Bill for gas and electricity, backdated - law

Tripplemum

Hi, i am with Bulb, and from the beginning they have never accepted the meter readings i put in monthly. Every time they requested picture proof, which i gave them. Because we have got a large indoor swimming pool, we use a lot more energy than a normal household. I have contacted them many times over the years to make them correct the bills, and sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. After a while it got stupid and i stopped calling them, as every time it took a long time to get bills corrected. Now i have received a 5 year bill (2017 to now) where i supposedly own them nearly 4000.--. I cannot afford to pay that and need to know what the law is around back payment and also the time line. Can anyone help?

pinkshoes

I believe the time limit is 6 years. If you have used the energy, then you need to pay it.

If you have photo evidence of the meter readings then you can work out how much you owe. I'd also ask them for a breakdown of the tariff and cost for each month. They can't charge you all the units at the latest high price.

I would phone them and ask to pay in monthly instalments. 

I'm with Bulb and it's very easy to just change the amount you pay each month online or on their app. Why didn't you just increase the monthly amount in line with what you KNEW was the correct amount? 

Manxman_in_exile

I don't know what the law says, but this is what the official independent regulator ofgem says about " back-billing".  Does it apply to you?

 Check the energy back-billing rules | Ofgem

bris

Yes you owe them the money, the law says 6 years for statute barred but that wont count if you have been paying bills as that counts as money towards the debt.when you pay money to them it restarts the clock.

Having a swimming pool, obviously heated, then you really cant be surprised.

It cost around £7 a day to keep a hot tub on and for a day,. A swimming pool much much more.

In fact wasn't Sunak in the news boasting about his 13k a year to run his pool?

That may be excessive but you must still be looking at around £200 a month over the 5 years your bill is about right.

mr_stripey

If you believed or suspected that you had been billed less than you should be then it would be sensible to save some money for when the company did eventually come knocking.

My supplier didn't collect any direct debits from me for several months last year despite me submitting readings and having an active direct debit.

The me of old would have probably just ignored it but I'm a little older and wiser now so chunked what I estimated my bill would be into a savings pot. When they eventually debited over £1000 from my bank, it didn't cause the problem it would have done.

QrizB

Tripplemum said:

Can anyone help?

Can we have some more details, please?

What was the meter reading and date on your previous bill, and on your current one? What is the actual meter reading today?

gt94sss2

If you were submitting meter readings and Bulb failed to bill you properly, then the back billing rules apply.

[Deleted User]

Tripplemum said:

After a while it got stupid and i stopped calling them, as every time it took a long time to get bills corrected. Now i have received a 5 year bill (2017 to now) where i supposedly own them nearly 4000.--. I cannot afford to pay that and need to know what the law is around back payment and also the time line. Can anyone help?

Ok so when was the last time you called them to request a corrected bill?  More or less than 5 years?  To put it another way, what date was your last correct bill using the actual reads that you provided to Bulb?  Was it 2017?

Tripplemum

Hi, thanks, i got lots of "corrected bills" in the last few months, always going further back....need to check the actual date