Dispute over Gas charges

krystal-divination

Hi everyone,

when i moved into my new home i knew there would be a small bill from the previous gas supplier till my one had transfered me over to them.

the new home was empty form 2nd feb untill 2nd march
all we did was decorate and we had heating on for only 1hr each morn to till we moved in to gaurd against possible frost.
my new supplier took over the acc 2nd march.

letters started coming from eon not in my name i kept returning i didnt want to open as not in my name.
then one day one to the occupier which i opened and EON are trying to charge for that one mth the house was empty £67.14 !!

well i have been in touch with my provider on regular basis to get my monthly amounts ive used since march calculated, and so far for 4mths ive used 223 units which include central heating in march and april as well as water and water only for may and june.

the amount they EON are charging £67.14 is calculated on 200 units, for one mth when i was barely using gas at all !

which is almost the same usage as my 4mths i have actually used !

EON wont budge that something is wrong with the reading they were left with by previous owners, but my new provider do feel it was wrong and say they will dispute and show them my usage over the last 4mths.

(seems the previous owners provided a figure which may well have been too low )

today a letter of intent to court action arrives, totally spelt wrong so not actually my name on it !

ive told my provider im more than happy to pay for the services but i will only pay the right provider the right amount and the guy i spoke to was very nice and said he will send new figures to EON.

however i dont know how long i have to sort this and what would come of a intent of court action thats not actually in my correct name.

i welcome any positive comments from you all and any suggestions ?

many thanks in advance.

Premier_2

When you took over the account (i.e when you became responsible for the property), you should have contacted your gas supplier (eon) and provided them with your name and meter reading. If you had done that they would have billed you from that meter reading until the meter reading you should have gave your new gas supoplier on the day you switched.

Any large difference between what the outgoing account holder declared and the meter reading you provided would have been investigated then (e.g. by ensuring the meter was read by an official meter reader).

Now you can't prove what the meter reading was when you took over the account, all eon can do is assume the outgoing account holder was correct in the reading they supplied.

krystal-divination

Premier wrote: »

When you took over the account (i.e when you became responsible for the property), you should have contacted your gas supplier (eon) and provided them with your name and meter reading. If you had done that they would have billed you from that meter reading until the meter reading you should have gave your new gas supoplier on the day you switched.

Any large difference between what the outgoing account holder declared and the meter reading you provided would have been investigated then (e.g. by ensuring the meter was read by an official meter reader).

Now you can't prove what the meter reading was when you took over the account, all eon can do is assume the outgoing account holder was correct in the reading they supplied.

thanks for your reply

I did call EON when i got the property i asked if they had final reading from
previous owners they said they had been given a reading, they didnt ask me for one and i have not been in this situation before so i had no idea what to do and EON didnt advise me on the phone.

i dont dispute that a small bill is due but its obviously wrong.

Cardew

Well look at it from EON's point of view.

They were given a reading, even when you rang them you didn't ask what that reading was, or provide your own(I appreciate you have stated why you didn't)

You didn't open any letters from EON which would have enabled you to dispute any charge.

Also £67 for 4 weeks in February is not high.

You ask for 'positive comments' by which I assume you mean support?

If so! Pass!

krystal-divination

Cardew wrote: »

Well look at it from EON's point of view.

They were given a reading, even when you rang them you didn't ask what that reading was, or provide your own(I appreciate you have stated why you didn't)

You didn't open any letters from EON which would have enabled you to dispute any charge.

Also £67 for 4 weeks in February is not high.

You ask for 'positive comments' by which I assume you mean support?

If so! Pass!

1) the letters were not in my name and only 1 eventually came addressed to the occupier, i had to send lots of letter from various companies back due to the prev owners not setting up redirection, i didnt open any mail unless in my name.

2) this month my gas bill for water on 3 times a day is £9.95

my provider has told me my usage since i moved in which included 2mths heat and water and then 2mths water only is virtually the same usage
as the month i didnt live in the house ........... how is that then ?


so how can i use £67 in an empty house when i was living in a different house for the that month !?

as i said my provider think the reading was given wrong by previous owners.

anyway what i hope some one may advise is what happens with the fact my provider is trying to investigate and now a letter comes about court action, again not in my name even though EON know my name.

yep its a mess

and i am not trying not to pay, i just wanna pay the right company the right amount.

im not after 'support'

i read the posts on MSE regular and i do notice that people on here seem to judge others.

im simply wondering if anyone has had similar prob and how was it resolved.

Cardew

£9.95 in a month for just hot water is about average. Heating is the big expense for gas.

Having the heating on for 1 hour each day in February will easily use £67 (the house will cold and the boiler on for most of that hour)

krystal-divination

Cardew wrote: »

£9.95 in a month for just hot water is about average. Heating is the big expense for gas.

Having the heating on for 1 hour each day in February will easily use £67 (the house will cold and the boiler on for most of that hour)

in march and april i had central heating on for 2hrs in morn and from 4pm till 9pm in the eve total 6hrs (and we dont have radiators in living room or dinning room so they only heat upstairs and bathroom)
and it didnt cost £67

as i keep saying my provider have told me something is wrong.

im going round in circles here i feel.

SwanJon

The bill is based on 2 readings - one when you moved in and one when you switched.
The only way the bill would be wrong is if these reads are wrong.

Can you prove that either of these reads are incorrect?
If yes - do it.
If no - nothing you can do, lesson learned, move on.