating off throughout the whole house but they do their own thing in their bedroom??? Bloody nightmare. I feel for you! 
It's horrible because you want to care for them, but the cost of living is hard to keep up with especially with lockdowns and my self employed DH not being able to work and the seiss payments having to be used very carefully!

Mstty

OK so let's try and come up with a plan.

You need to give some thought about how you can repay the outstanding electricity.

Firstly have you worked out what your actual usage is each year and what your new payment will be on the new price cap? If not please provide your actual usage for the year for elec and gas and I and others can help you come up with the figures of what you will pay from April 1st. If you know what you pay now per kWh that will also be handy.

When the energy company contact you you need to come up with a repayment plan something that you can afford but also something that does eat away at the debt. Hence why it's best to set out what your monthly bill should be from 1st April and how much extra you can pay to eat away at this debt.

Lastly who is your energy supplier? 

ELUH1508

Mstty said:

OK so let's try and come up with a plan.

You need to give some thought about how you can repay the outstanding electricity.

Firstly have you worked out what your actual usage is each year and what your new payment will be on the new price cap? If not please provide your actual usage for the year for elec and gas and I and others can help you come up with the figures of what you will pay from April 1st. If you know what you pay now per kWh that will also be handy.

When the energy company contact you you need to come up with a repayment plan something that you can afford but also something that does eat away at the debt. Hence why it's best to set out what your monthly bill should be from 1st April and how much extra you can pay to eat away at this debt.

Lastly who is your energy supplier? 

Hi, thanks for your reply.

So, we are soon to be in the best position financially than we ever have been so the money will be disposable income.
Last month, we used 400kwh of electricity and 110kwh of gas.

Ok, I'll look into that and see what we can afford realistically every month.

We are with Bulb at the moment 

Spies

The true meter reading is going to royally screw up the direct debits as your estimated usage is now going to be massive.

It was a very silly choice to deliberately submit low readings, but what is more perplexing is why a manual read by your provider wasn't done.

pochase

ELUH1508 said:
Last month, we used 400kwh of electricity and 110kwh of gas.

110KWh of gas sounds very low, is that really 110KWh or maybe 110m3, which would be ~1200KwH and more in line with normal use.

 400KWh electricity is well above average. Is that already the "reduced" usage?

bottletop

Well, I've been with Bulb for over four years now and I've never seen a single meter reader in all that time, so I can well understand how this could arise.

Do they not have some kind of duty in this area?