Estimated meter readings are significantly higher than actual usage.

Belenus

Like so many others, in September 2021 we were automatically switched to a Supplier Of Last Resort. Our final bill from the previous supplier used incorrect meter readings. The bill was short by several hundred units on electricity and about a hundred on gas. This meant that we were charged a higher rate for those units by the SOLR. I emailed them several times but received no reply and could never get through on the telephone so I decided it was not worth pursuing for a relatively small amount of money.

Since then, our dual fuel SOLR has been significantly overestimating our usage. We pay their bills by direct debit and we have not submitted manual readings or corrected their estimated readings. With rising prices, that works to our advantage as we are effectively paying for energy in advance at lower prices.

At some stage they will physically read our meters and see the difference between actual and estimated readings. What are they able to do or likely to do? Will they accept the situation or will they be able to back calculate previous bills? How would they do that?

Our conscience is clear as we lost out previously and were ignored and we consider it is up to them to manage their billing properly.

[Deleted User]

Since then, our dual fuel SOLR has been significantly overestimating our usage. We pay their bills by direct debit and we have not submitted manual readings or corrected their estimated readings. With rising prices, that works to our advantage as we are effectively paying for energy in advance at lower prices.

If only that was true. Once the supplier gets an actual meter reading it will void all previous estimates and it re-bill you for the energy supplied. Suppliers no longer have to read meters. This requirement was dropped some years ago in favour of obtaining a reading every 12 months.

Belenus

How will they recalculate the bills as they will not know the correct meter reading at each point where the price increased.

Robin9

@Belarus -  they will guess. That might be to your advantage, it might not.

Send them your readings.

Belenus

How will they guess?

Do they base it on historical usage, average usage in the area or on something else or a combination of factors.

If it works to our advantage that is fine. If it doesn't then I want to be armed with information to dispute it.

This situation must occur at times. Are there industry guidelines that cover it?

Alnat1

You can't dispute it as your only proof would have been the meter readings that you have avoided giving.

By refusing to give readings you leave yourself open to having to accept whatever split of units your supply company decided for each billing period. 

Belenus

Robin9 said:

@Belarus -  they will guess. That might be to your advantage, it might not.

Send them your readings.

I sent the readings for the date of change of supplier to both the old supplier and the new SOLR. They both ignored my readings and billed me incorrectly to my disadvantage. 

I have taken regular readings since. If it all eventually works out in my favour and makes up for the extra charges I paid then I will be satisfied. If it does not work out in my favour I will want to dispute it if I can.

That is why I am attempting to understand what the SOLR might do. Will they guess as you suggest or is there an established procedure for such situations?

If I know what that procedure might be I will be better able to decide what to do.

Belenus

Another poster has the opposite issue to mine with estimated bills being lower than actual usage.

Link

Someone has responded as follows.

Dolor said:

Yorkshire_Pud said:

You stand to owe them a lot of money when an actual meter read is used or they may owe you. Easy way to get an idea is read your meter yourself and compare it to most recent estimated bill meter read.

Estimates a re just a guess and a holding operation between actual readings. With all the tariff changes, if you have been underestimated they will put a larger amount of use into recent high tariff energy use, OR they ‘May’ use an algorithm to work out most likely use between actual reads.

Not worth burying your head in the sand they will charge you in the end unless you know something we don’t!

If you tell us your estimated last meter read 4 digits on the last bill and your meter read by you 4 digits it will indicate your position to others.

When an actual meter reading is provided all estimated readings are voided. The supplier (or more precisely it’s data collector/metering agent)  will use an industry-approved algorithm (similar I believe to that used for validating switching readings) which looks at past historical usage for the property to produce estimates - if necessary - for any tariff change dates. It doesn’t follow that if a low estimate is replaced with a higher actual reading that all the additional usage will be billed at the higher tariff rate.

Perhaps that is my answer.
.

Alnat1

Sounds like you didn't bother giving monthly readings to the old supplier or they wouldn't have had to use an estimate that was way under.

Seems you didn't learn your lesson from what went wrong previously and still aren't giving monthly readings to your supplier now.

The problems are really all of your own making, yet you seem to think it's the energy companies trying to scam you somehow. Give monthly readings, all bills will then be up to date, accurate and never estimated.

Belenus

Alnat1 said:

Sounds like you didn't bother giving monthly readings to the old supplier or they wouldn't have had to use an estimate that was way under.

Seems you didn't learn your lesson from what went wrong previously and still aren't giving monthly readings to your supplier now.

The problems are really all of your own making, yet you seem to think it's the energy companies trying to scam you somehow. Give monthly readings, all bills will then be up to date, accurate and never estimated.

We did give regular readings to the old supplier so you are wrong about that. They didn't use our final reading, perhaps because they had gone into administration and were in chaos. Neither they nor the SOLR responded to my repeated emails pointing out their errors.

I don't think anyone is trying to scam us. Large organisations are impersonal. They make mistakes and I want to know how best to deal with that so that I am not unfairly over charged.

I have my answer from other sources so this thread can end here.

Thanks everyone for your contributions.

[Deleted User]

Belenus said:

Alnat1 said:

Sounds like you didn't bother giving monthly readings to the old supplier or they wouldn't have had to use an estimate that was way under.

Seems you didn't learn your lesson from what went wrong previously and still aren't giving monthly readings to your supplier now.

The problems are really all of your own making, yet you seem to think it's the energy companies trying to scam you somehow. Give monthly readings, all bills will then be up to date, accurate and never estimated.

We did give regular readings to the old supplier so you are wrong about that. They didn't use our final reading, perhaps because they had gone into administration and were in chaos. Neither they nor the SOLR responded to my repeated emails pointing out their errors.

I don't think anyone is trying to scam us. Large organisations are impersonal. They make mistakes and I want to know how best to deal with that so that I am not unfairly over charged.

I have my answer from other sources so this thread can end here.

Thanks everyone for your contributions.

When a supplier goes into administration, the SoLR acts as a new supplier and its metering agent will agree a Change of Supply ( CoS) meter reading. As the SoLR is allowed to charge from the day of its appointment (about 11 days before the official CoS date), the SoLR’s metering agent will then calculate a reading for that date (based on the CoS reading) which it will agree with the failed supplier’s Administrator. The failed supplier wouldn’t use a consumer reading for final bill: not least, because many people would lie if they did.