POWERGEN, can anyone help ?

[Chassy]

Hello this is my first post on here and any help you can offer would be appreciated.
I changed from Powergen to British Gas for my electric back in May, I have always had pre-payment meters. This morning out of the blue I had a letter from Powergen saying I owed them £61.01 and they were giving me seven days to pay, after that my I would be refered to a debt collecting agency.
I phoned Powergen asking how this can be possible as with pre-payment meters you only pay for what you use, the guy I spoke to was very stroppy with me and told me they hadn't set the meter right so in fact I hadn't been paying enough. Surely this isn't my fault and the blame lays with Powergen.
Do I have to pay this outstanding debt? Things are very tight at the moment and this is the last thing I need

[buzby]

I agree they should have set the meter correctly, but if the amount cannot be disputed (on the grounds of a misreading) you can get them to breakdown the costs so you can see where the problem lay.

Incidentally, as you were a pre-pay customer, they owe you a duty of care, so because it was their admitted error, they have to be reasonable in asking for the underpayment. Ask to pay it off at £10 per month, and remind them they should have taken responsibility for their equipment 'error'. Might also be worth contacting Energywatch as their tactics make the companies take notice.

[LancerQRL]

in exactly the same situation as you chassy, even down to changing to b.g. in may, they say i owe sixty odd for underpaid electric, but best of all is the bill for gas where the final amount is seventy odd CREDIT but in three months of not using them i now am in debit for 35,
trying it on is not the word.
they also admitted they are not sure where these figures came from but in fact i could owe even more.
needless to say full s.a.r sent and eagerly awaiting the results.

[Chassy]

Thank you both for the replies

I have been so wound up over this that I couldn't get to sleep last night, £60 is not a vast amount of money I know, its just the fact that the blame lies with Powergen, not me.
I decided to phone them again this morning, I spoke a really nice guy, so different from the jumped up little so and so I spoke to yesterday.
I explained that I was not at fault here, and he did admit the blame lies with Powergen ... so he said he would wipe half the debt as a good will gesture and the other half because of the way his colleague spoke to me yesterday. What a result. To say I am relieved is a understatment.

Lancer ~ stand your ground with these people. They should not be allowed to get away with such underhanded tactics. Hope everything works out in your favour

[LancerQRL]

chassy -oh believe me it will work out in my favour,these large organisations are slowly beginning to realise that the little man will stand up and fight, and not take it lying down anymore. like you say its not a great amount of money, and yes i could pay it now, but why should i?
i probably would have done pre c.a.g days!
good result for you though and well done