Compensation offer

mountainlad123

I have had problems with my new smart electricity meter for the last 10 months which the supplier was aware of but hadn't resolved. This has now resulted in a new bill for an £500 as they had just been estimating for the 10 months. I called them and a complaint was raised. I received an email yesterday offering full apology and stated I would be entitled to £100 per month compensation (£1000). I was very happy with this offer and have told my family we will take a holiday and I've told many friends of my offer. I have called through supplier today to see when I will received payment and have been told the agent was mistaken with the offer and it should only be £10 per month (£100). I have told them this is unacceptable and to pass this to their legal team. 
Can anyone advise if their initial offer is legally binding?
Thanks

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP if you aren't happy with £10 per month, or feel they haven't acted correctly, you'd need to raise a formal complaint (process will be on the supplier's website) and if you aren't able to come to an agreement with them within 8 weeks raise it to the ombudsman.

I was surprised when you said they'd offered £1000 so it does seem likely it was a mistake and I doubt very much you can hold them to it, they may however offer you slightly more than £100 if you go through the official complaints process.

FrugaiMacDugal

Is the problem that the meter is not sending readings or that you can't get a reading from the meter.

If you can get a reading, and you were aware of the problem, why didn't you supply readings to avoid getting estimates.

Aylesbury_Duck

Telling friends and family and mentally spending the money doesn't add anything to the strength of your case.  If a friend told me that, I would interpret it as a bonus they considered to be much more than they were expecting, which I suspect is what you thought.  I find it hard to believe that £1000 is justified because you haven't actually incurred any actual loss, just the inconvenience of having to find a shortfall you didn't know you were accruing.  £100 is much more sensible and fair.

If it's an obvious error they can't be held to it.  Did it say "£100 per month compensation (£1000)",  or did it say "£100 per month"?  The former perhaps adds a little more weight to your argument because it might suggest the error was made and overlooked again in the totalling, but of course it may just be that the agent meant to put £10 in, typed the extra zero and the total was automatically calculated.

I agree with the first responding poster, it's time to complain and negotiate.

la531983

mountainlad123 said:

Can anyone advise if their initial offer is legally binding?

No. Sorry. Given the amounts ive seen over the years on this forum given out for much bigger issues than you had, £1000 is clearly a mistake and they can easily show this.

mountainlad123

I've never had smart meters before. The issue was that I wasn't receiving any readings to mobile phone. They have taken a fixed DD every month and my balance has varied so I genuinely believed they had been receiving the correct readings from the meters.

The offer stated £100 per month. No mention of the £1000 total.

So I have been underpaying by about £50 per month and they now want the full payment for £500. When complaining, my most optimistic expectation waa that they would write off the £500. I was certainly surprised by the generous offer of what would be £1000. So whilst it is unexpected I don't think it is a clearly obvious mistype.

The initial complaint is registered. I have expressed my disappointment with their revised offer and encouraged them to pass to legal dept. I will wait to see what they come.back with.

la531983

They arent going to write off energy you have actually used, sorry but thats not how it works.

Isthisforreal99

To be blunt, it was clearly an error.

My advice would be pay more attention to your bills going forward and make sure the readings on them are accurate, you have some responsibility for the arrears accrued.

LightFlare

mountainlad123 said:

I've never had smart meters before. The issue was that I wasn't receiving any readings to mobile phone. They have taken a fixed DD every month and my balance has varied so I genuinely believed they had been receiving the correct readings from the meters.

The offer stated £100 per month. No mention of the £1000 total.

So I have been underpaying by about £50 per month and they now want the full payment for £500. When complaining, my most optimistic expectation waa that they would write off the £500. I was certainly surprised by the generous offer of what would be £1000. So whilst it is unexpected I don't think it is a clearly obvious mistype.

The initial complaint is registered. I have expressed my disappointment with their revised offer and encouraged them to pass to legal dept. I will wait to see what they come.back with.

unlikely they would compensate you £1000 for owing them £500

you have no monetary loss and actually owe them money

Grumpy_chap

The £1,000 would be exceptional and disproportionately so.
The £100 is generous.
So far as ai can tell the OP has not suffered any loss as a result of the meter failing to communicate.  It does not appear to suggest that the actual meter record (displayed locally) is in error, only that the correct data did not transmit so the meter was operating as a "dumb" meter.
Any compensation is a goodwill gesture and a win for the OP.

Ergates

mountainlad123 said:

So I have been underpaying by about £50 per month and they now want the full payment for £500. When complaining, my most optimistic expectation waa that they would write off the £500. I was certainly surprised by the generous offer of what would be £1000. So whilst it is unexpected I don't think it is a clearly obvious mistype.

That wasn't a very realistic expectation really - you did use the electricity.   In that context, them offering you compensation of twice the bill would be very strange indeed - writing off the whole amount AND giving you an extra £500!

Giving back 20% of the bill seems reasonable, though you might be able to get a *bit* more if you're lucky.