£1600 electricity bill - But no proof of initial meter readings

[Hypopotassio]

Hey there,

This has been haunting me for a while now, and I'm that close to giving up and just suck it up and pay a MASSIVE electricity bill where literally everybody involved agreed that this amount is way too high, but still I am urged to pay this amount. Let me explain:

I rented an apartment with E7 for 10 months, and upon moving in I was asked to set up my account with the supplier PowerNI (In Northern Ireland). So I did exactly that and when they asked me for the meter readings, I didn't have them. Neither were they on the inventory, nor did I have access to the room with the electricity meters, so I called the letting agents and asked them to provide me with the readings.

Two weeks later I finally got them - Via phone, nothing written, and nothing proved with photos. The Night Meter Reading was provided at 11710. Little did I know, and I should have insisted on a photo.
So, yeah, I passed this reading (Together with the Day and Water Heating) along and got my first bill three months later, which was already pretty high (Around £250, but I thought "Okay, it's E7 and I'm having Night Storage Heaters"). As I was already paying 50 a month, I just saved as much electricity as possible during the next three months, thinking it would reduce my bill.

I was wrong.

Next bill was about £550, and the Night Meter Reading received an (E) next to it, stating - Estimated. By now it already showed around 10.000 more units than when I moved in and was at about 21100. The other two readings didn't change much, and showed little to no usage. I thought "Okay, I'll figure something out - It must be the storage heaters!" so I asked the letting agents to have a technician call over to check the heaters and a PowerNI person to take actual meter readings. This happened quickly after, and the actual meter readings were taken, which revealed that the usage of Day and Water Heating was still low to none, and the Night Meter reading was even 12000 units more than on the estimate, at around 33000. The storage heaters were all fine, too. No fault was found with the meter, everything worked alright.
The next bill came, stating that I owe PowerNI £1.600 and claiming that my daily Night Unit usage was 155. One-hundred-and-fifty-five units per night. Upon calling PowerNI and asking them how they explain this, they just said "You probably had your storage heaters on all night"

I actually only used one Storage heater (3500 Watt), and ran it on a very low setting. By checking my night meter every day, I found out I was only using 2 units per night.

The letting agents quickly said that they are not getting involved with this, and as per the renting contract, the landlord cannot be held responsible for utility bills.
However, neither the landlord nor the letting agents have any proof of the initial meter reading. They actually even told me that the last proof they have is from "two tenants ago". PowerNI insists that the bill is accurate and ignores questions like "How do you explain 155 units a night when only one storage heater is running on the lowest setting?" - They don't even acknowledge the fact that this number is ridiculously high, they even say that "somewhere the electricity must have been used". As far as the closing meter reading from the previous tenant goes, they have nothing on record, either.

I feel like I've been screwed over, and that there's nothing I can do about it.

Please advise.

[des8]

Re: £1600 electricity bill - But no proof of initial meter readings

So at a quick calculation they reckon you are using roughly 20 electric one bar fires all night long!!!!!!

Have you complained to OFGEM/ https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/h...ll-or-supplier

[Diana M]

Re: £1600 electricity bill - But no proof of initial meter readings

The information from your letting agent is inconsistent.

You say they told you the last accurate meter reading they had was from "two tenants ago". If that is true then on what basis did they provide you with a reading over the phone for your (then) current meter?

It's true that most tenancy agreements state that the Tenant is responsible for utilities not the Landlord. That's one reason why an Inventory should include a photo of the meter readings.

It's also likely to be true that the agent is responsible for information which they (agent) give you. I assume you paid them a fee for their services. So ask them in writing to confirm/prove where and when they got the meter reading information.

If they don't co-operate then make a formal complaint to them which you can escalate to The Property Ombudsman or whichever redress scheme they belong to.

How long ago was this initial dispute? You may find the Back Billing Code will help you.

Di

[Hypopotassio]

Re: £1600 electricity bill - But no proof of initial meter readings

Hey guys,

Thank you for your replies!

Have you complained to OFGEM/ https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/h...ll-or-supplier

I haven't - I wasn't even aware this exists, since everything was wrapped up through Customer Support. Thank you, des8!

You say they told you the last accurate meter reading they had was from "two tenants ago". If that is true then on what basis did they provide you with a reading over the phone for your (then) current meter?

As I said, I had to ask them (multiple times, actually) to provide me with the meter readings. When the technician from PowerNI checked the meter half a year later, I actually had a chance to see the room with all the electricity meters, and they were all next to each other, with only very small labels stating the apartment numbers. However, I was not present when the initial meter readings were taken - After I had to request it three times they called me with the meter reading and that it was taken from the meter itself. Nothing was in written form and there was no field on the inventory stating anything regarding the electricity meter. On a side note, I asked them if they were able to provide me with a copy of the inventory - They refused, since they now deem it an internal document, and that I should have requested a copy after moving in.

It's true that most tenancy agreements state that the Tenant is responsible for utilities not the Landlord. That's one reason why an Inventory should include a photo of the meter readings.

As mentioned - The inventory only included a list of items that are in the property and no seperate paragraph or page about meter readings.

It's also likely to be true that the agent is responsible for information which they (agent) give you. I assume you paid them a fee for their services. So ask them in writing to confirm/prove where and when they got the meter reading information.

This sounds like an even better plan than what Citizen's advice suggested to me (They just advised to write in to them, asking for the initial meter readings again) and I will definitely do this tomorrow (Post office is closed when I finish work today). Adding a proof of delivery to this will further ensure me that this letter will arrive. I think it's best to ask them to answer me via mail, and not via e-mail, too, so I actually have their response to this black on white.

If they don't co-operate then make a formal complaint to them which you can escalate to The Property Ombudsman or whichever redress scheme they belong to.

This sounds like a stellar follow-up plan and I will keep this in mind in case they either do not cooperate or confirm that they don't have any records of the meter readings.

How long ago was this initial dispute? You may find the Back Billing Code will help you.

The dispute actually started after the bill skyrocketed to £1600, which was in July of this year, and when I tried to gather as much information as possible (For instance, I asked the letting agents for a photo of the initial Night Meter reading, and they said they would have literally "thousands" of photos to go through, and after over a month and me constantly bugging them they eventually told me they don't have any photos). I had a lot of calls with PowerNI, and at least they agreed to me not paying anything until this is cleared. However, even though they saw in their records that everything has been checked, they first insisted on a technical fault with either the appliances or the meter, which, however, was already ruled out by technicians. In any other instance, it seemed to me they didn't really grasp the issue, no matter how detailed I explained it, and they constantly asked me if I wanted to set up a payment plan.

About the back billing code: I don't think this will work, since the £1600 are for the time I've rented the apartment, which was only 10 months. So in any case, going by the back-billing code it might even increase the bill if another two months (to have a total of 12 months, going backwards) were added.

I will try writing the letting agents first. Thank you for your advice so far - I will keep you posted.

[Hypopotassio]

Re: £1600 electricity bill - But no proof of initial meter readings

Hey again,

So, as of today I'm still waiting for a reply from my old letting agents. I sent the letter to them out on Tuesday, the 8th of November (via Signature Required). Just to be very safe with this: What would you say is a good way of determining "Lack of cooperation?" Shall I send them one or two more letters asking for the meter readings, or shall I go ahead and start reaching out to TPOS (The Property Ombudsman) and OFGEM simultaneously?