Gas Reading

welshrarebit_2

I wonder if anyone has some advice to give on where I stand please

We moved into our house here in August 05, when we moved we had our gas and electric supply with Powergen. We rung with our meter readings, set up our d/d and was paying £25/month each. We were having our bills through, debit in winter and credit in summer. After coming on here I deicided to switch suppliers, so I called them with up to date readings to get some new paperwork to compare new suppliers.

I gave them our electric reading, which turns out to be about £150 in debit:eek: but she couldnt give definite balance, will have to wait for our next statement.

She took my gas reading then said, hold on please I need to speak to someone about this....another lady came on the line and said that we have been on a 4 dial meter instead of a 5 dial meter...she needs to work out the difference and send us a new bill, apparently when they had a system switchover(2004-2006) it messed up some info and the are trying to work their way through it, ours must have been one of the ones that was wrong. She said that even though we had rung with our meter reading in aug 05 with a 5 dial reading, it wasnt picked up on...so now we will have a bill 3 years worth of gas we havent paid for. Where do we stand on this matter, seeing as it was their fault? She says we've not given them a meter reading since moving in had we been regularly phoning with reading it would have picked up sooner.:mad: I'm not sure whether we gave them a reading or not, I cant check I dont keep the bills that far back! However she did say as it was their mistake she would try and get her supervisor to give us some discount! She said she would get back to me on Tuesday when she has worked out how much we owe. I cant even begin to imagine how much this difference is going to be

If anyone can offer any advice or information I would really appreciate it

TIA
Caren xx

UtilityMan_3

Firstly, you need to ask for copy invoices since you moved in. This will help ascertain their estimates for the period and help your case.

By Law, meters have to be independently read and inspected at least once every two years (meter reader, or outsourced agent). This MAY have happened and will strengthen your case. Any copy invoice received with an (A) after the read, is an actual read, and they will have changed it to suit your account!

Not much can be done until you receive invoices and the debt amount. Then we can pursue the line of unbilled supply. I am positive it means a lot more than just being "unbilled" and will actively assist anything on here, I feel falls into that category. (Plenty of unbilled threads on here, might be worth having a look)

welshrarebit_2

hiya

After reading your post I called them again to request copy invoices, this time I spoke to a very helpful lady who said that all reading were estimates since we moved in, the amont was £690 ish and she would send copy invoices out asap.

She said that when I get the call from her colleague on Tues, to remind her that its a legal requirement that a reading is taken once every two years at least!

Can they make us pay this...its their fault surely they should take it!

Thank you sooooo much for replying :beer:

Caren x

welshrarebit_2

The short version lol

well they came back with a price of £591.58, they said they would be willing to knock off the £91.58 leaving us with £500 to ay, I said that I had taken some advice that said it was illegal that they had not been to read our meter in the last 3 yeard of us living here. She said she would get her supervisor to call me back. They then said that they would only bill us for the last 12 months which they had calculated at £298.00, and we would need to increase out d/d to £34 to cover future usage, total d/d of £50+ a month. I siad how can you work out how much we have used in the last 12 months when you only have estimates. She said we go on the size of your house...I said I wasnt hapy with this figure that I would take it further, she siad they wouldnt change it and I would have to pay it.

So I put a complain forward with energy watchdog, who were fab. Surely they calculate it with how many people are in the house? last year, in our 4 bed house there was DH, myself and DS. From Feb to Nov my husband was away every other week, working, so only myself and my 5 yr old son, who doesnt use that much gas tbh :rolleyes:

How can they just change these figures so easily?? They were going to charge me the full 3years had I not taken some advise, they are bad bad eggs taking the p*ss, what about the poor people who dont know about this great board or known about Energy watchdog, they would have just had to cough up for Powergens mistake....makes me so :mad: :mad:

So, whats your opinnion, do you think I should have just aid the extra £298, knowing I have already paid them £204 for the last 12 months? What is energy watchdogs success rate like? Are they any good?
Soz about the q's!!

Thanks for your help utility man:T

UtilityMan_3

Rule number one, there is no such thing as a short answer!

Rule number three, there is no rule number two!

If you read Peggy's thread regarding unbilled accounts, it appears the whole thing is unravelling (slowly!).

It's a grey area, but the way I see it, is as it is stated :

If you do not get billed for more than 12 months, then the amount over the 12 months is uncollectable.

You do not get billed for 366 days, they lose the one day. And so one.

You pay by DD so as not to accumulate arrears. I cannot see what that payment has gone towards. Therefore, the money you have paid over the period, should go towards the 12 months they are legally allowed to charge for.

It has to be fought, (not as far as a Court) as it affects everyone. Another Hero in the making!

EW are exceptional. If they approach a supplier, the supplier has 7 days to respond. Most suppliers have a dedicated team to deal with EW complaints.

Lastly, the only fair way to guesstimate your consumption, is to take daily, weekly, monthly reads and multiply by whatever to get to 12 months. If thats the case, get the kids new coats, switch the heating off, eat microwave meals for a month and count your "winnings"!!

Seriously though, your average Joe, would have no say. They do as they are told and the "£91.58" would be the bonus. They have plucked a figure from the air. At least we are being a little bit scientific!

Peggy's thread is "12 month billing ruling"