Disabled person possibly being overcharged....

LeeLeeLoo

Hi everyone.

I recently moved back to my hometown for work, and since the cost of living crisis has kicked in, I’ve started overseeing my disabled/elderly mother’s finances to make sure she’s staying afloat. This included dealing with her utility bills. For years, she’s been told by British Gas not to worry about her readings because they’ve been sending someone out to read her meters every few months, due to her physical disabilities and her being partially sighted too.  

I began taking her meter readings the middle of last year for my own records, and from what I could gather it showed her bill was coming in way over and above her actual usage.

I called the question this at the time and try to get her bill reduced, I asked them to confirm when someone had last been out to read her meters. They were very reluctant to give me a date, but they eventually gave in and I had them double check it was correct. Checked mum’s CCTV (which capture the meters) and unsurprisingly – no sign of anyone from BG on that day, or a week either side.

Called back to make them aware of this, the agent I spoke to got really cagey, and then quickly agreed to keep her on the same rate she was paying previously, despite wanting to hike it as her fixed price had ended by that point, and they were claiming she had higher usage.

Then, back in January, she received one bill for gas and one for electricity stating she needed to increase he direct debit by over £200 a month for gas and over £300 a month for electricity!!! She’s on state pension and not entitled to pension credit (due to now needing a live-in carer) so there’s absolutely no way she could pay this.

I disputed it with them, and they warned she would be in serious energy debt at the end of the period if she didn’t increase the DD. I still refused, and told them I’d be sure to enter meter readings in the meantime to prove she wasn’t using what they were claiming she was.

At this point, they were still adamant the readings were accurate and not estimated due to mum being on their disabled register and them supposedly coming out to read the meters for her.

Cut to this morning, after five months of religiously reading and updating her readings, and two new bills arrive.

Guess what – she’s in credit. A significant amount of credit.

This to me says they had been over estimating her use all these years and as she’s unable to read her meters herself, or really keep track of these kind of things, she’s been trusting in BG to read them for her but clearly they’ve not bothered.

Since she’s in credit now in spite of the massive price hikes, I feel she’s probably been overpaying for her energy use for years, on the basis BG had told her not to worry about readings and assuring her they’d be out to take them for her.  

My question is – does she have any recourse or grounds for complaint here?

Obviously, it was foolish to trust that they were actually taking regular readings, despite assuring her they were for years, but unfortunately, until recently there wasn’t anyone else who was able to check this as due to mum’s disability she struggles to keep up with things like this, even with reminding her carers about it, and obviously checking this kind of thing had never been part of her care plan.

I feel like BG have capitalized on the fact she can’t check her own readings and that she had no one to do it on her behalf. If they’re doing this to her, they’re doing it to other vulnerable people.

Just wondered if anyone here can advise if it’s worth pursuing them over this, or if we should just chalk it up to one of the joys of being a physically disabled homeowner?

Thanks in advance for any advice. 

HampshireH

I'm not sure her being disabled is relevant here. She had carers and its unlike to have been a problem for them to take a meter reading occasionally.

Is she registered for priority services?

Personally I'd log a complaint but I wouldn't suggest that due to disability she should have received better service.

I think anyone should have. They shouldn't be lying about taking meter readings under any circumstances.

Do the bills state they are actual readings?

CSI_Yorkshire

To get anything other than a token goodwill gesture you'd need to be able to quantify the actual loss she had suffered by whatever they'd done wrong.

Given that she's now in "a significant amount of credit", I'm not sure what actual loss you could demonstrate.

KxMx

If she was registered for priority services and down as needing meter readings, then they absolutely should have been doing it. 

I myself took over a BG account and while on the Live Chat agreed to go on the PSR. I was told someone from that department would be in touch to see what I needed. They never did, and only recently did BG enable an online option to update them more easily (previously via phone only). 

I know the request through okay originally as UK Power Networks got in touch to see what I needed.

Switched to Octopus and within 30 minutes of identifying myself as needing extra support, I had an email asking what I needed. 

Spoonie_Turtle

LeeLeeLoo said:

This to me says they had been over estimating her use all these years and as she’s unable to read her meters herself, or really keep track of these kind of things, she’s been trusting in BG to read them for her but clearly they’ve not bothered.

Since she’s in credit now in spite of the massive price hikes, I feel she’s probably been overpaying for her energy use for years, on the basis BG had told her not to worry about readings and assuring her they’d be out to take them for her.  

All that she's overpaid should now be credited on her account, as your actual readings sent in have corrected it all. 

The only possibility of actual overcharging and thus having lost money would be if she's had a new meter in recent years, if they overestimated the reading on the old meter and never checked it.

Or if in recalculating it they've apportioned the estimated energy use very wrongly, but there shouldn't be a huge discrepancy and in any case could also go in her favour instead of theirs.

---
On another topic, why does needing a live-in carer mean she no longer qualifies for Pension Credit?  If you've not had accredited advice saying that's correct (e.g. from the CAB), I'd recommend heading on over to the benefits board to check.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

LeeLeeLoo said:

This to me says they had been over estimating her use all these years

Do you have access to her previous bills? It should be clear from theae whether they are based on Actual or Estimated readings.

And how much is "a significant amount of credit"? Are we looking at hundreds or thousands?

sevenhills

The weather is now warmer, I and most people will likely be in credit.
Great that you are now helping her, but being in credit is no big deal. It would be easier if she had a smart meter, you could sort that out for her?

FreeBear

Spoonie_Turtle said: The only possibility of actual overcharging and thus having lost money would be if she's had a new meter in recent years, if they overestimated the reading on the old meter and never checked it.

Or replaced an old gas meter with a new (metric) one and failed to update the database. End result, gas bill get multiplied by 2.83..

OP - Check the gas meter to see what units it records (100s Cubic Feet, or Cubic Metres), and then check to see what is being billed.

Mobtr

LeeLeeLoo said:

Hi everyone.

I recently moved back to my hometown for work, and since the cost of living crisis has kicked in, I’ve started overseeing my disabled/elderly mother’s finances to make sure she’s staying afloat. This included dealing with her utility bills. For years, she’s been told by British Gas not to worry about her readings because they’ve been sending someone out to read her meters every few months, due to her physical disabilities and her being partially sighted too.  

I began taking her meter readings the middle of last year for my own records, and from what I could gather it showed her bill was coming in way over and above her actual usage.

I called the question this at the time and try to get her bill reduced, I asked them to confirm when someone had last been out to read her meters. They were very reluctant to give me a date, but they eventually gave in and I had them double check it was correct. Checked mum’s CCTV (which capture the meters) and unsurprisingly – no sign of anyone from BG on that day, or a week either side.

Called back to make them aware of this, the agent I spoke to got really cagey, and then quickly agreed to keep her on the same rate she was paying previously, despite wanting to hike it as her fixed price had ended by that point, and they were claiming she had higher usage.

Then, back in January, she received one bill for gas and one for electricity stating she needed to increase he direct debit by over £200 a month for gas and over £300 a month for electricity!!! She’s on state pension and not entitled to pension credit (due to now needing a live-in carer) so there’s absolutely no way she could pay this.

I disputed it with them, and they warned she would be in serious energy debt at the end of the period if she didn’t increase the DD. I still refused, and told them I’d be sure to enter meter readings in the meantime to prove she wasn’t using what they were claiming she was.

At this point, they were still adamant the readings were accurate and not estimated due to mum being on their disabled register and them supposedly coming out to read the meters for her.

Cut to this morning, after five months of religiously reading and updating her readings, and two new bills arrive.

Guess what – she’s in credit. A significant amount of credit.

This to me says they had been over estimating her use all these years and as she’s unable to read her meters herself, or really keep track of these kind of things, she’s been trusting in BG to read them for her but clearly they’ve not bothered.

Since she’s in credit now in spite of the massive price hikes, I feel she’s probably been overpaying for her energy use for years, on the basis BG had told her not to worry about readings and assuring her they’d be out to take them for her.  

My question is – does she have any recourse or grounds for complaint here?

Obviously, it was foolish to trust that they were actually taking regular readings, despite assuring her they were for years, but unfortunately, until recently there wasn’t anyone else who was able to check this as due to mum’s disability she struggles to keep up with things like this, even with reminding her carers about it, and obviously checking this kind of thing had never been part of her care plan.

I feel like BG have capitalized on the fact she can’t check her own readings and that she had no one to do it on her behalf. If they’re doing this to her, they’re doing it to other vulnerable people.

Just wondered if anyone here can advise if it’s worth pursuing them over this, or if we should just chalk it up to one of the joys of being a physically disabled homeowner?

Thanks in advance for any advice. 

If you started to take your mothers readings the middle of last year for your own records, why didn’t you also give them to British Gas at the same time? 

Dolor

The use of the term ‘overpaying’ implies wrong doing on the part of the supplier. Suppliers can only work with the meter readings that they are given. The more frequent the readings then the more accurate any estimate will be.

Under the terms of their Licence, suppliers no longer have to read meters. The obligation placed on them is to obtain a meter reading once every 12 months: this can be an actual meter reading; a customer reading or a smart meter reading.

FWiW, and I say this as a senior person, you should get your Mother to sign up for smart meters. You can then monitor her usage remotely. For example, I get to see this level of information on a daily basis:

Raxiel

Taking everything above as true, that they've been incorrectly recording estimates as actual readings (and so can't pro-rata all those estimates back to the last real reading on receipt of a new real reading), your mum is probably better off.

Given that prices have been rising for some time, any historic overestimate would have put more units on previous, lower tariffs, and the eventual correction down will have come off the most recent and most expensive tariff.

I'd say take the credit refund and keep an eye on billed readings going forward, especially as prices start to drop.