Energy customers overcharged in gas metering blunder - are you due a refund?

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  • Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc
    Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc Posts: 6,558
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    D_M_E wrote: »
    What I would like to know is if the energy company that had been overcharging at least one customer in this manner for at least 15 years will only refund for the past 6 years or for the entire period of over 15 years?

    All customers affected by this will be treated the same way D_M_E. Although it looks like this issue goes back 15 years, the majority were affected for much less than this. As above, where customers have paid too much, we'll pay the excess back with interest and compensation. Where they haven't paid enough, we won't be asking for anything but will just let them know they may need to pay more going forward. This is the same whether the problem has been there for a short time or 15 years.

    Hope this answers your question D_M_E.

    Malc
    Official Company Representative
    I am an official company representative of E.ON. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"
  • Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc
    Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc Posts: 6,558
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    dogshome wrote: »
    Well Well - I always thought Ofgem were a bit slow off the mark, but this investigation takes the biscuit.

    Regular contributors to this forum have been advising. any poster querying very high Gas Bills, to check for Imperial billing on their Metric meter for at least 10 years
    I highly suspect this is a more industry wide problem, but E.ON being E.ON have actually admitted there mistakes and owned up, whereas some other suppliers may either not have the resources to find this information out, or otherwise have not considered it being a business priority.

    The whole Meter Reading Database, and MAMS need reform and a nationwide-update in general... in my personal opinion...Hopefully the move to smart meters will resolve some of these database issues.

    Note: I have no interest or work for E.ON, only know them from time in the industry (non-big six). These are my personal views and not representative of any energy company and my views may be entirely wrong.

    Certainly looks like it macfamilyent. We're still investigating and, as above, working with industry bodies like Ofgem and Energy UK to understand how this happened. We think it's a little different to the historical problem dogshome correctly mentions in as much as the root cause is concerned. Although the root cause is irrelevant as far as customers are concerned. Whatever the reason, some customers have paid too much or too little and, as above, we'll be in touch to advise.

    Hope this is of interest.

    Malc
    Official Company Representative
    I am an official company representative of E.ON. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"
  • Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc
    Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc Posts: 6,558
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    sacsquacco wrote: »
    The headline is over estimating the problem. I don t do much work for Eon but its very rare to have a metric imperial mess up. Anyone getting billed 2.8 times extra is on the phone pretty quick and on the other mess up, that is someone with an Imperial meter getting billed metric units, it is even rarer and less likely to be complained about when the bill is 2.8 times less.
    On my data collector it states what type of meter I should be looking at and its easy to spot the error. BG always uses 4 figures for Imperial and 5 for Metric so the error is easier to spot.Other suppliers need to do the same.

    It's looking like around 600 of our customers have been affected sacsquacco. Around 350 have been overcharged and about 250 undercharged. It looks like the problem is industry wide but don't know the numbers involved with other suppliers.

    Hope this is of interest.

    Malc
    Official Company Representative
    I am an official company representative of E.ON. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"
  • MeterMan
    MeterMan Posts: 433
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    This isn't newly discovered, its been very well known about more than 10 years.
  • suzy35
    suzy35 Posts: 33 Forumite
    I have had this meter for 15 years.do the previous suppliers compensate because I have switched thanks
  • dogshome
    dogshome Posts: 3,877
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    suzy35
    Are you saying you have a Metric Gas Meter that has been billed as though it was an Imperial Gas Meter for the last 15 years ?

    If so, as far as claiming recompense from previous suppliers as well as your present one, the answer is YES YOU CAN
    The downside is that legally you can only go back 6 years.

    Unlikely that you still have copies of the bills going back 6 years, (Wonderful if you have), and those previous suppliers are likely to shrug off a claim from you by saying they no longer have the records - Don't give up, it's a lie, they have to keep these records for the same 6 years that limit your time to claim
  • suzy35
    suzy35 Posts: 33 Forumite
    thanks for that Dogshome :T
  • dogshome wrote: »
    suzy35
    Are you saying you have a Metric Gas Meter that has been billed as though it was an Imperial Gas Meter for the last 15 years ?

    If so, as far as claiming recompense from previous suppliers as well as your present one, the answer is YES YOU CAN
    The downside is that legally you can only go back 6 years.

    Unlikely that you still have copies of the bills going back 6 years, (Wonderful if you have), and those previous suppliers are likely to shrug off a claim from you by saying they no longer have the records - Don't give up, it's a lie, they have to keep these records for the same 6 years that limit your time to claim

    I think she may mean she has had an Imperial meter billed at Metric rates and is therefore underpaying. This is much rarer than the other way round where even a summer gas bill looks huge ! Nearly all customers who have this get in touch with supplier pretty quickly as even a low summer gas bill would be pretty big. I ve found quite a few over the years who go through the call centres and they still don`t twig what has happened if the customer cannot explain about their meters properly. Call centre puts it down to extra usage !
  • Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc
    Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc Posts: 6,558
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    suzy35 wrote: »
    I have had this meter for 15 years.do the previous suppliers compensate because I have switched thanks

    Hello suzy35. It doesn't matter that you've left us. If your old account was affected by this issue, it'll be treated in the same way as current customers and we'll be in touch.

    As dogshome asks, is the meter metric but has been billed as imperial (please see post 10 above)? Or is it the other way round and is imperial billed as metric? If it's the former, you'll have been overcharged. If the latter, you won't have been charged enough. Either way, we'll let you know.

    Don't worry, if we haven't charged enough, we won't be asking for any more. We'll just let you know as future bills will probably be higher than before. If you've paid too much, the extra will be refunded along with a simple interest payment of 8% plus a further 10% as a way of apology.

    We're working with industry bodies like Ofgem and Energy UK to understand how this happened and to make sure all of our customers, past and present, who've been affected are contacted. We're looking to be in touch with these customers by the end of September 16.

    This is all from our point of view suzy35. I can't speak for other suppliers but hope this explains what's happening from our end.

    Malc
    Official Company Representative
    I am an official company representative of E.ON. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"
  • suzy35
    suzy35 Posts: 33 Forumite
    Oh I have ft3
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