Meter Readings and Bills

GradyCole

A colleague has had a massive bill from their energy supplier

No meter readings were taken for two and a half years, then after the price rise in April, the energy company took a reading and charged for everything back to the 'last reading they had'

Up until then the quarterly bill had been in credit due to lump sum cash payments made at the start of the pandemic to cover such eveventualities

The recipient of the bill is a very careful user, but expected there to a a shortfall, but did not expect their costs to be charged at the new rate

The energy company have been contacted, the circumstances pointed out to them, with no effect

They are currently making estimated charges based on the new rates that are no reflection of the actual usage

Regular interim payments are being made monthly by the user but there is no resolution in sight

What next, referral to Ofgem?

victor2

GradyCole said:

A colleague has had a massive bill from their energy supplier

No meter readings were taken for two and a half years, then after the price rise in April, the energy company took a reading and charged for everything back to the 'last reading they had'

Up until then the quarterly bill had been in credit due to lump sum cash payments made at the start of the pandemic to cover such eveventualities

The recipient of the bill is a very careful user, but expected there to a a shortfall, but did not expect their costs to be charged at the new rate

The energy company have been contacted, the circumstances pointed out to them, with no effect

They are currently making estimated charges based on the new rates that are no reflection of the actual usage

Regular interim payments are being made monthly by the user but there is no resolution in sight

What next, referral to Ofgem?

Over the two and a half years, presumably estimated readings were used and bills generated from those. Then they got an actual reading some time after last April and as the estimates had been too low, a large "catch-up" bill was generated, at the current rates. The user would be at the mercy of the suppplier as to what rate they used. You can't really expect them to re-estimate the readings over the previous two and a half years and bill accordingly.

More importantly, are actual readings being used now, and are the payments being made at least covering that? DO NOT let it go back to estimated readings, they are invariably bad news, as the user has found out.

Alnat1

Please make sure that regular monthly readings are given to the energy company going forward.

GradyCole

victor2 said:

GradyCole said:

A colleague has had a massive bill from their energy supplier

No meter readings were taken for two and a half years, then after the price rise in April, the energy company took a reading and charged for everything back to the 'last reading they had'

Up until then the quarterly bill had been in credit due to lump sum cash payments made at the start of the pandemic to cover such eveventualities

The recipient of the bill is a very careful user, but expected there to a a shortfall, but did not expect their costs to be charged at the new rate

The energy company have been contacted, the circumstances pointed out to them, with no effect

They are currently making estimated charges based on the new rates that are no reflection of the actual usage

Regular interim payments are being made monthly by the user but there is no resolution in sight

What next, referral to Ofgem?

Over the two and a half years, presumably estimated readings were used and bills generated from those. Then they got an actual reading some time after last April and as the estimates had been too low, a large "catch-up" bill was generated, at the current rates. The user would be at the mercy of the suppplier as to what rate they used. You can't really expect them to re-estimate the readings over the previous two and a half years and bill accordingly.

More importantly, are actual readings being used now, and are the payments being made at least covering that? DO NOT let it go back to estimated readings, they are invariably bad news, as the user has found out.

Thanks

The meter is not easy for them to read

Occasional readings are being taken, whenever possible

Regular payments are now being made and they more than cover actual usage 'as a sign of good faith'

The supplier has said they will make their next reading in September....

Bradden

ioealshk said:

Dig out her old bills, present them as evidence of the average use over the 3 years prior to pandemic. Using these figures work out roughly how much kWs were used each month during the pandemic; then work out the costs using the kW cost that was current at that time. Make sure that all the calculations are correct to the nearest £50. Submit it as a proposal to the company, wait for them to refuse it, then send to Ombudsman.

That seems like a lot of work... what would the benefit be to the OP for doing this?

pochase

The recipient of the bill is a very careful user, but expected there to a a shortfall, but did not expect their costs to be charged at the new rate

So the recipient of the bill was aware that the estimated readings were to low, but did not submit correct meter readings and was hoping for a cheap loan?

Somehow very careful user and massive bill don't really match up.

What amount / usage that was underestimated are we talking here?

What is the rate being used in the make up bill? Are really the whole units assigned to the current rate?

pochase

Bradden said:

ioealshk said:

Dig out her old bills, present them as evidence of the average use over the 3 years prior to pandemic. Using these figures work out roughly how much kWs were used each month during the pandemic; then work out the costs using the kW cost that was current at that time. Make sure that all the calculations are correct to the nearest £50. Submit it as a proposal to the company, wait for them to refuse it, then send to Ombudsman.

That seems like a lot of work... what would the benefit be to the OP for doing this?

Most of the KWh being charged at lower rates rather than today's rates. They need to proof what they used most likely used at what time/price.

GradyCole

ioealshk said:

Dig out her old bills, present them as evidence of the average use over the 3 years prior to pandemic. Using these figures work out roughly how much kWs were used each month during the pandemic; then work out the costs using the kW cost that was current at that time. Make sure that all the calculations are correct to the nearest £50. Submit it as a proposal to the company, wait for them to refuse it, then send to Ombudsman.

Unfortunately they are not that well organised and old bills are not easy to find

The utility company say they cannot supply them........

However, irregular readings are now being taken, but the utility say thay cannot take a new reading until next month

I'll make sure that something approximating your suggestion about making a proposal is taken on board, but the utility company are not very responsive to suggestions, so far

I suspect this will end up with Ofgem and I will try and make sure your suggestions are incorporated into any submission

Thanks

GradyCole

Alnat1 said:

Please make sure that regular monthly readings are given to the energy company going forward.

Readings are not easy to take and the utility are not being too helpful...

[Deleted User]

Hi,

what's the problem getting an accurate reading, can you do it for your colleague?

GradyCole

ioealshk said:

Bradden said:

ioealshk said:

Dig out her old bills, present them as evidence of the average use over the 3 years prior to pandemic. Using these figures work out roughly how much kWs were used each month during the pandemic; then work out the costs using the kW cost that was current at that time. Make sure that all the calculations are correct to the nearest £50. Submit it as a proposal to the company, wait for them to refuse it, then send to Ombudsman.

That seems like a lot of work... what would the benefit be to the OP for doing this?

Well, OP seems to want to help, and if they don't, then the person in question should do the calculations. If you do your own calculations this increases the amount of money/compensation you can get from Ombudsman if you can show accuracy. They don't have time and knowledge to look into everyone's case in such fine detail. I got an extra £30 on top of the Ombudsman calculation thanks to doing it myself.

Besides, if it deserved its own topic on the forum, I'm guessing we are talking about a three digit sum, which is a considerable amount of money for most and therefore worth a few hours' time.

The person with the problem is disabled and the utility company are not being helpful

I take on board your methodology and reasoning, which make a lot of sense, but......

Again, we are discussing the problems faced by a disabled person when dealing with a pretty obtuse utility company....