Student - help with new £650 direct debit for electric/gas!!!!!!!

audioblackout

Hi everyone. 

My direct debit has just been put up to £650 for a 2 bedroom terrace house and as I am a poor student I simply cant afford it and need help!!!!

OK so here is the story. I have been having estimated bills for the last 5 years with a direct debit of £100. I was with Green Energy and last year it swapped to EDF. Nobody ever came round to read the meter. I also realised they had a very old email address that I do not use, so that explains why I have never had any electronic communication either. I just presumed the estimates were right. 

After all the press coverage last month I thought that it would be best to give them meter readings for both gas and electric. 

It turns out their estimates have been WILDLY WRONG! With the correct readings am now £2000 in debt, hence why the direct debit has been put up. I certainly do not use £650 worth of gas and electric each month - I do not even have a TV! 

As I simply cannot afford this I wonder if anyone can give me any advice? I was also reading about something called back-billing? Would this apply to me?

Hope someone can help!

Mark

Robin9

Give us the readings please from the GNE final invoice. and today. Did you also give EDf the requested meter read when they took over from GNE.  Can you back and find a GNE with Actual reads on it ?

The Gas is a separate issue - have you been a customer of Edf and not involved in one of the SoLR  ' s like ZOG

Again please reads -  hopefully there is a bill somewhere with Actual reads on it.

molerat

Back billing will apply if you had not been billed and have made reasonable attempts to contact the supplier.  Neither of these seem to apply here. Why have you not been supplying monthly meter reads ?

audioblackout

Thanks for trying to help Robin. So here are some screenshots. The EDF one is the latest bill and the GNE on is the closing bill, which I managed to download from my old email last night. 

audioblackout

@ Molerat. Years ago someone would come round. I have never given my own meter readings so I just went on with my life. I wish I had now! 

audioblackout

molerat said:

Back billing will apply if you had not been billed and have made reasonable attempts to contact the supplier.  Neither of these seem to apply here. Why have you not been supplying monthly meter reads ?

See above Robin9! Hope this is what you require. 

MWT

audioblackout said:

As I simply cannot afford this I wonder if anyone can give me any advice? I was also reading about something called back-billing? Would this apply to me?

I assume you were originally with 'Green Network Energy' as you mention being transferred to EDF... ?

The back-billing rules are not going to help you as your supplier failed and so are no longer bound by those rules, and frankly even if they hadn't failed it would have been questionable if the rules would have helped due to a complete lack of effort on your part to make contact with your supplier or even ensure that they had a current email address for you...

However, you are where you are at this point so you need to contact EDF and tell them that you cannot afford the payment plan they are proposing.

You may need to give them some details regarding your income and expenditure and propose a number that  you can afford which will cover your current use and make at least some contribution to the debt that has built up...

Robin9

And todays readings please ?

theoretica

audioblackout said:

It turns out their estimates have been WILDLY WRONG! With the correct readings am now £2000 in debt, hence why the direct debit has been put up. I certainly do not use £650 worth of gas and electric each month - I do not even have a TV! 

They aren't saying you use £650 a month though are they, they will be saying you use X a month and also have a debt to repay for what you used over the last 5 years. £2000 debt over 5 years averages to just over £33 a month underpayment.  You probably want to get clear what is current usage and what is past underpayment.

audioblackout

Robin9 said:

And todays readings please ?

Todays readings are: 

Gas: 18932.23
Electric 31413.2

Robin9

Those estimates in March weren't actually too far out  - unfortunately for you they were low.

GAs 18797 - n ow 18932
Elec 31091 - now 31413

Submit your readings on line and get some new bills.  You may have to contact CHAT to get them

Put a  date in your diary and read them every month form now on