1 year rule

[martin2006]

Forgive me for being dumb but what is the 1 year rule in relation to utility companies?

[Me.x]

As a result of the ‘super-complaint’ submitted by energywatch in April 2005 to the energy regulator, Ofgem, energy companies have been told that, as of July 2006, they should no longer bill for any energy used by consumers more than two years previously where the company themselves has failed to provide a bill. As of July 2007, energy companies will be expected not to bill for any amount that dates back longer than a year.

[martin2006]

Thanx Me.x
Dont know if this is the same as the rule you speak of but ,in short i agreed with powergen in april 2006 to pay 2 lump sum figures to both gas and elec accounts in full and final payments.
This was due to the fact that they screwed the accounts up from day one.
Last week though i started to get letters from dca and sols for the remaining balance, over 2 years later and without any other communication.
Any thoughts. I can go into more depth if u like but thats the general gist of it.

[Me.x]

I'm sorry, but I can't answer that, but I'm sure there will be someone on here who may be able to advise you. I'm no expert I'm afraid... I'm learning and reading as much as I can due to receiving a £12,753 bill myself and came across the 1 year rule... Good luck.

[martin2006]

WOW!!!! and i thought i had problems!
Best of luck with them

[wino]

I received my first electric bill for 9 years this week. I have only been charged for the last year

[ozzywizard]

Lol @ 9 years. . . . did you not realize that you may of been due a bill . . .

[wino]

Hi Ozzy
Yes I realise I was due a bill. I do have my own thread on this. I spent two tears trying to convince the electric suppliers to send me a bill but they denied being my supplier :o

[Loryyyyyy]

Hi Everybody!
I'm new here and I have been spending the last few hours reading several forum. I hope you can help me with the following issue as I have to make a decision by tomorrow!!!
Basically I lived in a studio flat from April 05 to November 07 when I had to move somewhere else cause the landlord needed to repossess the flat.
During those 2 and a half years I never paid an electricity bill as Good Energy (the supplier) kept sending me credit bills stating that those were for information only and I didn't need to pay anything as my account was in credit.
I have to say that because of my job I spent most of my time travelling abroad therefore the actual time i spent in that flat was probably less than a year. Also because I am so busy I have never had the time to reply to Good Energy's requests of reading that I started receiving I would say after 6-8 months I had moved in that flat. So basically for 2 and a half years I never provided the readings. While running around I kept postponing the fact that I had to do it.
Anyway when I moved out and I finally sent the last readings I got back a bill of almost £1800. You can imagine the shock! I appreciate I never paid a bill however it wasn't my fault if they were sending credit bills all the time plus I actually spent less than a year into the flat and that amount sounded ridiculous to me. Please bear in mind that it was a studio flat, no washing machine + i used to switch off everything when going away.
I challenged Good Energy and their answer was that they had tried to get in touch with me several times and I never replied.
I explained the situation and the fact I thought the amount was too high and they said that they had tried to get in touch with me since March 04.
I thought...hold on!I moved in in April 05 how come that they are now mentioning March 04. Obviously something was wrong....
I contacted the landlord and I asked him a few information. To my surprise I found out that the landlord had contacted the supplier twice in April 05 to provide the final readings of the previous tenant + my details and the same readings to open the new account. Guess what? The readings provided by the landlord were not the ones used by Good Energy on the credit bills sent to me over the entire period.
They agreed to the fact I had been wrongly charged for the consumption of the previous tenant so the bill dropped to £1300 ca.
Again I disputed this amount as I thought it was still to high for one single person living in a studio flat for a short period of time...
They kept saying the usual.That they had tried to contact me however I had never replied. However this time around I had the proof that they got the readings twice and they ignored the the information both times.
i asked the landlord to put it in writing stating both the dates and the readings and on top of that I also had another proper look at the new revised bill and I spot out a mistake in their calculation.
I e-mailed again underlining the mistake (I spent hours calculating everything again!!), they apologised, they agreed to the mistake and they raised a new bill of £1233,00.
In the meantime I have to say that I informed EnergyWatch and I told them I was ready to pay and close the whole issue cause I was fed up! However I wanted to pay a fair amount (£750,00) but Good Energy didn't agree to it. EnergyWatch got so fed up that they gave up and left us talking to each other directly.
On top of that I also have to say that Good Energy calculated the bill in a very funny way. Obviously it was all for their own benefit rather than mine.
To cut the story shot as they revised their fee rate 5 times between April 05 and Nov 07 they calculated the total meter readings for the entire time and they estimated the readings each time that they updated the fee rates. In this way I have been charged the highest rate for the longest period of time and the lowest for the shortest one. When I disputed it again they said that it was my fault and that I should have replied to their requests in order to avoid the estimate of the reading in those 5 periods of time.
My points were that they kept making mistakes all the way through, they got the readings twice and they ignored the information both times hence I can easily say that I don't trust them and they way they dealt with this situation. Even if I had provided them with the readings they would have most likely ignored the information for the third time!
The end result is that I could pay the full amount by tomorrow gaining a 10% discount, otherwise I have to agree to a different way of payment of the entire 1233£.
What shall I do? I threatened them saying I would talk to a solicitor. And I have actually got in touch with one who asked me for £180,00 just to right a letter to Good Energy. Do you think is it worth to go down that way or I should pay everything by tomorrow? Please bear in mind I could get a written confirmation from my employer stating that I'm often abroad for work and I could also list all places I have been to over those 30 months.
In addition to this...do you think that the 1 year law could help me, too?
And if you want to laugh...Good Energy have also been chasing me cause they would like to sign wiith them again for the new flat I have moved in to...I believe I must be a very good customer to them!
Please advise.....
Thanks
Loryyyyyy

[ozzywizard]

Hi Ozzy
Yes I realise I was due a bill. I do have my own thread on this. I spent two tears trying to convince the electric suppliers to send me a bill but they denied being my supplier

Ha Wino dont you meen years not tears, maybe a bit of both huh. Yeah I know exactly how they can be. Its their responsibility to bill you correctly not for you to beg for a bill.

[wino]

Sorry Ozzy typo
But on reflection tears is probably more appropriate


Hi Lorryyyyyy
You will need to start your own thread on the utilities section so people can help you. Just copy and paste. If you need any help just shout.

[nicsussex]

Does the one year rule apply to all utilities including water companies?

[ozzywizard]

Unfortunatly not. It doesnt even apply to all energy companies, just the ones who have signed the agreement with the energy supply ombudsman. Just to confirm water companies do not come under this agreement.