BG huge bill due to estimated readings

Cardew

coppins999 wrote: »

I agree that it looks like I will gain from the situation

However, the fact that the offer was made quite quickly (first phone call to decision maker rather than my only other previous call to general billing number) made me question if the offer they made was similar to other peoples experiences. Also it made me wonder why they are making the offer - do they think there is a worse possible outcome for themselves? Maybe I've just become too cynical about big businesses over the years to believe that they could do anything out of the kindness of their heart.

As can be seen by the hundreds of posts in this Forum, nearly all of the Utility companies have poor accounting systems.

The fact that your account has been handled badly is not disputed. However surely the criteria for awarding compensation should be based primarily on any financial loss incurred.

You are not disputing you have had the gas/electricity and found having a large debit balance suited your situation; a phone call or letter would have rectified the situation had you wanted to pay off that debit balance.

You will have had a 7 year interest free loan, a 30% reduction in the total owed, so there cannot be any justification for increased compensation.

The reason all these Utility companies make generous settlements(like yours) is that these ‘compensation’ payments do not affect their profits. Their profit margins are set by the Regulator; they are allowed to make £x million profit on a turnover of £y million.

So, in effect, the couple of thousand pounds they have lost on your account are simply recovered by increasing the tariff for all customers to reach the allowed profit levels.

With companies where compensation paid out came off the ‘bottom line’ and affected profits, I suspected you would be charged interest on the debit balance let alone be given a reduction!!

Your situation demonstrates the downside of a Regulated industry in that inefficiencies are not punished. Remove that Regulation and the situation would be worse!

coppins999

Cardew & Darich,

Thanks both for the replies. I think we are digressing away from the subject of what possible outcomes of the situation can be and more in to the philosophical ones of how utility companies behave - but this is interesting!

To both of you, yes I agree that I may benefit here. However, I never set out to. My real complaint (and the reason I rang Energywatch) was that EDF had exasperated the situation by ignoring their own readings and never contacted me.

But, Energywatch were the ones who suggested I should claim compensation and dealt with the case initially for me. Why did they do this? Clearly they (and presumably judging from the level of compensation offered) EDF feel that EDF have made mistakes. I can only assume this is mainly the obligation to carry out the every two years safety checks and/or the obligation to provide more accurate billing?

What is your take on what the reasoning is behind the compensation offer? By the sounds of your writing Cardew, do you have inside information?

Finally just to clarify - At no time have I actually asked EDF for compensation. They offered it to me after Energywatch contacted them.

D.I.D

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and so glad I found this. I'm in a very similar position and was going to ask for advice on what was the best course of action to take. My provider was powergen until June of this year and I had been paying £79 a month by DD to cover my electricity bills. I cancelled my DD payments just over a month before I changed provider incase I forgot to do it and end up paying twice.

When I changed provider in June I received my final bill of around £327 and paid it promptly and thought no more of it. Then, 2 days before xmas I got a letter saying that I owed powergen almost £2000 and had 7 days to pay or they would take me to court and I would be faced with a CCJ.

Powergen have not attempted to read my meter for at least 2 years so I had no idea my bills where obviously so underestimated for so long to have created such a high outstanding amount. I take full responsibility for the money owed and know I have to pay it. I telephoned PG the day I got the letter and explained I had no idea how I could find this amount immediately and the lady on the phone said there must be some mistake and to check my reading, I'm disabled and can't get down to see the numbers on the meter and had to get someone to move the tv cabinet and check for me and I called them back. The reading they had given me must have been correct because the numbers where even further on now.

Now they just want their money and have offered me no time to pay and just keep asking me how I'm going to make payment each time I try to speak to them about it. I've offered to make arrangements with them to pay it off monthly or weekly but they are not interested and just say that I'll be issued with a CCJ if I don't pay in full within the 7 day deadline.

I now can't sleep with worry and don't know what else I can do, I don't have the money but I am willing to pay it off over time if they would just be a little understanding

Cardew

D.I.D wrote: »

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and so glad I found this. I'm in a very similar position and was going to ask for advice on what was the best course of action to take.

Welcome to the forum.

The problem in your case is that unlike the OP you are dealing with an ex-supplier(Powergen) and you will get little sympathy from them. The call centre operators will always take a 'hard' line initially. What is surprising is that it has taken 6 months for this large bill to be presented.

Presumably the readings that Powergen are using(to calculate your £2000 debt) are the same as your new supplier is using??

Your best bet is to ring Energywatch and explain the situation to them. Make sure you have all your details - old/new bills to hand.

I would be pretty confident that they will negotiate some reduction of the outstanding amount and time to pay.

stulaunch

Had similar thing with BG about 3 yrs ago.
They did not take meter readings over 2 yr period, even though i sent in quite a few own readings, because computerised system automaticaly disregards reading if it seems to far out.

I dealt with it through energwatch.

They told me by law they have to make a physical reading at least once in a 2 yr period, because they hadn't done that, they had to offer me interest free payments over a period of my choice,

Energywatch gave me a number at BG, told me everything i needed to say, even told me to ask for discount off bill, but wouldn't tell me how much to ask for.

Result was initial £650 bill knocked down to £400 with a bit of negotiation. and 20 months to pay it of @ £20 per month.

Beware though BG didn't cancel direct debit after 20 months and took 2 extra months payment before i spotted it. They payed money bath though after i cotacted them.

stimpo

stulaunch wrote: »

I dealt with it through energwatch.

They told me by law they have to make a physical reading at least once in a 2 yr period, because they hadn't done that, they had to offer me interest free payments over a period of my choice

Energy companies have to atrempt to read your meter every 2 years. And they do not have to agree to your terms on repayment of debt.

CAT7_3

Hi all - I too am new to the forum, which I came across after browsing for some advice after I returned home yesterday to a whopping electricity bill from EDF for around £400. I sympathise with everyone here who has been landed with large bills: although there are two sides to every story, utility companies can clearly do much more to ensure accurate billing.

My bills have been based on (under)estimated readings for about a year. I was aware that the bills were estimated because my metre is totally inaccessible: it is at the back of a deep cupboard located high up in a hallway I share with other flats. On several occasions this year, EDF men have called to take a metre reading. I show them the metre's location, at which point they swiflty retreat to the door saying that they are unable to climb so high to take the reading.

I finally attempted, with ladders and some difficulty, to take a reading by holding a digital camera to the metre and trying to decipher the dials. It is based on this reading that I have received this high bill.

In the first instance, EDF have agreed to send 2 men out with ladders to read the metre (as an aside I have to take time off work to wait for them to appear between 8am and 1pm) to confirm the reading. Clearly EDF could provide better customer service if they monitored accounts that are based on underestimates and tried to rectify them, say, every 6 months, rather than letting the estimates accrue for what can seemingly be years by some forum posts.

I spoke with Energywatch for some initial advice (I agree they provide an excellent service; they advised EDF should offer a small goodwill discount and a reasonable payment plan) and will contact them again when EDF confirm the reading. Energywatch state that metre-reading is a shared responsibilty between customer and provider.

My question is: who should be made to pay for the consequences of a very inaccessible metre?

Cardew

CAT7 wrote: »

My question is: who should be made to pay for the consequences of a very inaccessible metre?

Welcome to the forum.

Well it surely must be the owner of the property.

If there is danger involved in reading the meter, I would think the utility company would be within their rights to refuse to supply you; one task of the meter readers is to ensure that the meter has not been tampered with/seals broken etc.

One downside of the competition between utility companies is that they all try to cut costs to make themselves more competitive; that leads to over reliance on computer systems and cutting corners on meter reading etc etc.