Broken meter - E-On Bill

bee33

hi all, 

I rent a small one bed flat and have been here since 2017. My energy is split between gas and electric and my electric bill has always been extremely low. At one point in 2019, they even emailed to say that they thought they might be overcharging and so it went even lower. 

I feel extremely stupid for not realising anything was amiss with this. But money kept leaving my account each month. And in truth I don't use much electric. I don't own a TV, my heating and cooker is gas and I work long hours out of the office. Having ever rented alone before, I naively thought that the bill made sense for a flat of this size. 

Calling E-On today to submit a new reading, I was told by them that the reading was the same as the one I submitted in April, and one I submitted back in 2019. I could owe them thousands of pounds in unpaid electricity. 

My lettings agent has said that the responsibility to realise that the meter was broken lies with them as readings were submitted to them and that I shouldn't let them push me into paying. Does anyone know if this is the case? And if it isn't am I likely to be made to pay what could be 5 years worth of unpaid bills? 

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

bee33 said:

Calling E-On today to submit a new reading, I was told by them that the reading was the same as the one I submitted in April, and one I submitted back in 2019. I could owe them thousands of pounds in unpaid electricity. 
My lettings agent has said that the responsibility to realise that the meter was broken lies with them as readings were submitted to them and that I shouldn't let them push me into paying. Does anyone know if this is the case? And if it isn't am I likely to be made to pay what could be 5 years worth of unpaid bills? 

Your supplier is responsible for providing an accurate meter and billing you based on metered consumption.

In the absence of a working meter they will have to estimate your use, but this may then fall under the "back billing" rules where you won't be charged for more than the past 12 months of estimated use.