Micro User - Lazy Energy Company

julie8_2

Our micro not for profit have been getting estimated bills from EON for more than 2 years. They cant be bothered to read the meter. They are now taking us to Court for over £6,000 based on the estimated bills. The bills have not been right since Feb 2023. Where do we stand on the 'back-billing' rules?

QrizB

Much more detail required, please.

Why have you not supplied meter readings for two years? Your bills will have clearly shown the estimates.

FrugaiMacDugal

Micro User - Lazy Energy Company

You say,

Lazy Energy Company

but, were you happy to accept the estimated bills, which now seem to have been underestimated, but not happy now with catch up bill?

Laziness by yourself, methinks.

Robin9

Does your "Lazy Energy" Company have an online facility for you to give readings.

It is quite rare for any supplier to read meters these days -  my business ones haven't been read since Covid but they are AMR meters so no estimates and I check the bills every month.

Have you now read your meters ?

ColourfulLlama

Just send them a meter read then?
How bizarre. 

Neil_Jones

julie8_2 said:

Our micro not for profit have been getting estimated bills from EON for more than 2 years. They cant be bothered to read the meter. They are now taking us to Court for over £6,000 based on the estimated bills. The bills have not been right since Feb 2023. Where do we stand on the 'back-billing' rules?

Back Billing rules only apply when the problem that's generated the back billing is caused by the supplier.

I assume that you are saying they (Eon) "can't be bothered to read the meter"?  Yeah that doesn't really happen any more, and hasn't been a thing since 2016 apparently.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5557834/how-often-does-my-supplier-havd-to-read-my-meters

So if you haven't submitted any meter readings over two years... well that's not the supplier's fault, that's yours.  So back billing probably won't apply here.

I suggest you deal with Eon to see if they will come to some compromise with you. 

Robin9

If you are having difficulty in reading the meter -  some of old ones with dials going in different directions can be very difficult; some of the new ones with a decimal point aren't much easier - send us a photo and we'll read it for you.

Accurate meter readings are at the heart of this disputed account.

daveyjp

"Micro not profit"?  Is the missing word business/organisation?

If you are a business back billing won't apply.  If you aren't reading meters and getting accurate bills are you confident in the abilities of the directors/senior managers as someone isn't doing their job.

MeteredOut

daveyjp said:

"Micro not profit"?  Is the missing word business/organisation?

If you are a business back billing won't apply.  If you aren't reading meters and getting accurate bills are you confident in the abilities of the directors/senior managers as someone isn't doing their job.

Assuming the OP means they are a micro-business, back billing rules could apply

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/what-do-if-you-get-back-bill

"The rules apply to domestic energy consumers and microbusinesses."

But, in this case, since the OP was getting estimated bills, I suspect they won't be successful in their claim.

It's not clear if the OP has submitted an actual reading, and that has resulted in the £6K bill, or whether, as they state, the £6K bill is based on estimated readings. If the latter, the obvious step is to submit an actual reading and find out what is actually owed.

QrizB

It really would help if @julie8_2 would provide some more information. Until then, we're just guessing.