think ive been had from previous owner.

lukese

hi when i moved in to my new flat in november i forgot to take a meter reading on that day and have forgot to take one untill today i know its five months and its my fault but i think the guy before must have lied to N POWER.

they have been estimateing my bill now and i got my second bill form them which was 168.80 for three months i fought it was dear so checked the meter the meter reads 4856. but my bill is estimated at 2450. This at my current rate of 7.25p per m3 leaves me 200 pound in debt am i right. i have as good as accepted there is nothing i can do about this as it is my fault but fought i would post in here to see where i stand. 2500 odd units of gas seems to be a lot of gas to use in the space of 5 months could i argue the previous meter reading by the previous ocupant?


thanks in advance


its a two bedroom flat and we use central heating when we need it i would say we have it on for about 2 hours a day max. and we use the cooker as and when.



any feedback is greatfully recieved.


Luke

oh and if i do end up owing them 200 odd pound can i pay of in installments?

Cardew

lukese wrote: »

hi when i moved in to my new flat in november i forgot to take a meter reading on that day and have forgot to take one untill today i know its five months and its my fault but i think the guy before must have lied to N POWER.

they have been estimateing my bill now and i got my second bill form them which was 168.80 for three months i fought it was dear so checked the meter the meter reads 4856. but my bill is estimated at 2450. This at my current rate of 7.25p per m3 leaves me 200 pound in debt am i right. i have as good as accepted there is nothing i can do about this as it is my fault but fought i would post in here to see where i stand. 2500 odd units of gas seems to be a lot of gas to use in the space of 5 months could i argue the previous meter reading by the previous ocupant?


thanks in advance


its a two bedroom flat and we use central heating when we need it i would say we have it on for about 2 hours a day max. and we use the cooker as and when.



any feedback is greatfully recieved.


Luke

oh and if i do end up owing them 200 odd pound can i pay of in installments?

I take it you are talking about Gas!

Well I have a little good news and I am afraid a lot of bad news.

I think you are confused about gas units, m3 and prices.

Gas is priced for each kWh. If you have taken that 7.25p from your bill that is the price for the first kWhs you use(called primary units). The majority of the gas you consume will be priced at around 3p for a kWh.

That is the good news.

The bad news is that a unit(m3) on your meter is equivalent to approx 11.2kWh.

So if your meter is reading 4856 and your last bill was estimated at a meter reading of 2450 that means you will have a bill for approx 27,000 kWh which will be about £800-£900!(NPower charge for lots of primary units in winter)

You need to contact the NPower(not a good company) and ask to speak to an accounts manager, not the first person who answers, and explain the situation.

You need to find out how long estimated readings have been applied to the account.

You should not be liable for all of that amount(although they will possibly try to say you are).

You want to speak to Energywatch if you get no satisfactory solution.

lukese

makes perfect sence, this is an obcene amount to pay considering i have only been in the flat since november the 7th and have allready paid over 200 pound in gas bills. i will no doubt be on the phone to them tommrorow for most of the evening as they are not availible untill tommorow and have work first thing. thanks for your reply, im gonna keep an eye on the gas usage now for say a week and use this as possible evience that a dont use that much gas in a year let alone a quater.

Gorgeous_George

I'd be tempted to make up a suitable, believable number for your meter reading when you moved in. With all the stress of moving, you may have forgotten to ring in with the reading

Failing that, I think you're stuffed. Lesson learned?

Edit: Surely it's their job to read the meter, not yours. It would be nigh on impossible for you to have used that much gas. Stick to your guns and good luck.

GG

pebbles88

hi,

i used to work for british gas a long time ago and believe me you arent the first to not take a reading when you take over a property, it is fixable though.

you are right when you say you will keep eye on the amount you use over the next few week as despite what they say you can ask npower to do a disputed opening read on your account. what they roughly do is see how much you use over a set amount of time and kinda work out what the reading should have been when you moved in. they may charge you extra due to the huge difference but tell them what you think has happened with the previous owner and they should work with you to sort it out.

it isnt providers job to take readings, unfortunately they only have to take reading twice a year, with people moving in and out it is always the tenants job to take the readings as at end of day its them that will pay for it

as i say it has been a couple of years since i worked for them but if you want any more advice PM me and i will do my best to help.

HTH

Joyful

They only have to take a reading once every 2 years when they should do a safety inspection. The customer should always take reads.

Cardew

The OP has conceded that he was at fault in not checking the meter, so no point in repeating that position.

If the outgoing occupant gave a meter reading, which the OP didn't dispute, then it would appear that Npower haven't done a great deal wrong (much as I don't like saying that about the company).

After all the OP must have contacted NPower to give them his details.

It also must be remembered that the gas has actually been used, albeit by the previous occupant.

However where NPower may be at fault is if the final meter reading given by the previous occupant is not compatible with his previous bills; or that they haven't taken a meter reading(or attempted to take one) in the previous 2 years.

The hope is that NPower will appreciate that the OP has been conned and write off a large chunk of the outstanding debt.

Gorgeous_George

I assume meter readers do training. I have never done meter reading training and therefore cannot be held accountable for getting it wrong.

I buy gas, they tell me how much I owe. If I choose to read their meter, that is for my benefit.

GG

pebbles88

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

I assume meter readers do training. I have never done meter reading training and therefore cannot be held accountable for getting it wrong.

I buy gas, they tell me how much I owe. If I choose to read their meter, that is for my benefit.

GG

yes they do meter reading, not that it is rocket science!

yes it is their meter, but if you want to pay the right amount, it always helps to do it yourself, as they can sometimes get it wrong.

tomstickland

You need to monitor usage over a short time period - like a week or a month and use that to estimate what the reading would have been when you moved in.

ie: if you use x units per day on average, then you can work out how many units you used before your first meter reading, and hence what the original reading was likely to have been. Maybe give you grounds for negotiation.

elektra

pebbles88 wrote: »

yes they do meter reading, not that it is rocket science!

You would think it was quite straight forward wouldn't you. Everytime BG has read my Mums meter they have got it wrong. It is a 2 rate meter( charged at single rate) and they only ever read one rate and then don't know where to apply the readings on the bill.

hope op negotiates a reasonable amount.