Tariff not Increased since 2017

DE_612183

So my 80 odd year old MIL had a phone call the other day saying her DD had to be upped from £50 to £150 as she has been on the wrong tariff.
I took a look at her last bill and it says she's on a 1 year fix that expires in 2017 - her unit rates are 11.96p and 5.15p.

How far back can they go and re-bill her ( if at all ).

Thanks

Peter999_2

They can only go back 1 year.   I would argue with them to not make any back payments though as they are in the wrong.

MattMattMattUK

People say that they can only go back a year, but it is slightly more complictaed than that.

In summary, they can revise the unit rates on the bill going back to July 2022 and re-bill her for that increased amount. The older amounts they can adjust the bill and keep any payments and credit accrued, but they cannot charge her more/ask for more money for those older bills. 

It will be treated as if she had zero credit as of July 2022 and then the revised bill for the period since will reflect the higher unit rates. Once you get that you can attempt to ask for a gesture of good will, a write off etc, you may get somewhere, you may not. 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules

Xbigman

Which company is it? Some delete all old bills when they rebill so I would certainly download all the old bills (assuming not on paper) otherwise it will be impossible to work out what they've done. 


Darren

QrizB

DE_612183 said:

So my 80 odd year old MIL had a phone call the other day saying her DD had to be upped from £50 to £150 as she has been on the wrong tariff.
I took a look at her last bill and it says she's on a 1 year fix that expires in 2017 - her unit rates are 11.96p and 5.15p.

How far back can they go and re-bill her ( if at all ).

Have they said that they are going to re-bill her?

Depending on the energy company, they might just change her tariff from the start of July. Or from today.

DE_612183

QrizB said:

DE_612183 said:

So my 80 odd year old MIL had a phone call the other day saying her DD had to be upped from £50 to £150 as she has been on the wrong tariff.
I took a look at her last bill and it says she's on a 1 year fix that expires in 2017 - her unit rates are 11.96p and 5.15p.

How far back can they go and re-bill her ( if at all ).

Have they said that they are going to re-bill her?

Depending on the energy company, they might just change her tariff from the start of July. Or from today.

Not sure - only had a garbled message about it - DD is set to increase though.

using about 4000kwh day and 1500kwh night ( on E7 ) per year.

[Deleted User]

using about 4000kwh day and 1500kwh night ( on E7 ) per year.

You might want to look at the best tariff for the usage above. An E7 tariff normally favours consumers with high night usage; eg, storage heaters and hot water heating.

QrizB

DE_612183 said:

QrizB said:

DE_612183 said:

So my 80 odd year old MIL had a phone call the other day saying her DD had to be upped from £50 to £150 as she has been on the wrong tariff.
I took a look at her last bill and it says she's on a 1 year fix that expires in 2017 - her unit rates are 11.96p and 5.15p.

How far back can they go and re-bill her ( if at all ).

Have they said that they are going to re-bill her?

Depending on the energy company, they might just change her tariff from the start of July. Or from today.

Not sure - only had a garbled message about it - DD is set to increase though.

using about 4000kwh day and 1500kwh night ( on E7 ) per year.

E7 prices have tripled since she took her fix in 2017, so that new DD works out.

Scot_39

Hopefully the above clarifcations on back billing - as a minimum will operate and have eased your immediate fears of being swamped by many years of back charges. But 1 year - if they come after it - will still sadly be non-trivial.

Doesn't look like the initial £150 includes new debt - it looks like just the rate ratio cf current E7 - where for most at best - night rates they now run in mid to high teens - not the 5p above.

Has she had an actual statement or bill yet - or anything in writing - it's not the sort of thing that would normally just be dealt with by a simple phone call.

If they do in edn decide to issue a demand for the past year - and they don't offer - you might want to try to get your mum's supplier to at least agree to some sort of interest free (and clean credit file record) repayment plan - it is after all pretty much their error.  

One agreed to 12months - by rolling it into new direct debit rates - when 2-2.5 years of billing errors - saw my elderly mum £100s in debt - in a step - once caught errors.

Wait until the current issues are resolved - then when have time - also as above have a think about whether E7 is really worth it for your mum.  The current 27% (1500/(1500+4000)) mix - isn't stupidly low for E7 - but it's probably not the cheapest.

DE_612183

Nothing as yet - checked on the weekend and still showing the old tariff, just the new DD rate. No bills have been amended ( YET ).

Scot_39

1500 at c5p and 4000 at c12p = 555 + old SC matched the old £50 pm.

If one part of the system has woken up to error - and it might not be just your mums account - they might be scratching their heads for a while about what to do.

Both legally in terms of back billing and hopefully to some extent dare I say it morally - or in harder terms the company might understand - reputational damage 

Especially if pursue people like your mum at her age.