A Very Good Friend with a Large Billing Problem

[Amy]

This thread is for a very good friend of mine who is after information on the following problem:-

She is alleged to owe £2,500 odd for an outstanding quarter's gas bill for which she was paying monthly.

She had a visit from a DCA (last week) for this bill which she knew nothing about as it is paid monthly and she knew nothing to the contrary. She made the DCA who visited her telephone the Utility Warehouse (who supplies the gas to the property).

It transpires that in July 2010 someone came to take a reading and gave a 4 digit dial reading which is apparently incorrect and should be 5 digits. Then another reading was taken in December, which also resulted in an incorrect reading being taken.

Meter reading for 30-11-2010 = 13538
Agent reading 30-12-11 = 18740 (which equates to 5202 in one month)

Meter reading currently is 19548

Meter readings are 12635 in Feb 2010 and goes up slowly to 13538 then a massive jump to 18740.

[calamity jane]

Re: A Very Good Friend with a Large Billing Problem

It all depending on the type of meter.

A dial meter is a 4 digit reading.

A digital meter can be either a 4 or 5 digit reading. Imperial meters are 4 digits while Metric meters are 5 digits.

Link to Utility Warehouse - how to read your meter




CJ

[Caspar]

Re: A Very Good Friend with a Large Billing Problem

Can you post up the relelvant bills that caused the £2500 owing and the readings. Your friend obviously has a metric meter as it is 5 digit. If four digit readings were given the bills will show a conversion factor changing usage from cubic feet to cubic metres. This is a common mistake and was covered by BBC Watchdog last year. It results in your bill being roughly 3 times larger than it should be.

[enaid]

Re: A Very Good Friend with a Large Billing Problem

BBC - Watchdog: Are you paying too much for gas?

That is the Watchdog programme but it is a mistake made when the meter was changed and it was a very common one.
If your friends meter was not changed then I do not understand as to how either party could not have noticed the difference in the readings before now.

[Caspar]

Re: A Very Good Friend with a Large Billing Problem

I agree with you there Enaid, but alarm bells rang in my head when Amy talked about 4 digit readings not 5. It just made me suspicious. Certainly worth checking out - a lot of these meter readers fly in and out, so could easily slip up.

[Amy]

Re: A Very Good Friend with a Large Billing Problem

The meter is read every six months by an outside contractor.

December 2008 a correct reading was taken. July 2009 meter read again, which was apparently discounted because it was wrong. So everything was estimated. So she assumed the readings to be correct and didn't check them, she pays monthly by direct debit.

December 2009 meter read again, but another incorrect reading so they again discounted it and carried on with estimate.

July 2010 again another incorrect reading until we reach December 2010, when they finally have a correct reading. Hence her bill for £2.5k.

Paying the bill is not a problem, but she's slightly peeved (to put it mildly) to be landed with this huge bill out of the blue when she assumed everything to be in order.

They never once told her the readings were incorrect or that they had discounted them as a result of this.

[Caspar]

Re: A Very Good Friend with a Large Billing Problem

I would be inclined to get in touch with them and ask how their estimates could be so far out. £2500 is a lot of usage! I can't see any harm in also asking, as the estimates were so inaaccurate, whether as a gesture of goodwill they would be willing to write off some of the bill as the amassing of such a large debt was not really her fault. If necessary e-mail the CEO and ask him/her. There's nothing to lose by asking, they can only say no, but if you don't ask, you won't get.

I don't know if I'm reading your post right, but if she had not had an accurate reading for more than a year the following may be of gret interest to her:


Your rights - Dealing with energy suppliers - Making a complaint - Which? Consumer Rights

Code of Practice for Accurate Bills

The Code of Practice for Accurate Bills says, among other things, that:

• your energy supplier should try to read your meter at least every two years. If it can't access your meter, the energy company will ask you to take a reading
• if you do not receive a bill for more than a year and it is the energy supplier’s fault, you do not have to pay any outstanding debt for energy you used more than a year ago.

If you have a dispute about a bill you can complain to your energy supplier or the Energy Supply Ombudsman, an independent body set up to resolve disputes about energy bills. The service is free to consumers and the Ombudsman can award compensation to people who have received particularly poor service from an energy supplier.