Been with Ebico for over 1 year - never received single bill

Gecco

As per title.

I also noticed that my meter still displays a very old tariff from 2001 - at the time we paid 6p/kWh.

Does this mean they never updated the price and we get it cheaper than we should ?:eek:

Thunderbird_2

Gecco wrote: »

As per title.

I also noticed that my meter still displays a very old tariff from 2001 - at the time we paid 6p/kWh.

Does this mean they never updated the price and we get it cheaper than we should ?:eek:

I am not sure, but is your meter a prepayment one?

duchy

I moved home into a property that had been empty for a while.
I arranged reconnection of gas and electricity direct with the existing supplier
Some months later I realised I'd not had any bills so called to ask-and was told I was not their customer. It later transpired that at some point whilst the property was empty the service had been changed to another supplier and a fake name-presumably a scam to earn commission for one of the door to door change your provider salespeople. Not sure why I never got a bill from the new provider though.
It happened again when I moved into my present home which again had been empty for 2 months before I moved in. This time I got letters "welcoming" a name unassociated with the property to Virgin power so I was alerted and got onto my suppllier. It took 2 months to change the elctric back and nearly a year for the gas.
The power companies seem to have whole departments dealing with this kind of situation so it isn't uncommon and can be a pain to sort out. I suppose this is the downside of been able to switch supplier with ease-it also leaves room for fraud.
If something isn't adding up it's worth checking who your provider actually is-there is a phone number you can call which has a central listing-should be available from your power company.

Gecco

Yes it's a pre payment meter.

I received the welcome pack.

They even changed or arranged to change the battery of the meter 6 months after I had beeen with them.

What shall I do ask them and risk that I'm underpaying at the moment?

Or keep quiet about it

Farway

I do not understand, if it is prepayment then why should you get a bill?

Do you not pay before you use energy?

Bills are in arrears, and as you pay up front no bill required

I am on DD, but I assume prepayment is same as the old bob in the slot meters, no money in = no energy out

As for costs, I don't know the rules here, you do owe them but how on earth it would be calculated is any ones guess. No doubt the meter should have been reset, but who is supposed to do it I have no idea

EnergyMan_3

Gecco wrote: »

Yes it's a pre payment meter.

I received the welcome pack.

They even changed or arranged to change the battery of the meter 6 months after I had beeen with them.

What shall I do ask them and risk that I'm underpaying at the moment?

Or keep quiet about it

If i were you I'd call them as soon as possible and advise them that your meter is set to old prices. A lot of energy companies never get round to resetting pre-payment meters and a lot of companies make you pay for all these years of underpaying - they will add it on as debt onto your meter. Call them so that you do not get into more and more debt.

As regards to receiving statements, I would have thought they would have sent you at least a few statements over the last year, just to summarise how much energy you have used and how much money you have put in the meter.

SwanJon

PP customers only usually recieve one a year, so it's possible you're due one soon. Have you aksed them?
Anyone know if Ebico ask customers to pay back this underpayment?

Cardew

Farway wrote: »

I do not understand, if it is prepayment then why should you get a bill?

If you are charged at the wrong rate on a pre-payment meter you can still build up a debit balance.

They normally recover this by setting the rate above the correct tariff until the bill is paid off.

matrix999

When I moved into my first flat a few years ago I was paying the wrong amount which was set on the pre-payment meter.

Scottish Power sent me a bill for the difference. I successfully argued with them that it was their responsibility to make sure the meter was set at the correct rate as it was pre-payment.

Scottish Power eventually accepted that it was their responsibility and wrote off the outstanding amount.

I gave them the example of a pre-payment mobile phone account holder would not be liable for an outstanding debt if the phone company charged mthe wrong amount and they certainly would not receive a bill. They agreed with this and accepted that it was their repsonsibilty to ensure meter's were set correctly.

HTH

Cardew

matrix999 wrote: »

When I moved into my first flat a few years ago I was paying the wrong amount which was set on the pre-payment meter.

Scottish Power sent me a bill for the difference. I successfully argued with them that it was their responsibility to make sure the meter was set at the correct rate as it was pre-payment.

Scottish Power eventually accepted that it was their responsibility and wrote off the outstanding amount.

I gave them the example of a pre-payment mobile phone account holder would not be liable for an outstanding debt if the phone company charged mthe wrong amount and they certainly would not receive a bill. They agreed with this and accepted that it was their repsonsibilty to ensure meter's were set correctly.

HTH

They might have a moral responsibility, they do not have a legal responsibility.

It was patently impossible to change the millions of pre-payment meters at the date of a tariff change, not least because in many cases access to the meters is impossible.

Also there is nothing to suggest that pre-payment meters ever were pre-payment in full meters.

It was always accepted that meters should be adjusted after a price change to recover any debit balance, or indeed as with last year's price reductions, refund credit balances.

The fault with all the Utility companies is they made no serious attempts for many people to adjust their meters for long periods or ensure they understood the terms and conditions of pre-payment tariffs.(as you apparently do not?)

This subject was raised in Parliment and after the resulting criticism some of the companies - including the biggest BG - decided they would write off debit balances. However they were under no compulsion to do so and some of the companies still insist on payment in full when an account is closed.

So with respect, your analogy to a telephone company tariff is not valid and in your "successful argument" you most certainly have not set any legal precedent to escape payment. I suggest you were one of the many who benefited from a policy decision of the company to write off such debts. A policy that should IMO be adopted by all companies.

I accept that the above may appear critical, and that was not my intent. However your post clearly indicates that companies are not allowed to charge in these circumstances and that is simply not the case. Anyone who takes your advice and refuses to pay could find themselves in the hands of a Debt Collection Agency, have their credit rating affected, and possibly face court action.

Nicholas

From EBico's terms and conditions:

4.6 If we’ve been at fault by either significantly underestimating the amount of Energy you use or by not sending you bills we will only charge you for Energy you’ve used in the twelve months immediately before we discovered the mistake.

Hope this helps.