Potential legal implications with my energy company billing me for incorrect meter reading?

JRWW

I’ll try to keep this as short as possible, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have lived at my current rented flat with my girlfriend for a couple of years, my first time living away from my parents. I have recently come to learn (due to my own naivety which I can only apologise for) that it is best practice to update your energy company with monthly meter readings to avoid large back bills, which I am now fully aware of. Up until now, I have only given readings if and when I’ve been asked for them, and that is the extent to which I admit I am at fault.

 Now onto where I believe my energy company is culpable. 

 In January 2022, I received an email asking for a reading (just for electricity as we don’t have gas). I do not have physical access to my meter, so I have to text message the caretaker for the building who messaged me the readings. (I have screenshot and messages from him: “

Rate 4 (night rate) - 35575

Rate 1 (day rate) - 48210

Total - 83785

 I replied to the energy company’s email with these figures, and the rep assured me that these figures would be updated as such, I would received correct billing.

 Fast forward to 28th August, I receive another request for a meter update, but as I now have the company’s app, inputted the latest figures myself after receiving them from the caretaker.

 I am shocked and distraught to see an estimated debit of £3355.02. 

 I immediately check the readings figures on my account, only to find that the readings listed on January have not been inputted as I sent them, but as much lower figures of: Day rate: 40511 and Night rate: 34975, and so have been generating bills off these figures far lower than the ones I actually gave.

 Call me naive for not noticing that our electricity bills were suspiciously low (about £60 a month), but it’s just the two of us and we are mostly out, and I have no prior experience of average electricity costs.

 We budget based on projected bills each month, and do not have the spare cash to pay a back bill of such an amount.

 Not to mention, I believe it would be unfair to bill us for under payments from the date in January when I gave them the correct readings, as their employees erroneously inputted the wrong figures into my account, landing us with a gigantic catchup debit in one go.

 I’ve spoken to them on the phone and they seem unwilling to admit fault or provide advice until and actual bill is generated next week, but just wanted possible advice on whether they are liable in any way for their mistake, as we are pretty stressed and distraught.

Thank you for reading, apologies for the length of this post.

MWT

JRWW said:

... I believe it would be unfair to bill us for under payments from the date in January when I gave them the correct readings, as their employees erroneously inputted the wrong figures into my account, landing us with a gigantic catchup debit in one go.

January '22 is not the date you should be looking at.

Check your bills to see when the last actual meter reading was used to generate a bill, that is the important date in figuring out how much they can back-bill you for...

Also can you confirm how they designated the January readings they used? ... were they marked as a customer reading or an estimate?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

can you arrange with caretaker to meet and verify meter readings, always better to get own readings if possible.

QrizB

What are the readings you've just entered?

pochase

When did you move into the flat?

I have done a quick calculation what part of the catch up is due to the wrongly entered numbers, and what you most likely have underpaid since January.


I have used 15p for night rate at October 2021 cap, and day rate at 25p, which should be already high. 

If this is correct than £1200 are just underpayment since January and unrelated to their mistake.

TheBanker

pochase said:

When did you move into the flat?

I have done a quick calculation what part of the catch up is due to the wrongly entered numbers, and what you most likely have underpaid since January.


I have used 15p for night rate at October 2021 cap, and day rate at 25p, which should be already high. 

If this is correct than £1200 are just underpayment since January and unrelated to their mistake.

They are related, in the sense that the OP would probably have paid more each month if he knew what his true costs were. I doubt this argument will help the OP though.

OP - despite the discrepancy between the figures you provided and the ones used, are you absolutely sure the caretaker has read your meter, and not someone elses? I once lived in a flat where all the meters were in a cupboard and it wasn't unknown for the caretaker to get them muddled up. 

MWT

TheBanker said:

They are related, in the sense that the OP would probably have paid more each month if he knew what his true costs were. I doubt this argument will help the OP though.

No help at all unfortunately, they only useful thing would be if they recorded those wrong figures as an estimated reading as that would push out the effective date for any 'back-billing' claim.

...but we do need to know when the previous reading recorded as 'actual' or 'customer' appeared on a bill before we know if 'back-billing' is even on the table...

70sbudgie

If you've only lived in your flat for a couple years, it may be worth going back to the meter readings that were given on the rental agreement when you moved in. It is possible there is a more longstanding issue. I am just wondering why your figures were input as much lower in January. Do you have the previous readings you have given (when asked for them)? The company isn't allowed to recover costs beyond a certain date (I can't remember what it is - perhaps 1 or 2 years). It is always a good idea to have a photo of your meter reading as it makes it harder to dispute. 

They should also offer you a payment plan - instead of requiring you to pay £thousands in one go, where they increase your monthly payments for the next 12 months (though that will also be painful considering what's happening now)

pochase

Back billing rule is 1 year, but it is not quite as easy as they are not allowed to recover costs older than 1 year.

TheBanker

If I was the OP, I'd be going through the whole history of the account. I'd particularly look out for any actual readings taken by the meter-reader. When I lived in the flats, I didn't know when the meter reader had been because the caretaker gave him access to the cupboard. I only knew he'd been if I spotted the reading on my bill.

Regardless of the issue in January, I would want to rule out the possibility of the meters for different flats being muddled up by someone at some point. 

pochase

TheBanker said:

If I was the OP, I'd be going through the whole history of the account. I'd particularly look out for any actual readings taken by the meter-reader. When I lived in the flats, I didn't know when the meter reader had been because the caretaker gave him access to the cupboard. I only knew he'd been if I spotted the reading on my bill.

Regardless of the issue in January, I would want to rule out the possibility of the meters for different flats being muddled up by someone at some point. 

Completely agree that a sanity check should be done.

Lets wait and see first what the OP comes back with regarding meter readings.