Help - I'm scared!! Estimated gas readings

blackcat191

Hi all, I'm new to this site and so wish that I'd found it earlier! Oh well...I was wondering, hoping and praying that someone can advise me on what to do..
Basically, i've lived in my property for 3 years and have never given a gas meter reading, i always just paid the quarterly bills as they came. I was acosted in Sainsburys by an EDF rep and decided to switch gas & elec supplier, as he said it was cheaper, particularly if I pay by DD. All i had to do is give a meter reading.
I checked them for the 1st time ever. The electric was accurate as Eon had checked it and read it. But, I checked my gas reading, which has ALWAYs been estimated by Eon/Powergen. Their last estimated reading was 2185, but its actually 3187!! when i contacted Eon about this, they said that my bill would rise from £96.40 this month to over £400!! Can they do this considering that they never had a proper reading when I started using their services???!! Even the lady on the phone said it was a huge rise and asked me to check again. I don't know what to do. How can they have ever nown what the meter reading was if its never been checked by me or them in the beginning? Also, if i have used all this, i don't feel i should pay at today's current rates considering there have been several price hikes over the last three years and the increase in meter readings could not have taken place in a few months? Please help!
Thanks

dellxps

Hi, it is normally the new occupiers responsibility to call in with a meter read when you moved in. Otherwise they would have used the meter reading the old occupier provided to shut the account down to as your opening read. That's if they provided one. Otherwise they can estimate it.

I'm pretty sure you'll have to pay the bill but i'd ring up and get a payment plan sorted to pay it off over as long a period as you can manage.

MarkyMarkD

Blackcat Just because you have been receiving estimated readings for several years doesn't absolve you of responsibility for checking if the estimates are ridiculous! It's easy enough to read a meter.

If a series of estimated bills are shown to be incorrect due to a later meter reading, suppliers will normally restate the whole series of bills by pro-rataing the consumption over the whole period. This will mean that you won't be over-paying per unit of fuel used.

As dellxps says, if you don't check the meter reading when you move in, there is every possibility of the previous occupant lying to their supplier about the closing reading, hence earning themselves a substantial rebate and passing the cost on to you. But anyone doing this would be caught out if you checked the opening reading and made a note of it yourself.

ScoobyCanDo

blackcat191

A simple case of RESPONSIBILITY ........ here! (YOURS)

It's not just the responsibility of the energy supplier to take readings ......................... if all you kept getting was ESTIMATED bills, then it's down to YOU to check them and if the 'estimated figure' use to form the bill is OUT, you should query it and supply the correct one.
As you've used the energy, then it's only fair YOU should pay for it .................. and whilst it can be a bit of a shock to get a large bill like this, speak to your supplier and ask for a Deferred Payment Plan to pay off this amount

And whilst you may not feel you should be charged at TODAY'S RATES ................... look at it another way, you've had all that energy 'Interest Free' so think yourself luck they don't charge you extra on top for this???
If you can not be bothered to check a Utility Bill, each time you get it, then you've nobody else to blame BUT yourself!

Harsh, but true.:eek:

Ken68

You also need to check, Blackcat whether the meter is reading cubic feet or cubic metres. Will say on the meter itself. Exclude the red (decimal parts) numbers.
At 1000 units you have a shortfall of either 11,000 kwh if metres or approx 33,000 kwh's if cubic ft. ...£280 or £850 just to catch up plus what you have used.

blackcat191

Thanks for your replies guys.
Whilst I do accept that it was my responsibility to check the meter when i moved in and failed to do so, what i do not accept is the fact that the meter could have already "clocked up" Kwhs before i even moved in- in which case, I am not responsible for the previous energy used. Therefore, if they cannot prove that the meter began at 00000 before i moved in, then its their word against mine. They checked my electric meter reading which required them to gain entry into the block of flats, then use a yale key to open up the cupboard where the meter is situated. If they could do that, why on earth did they not check the gas meter, which is outside for all and sundry to access! Yes, i will pay for the gas that I've used obviously, and yes, i should've checked the meter - but surely they cannot be totally blame free??!
Ken68 - thanks for that info- i will make sure that i check what units the meter measures in.