Powergen - Bad Bills and Overcharging

[baldasacoot]

This started about 2002/2003.

When Powergen send an incorrect bill and you provide them with the correct reading and ask for a fresh, correct bill, is it lawful for them to ignore you, carry the old bill over on to the new one and present you with a second, incorrect bill for the second quarter?

When you write again and provide new readings and ask for the first bill to be corrected and sent to you so that you can pay it and also ask that the second bill then be corrected and sent to you so that you can pay that, is it lawful for them to ignore you, carry over the first two bills on to a third bill and present you with yet another incorrect bill for the third quarter?

When you write to them yet again and ask for the bill for the first quarter to be corrected so that you can pay it, and also that the bill for the second quarter be corrected so that you can pay that, and also that the bill for the third quarter be corrected so you can pay that, is it lawful for them to repeat this process for 18 months until the fiasco covers eight or nine quarters and the first incorrect bill is STILL wrong and nothing has been sorted out yet?

And then they send you copies of every incorrect bill since the problem first occurred?

Then, they take you to court for a warrant to fit a pre-payment meter as if you are some thieving, scrounging scalliwag. So you turn up and have it suspended, is it lawful for them to then charge you an extra 9.0% over their normal tarrifff for late payment?

Then, they come round and read the meter themselves and the next thing you know they have cancelled all the previous bills mentioned above and your account is now over £500.00 in credit. But they charge you £10.00 for reading the meter. Is that lawful?

Then, when your credit gets down to £100.00, you decide to register on-line and see for the first time that when they read the meter, they MIS-READ IT as 60,000 units rather than 69,000 units, so they've apparently under-charged you by 10,000 units, except that it's really only 1000 units, but there's that mysterious recredit of £500.00 followed by their own meter reading of 60,000 when the previous reading was 67,500 (no, I haven't had a new meter installed). That is, the estimates should come to about 73,000 while the actual is 74,000 but their estimate is 65,000 as they reset it to 60,000 when it was actually 69,000 or 70,000 (it's easier to believe they mis-read 69 as 60 than 70 as 60).

Is it lawful for them to charge you for 10,000 units at 2006 prices for electricity that they generated and sold between 2002 and 2005, when this mess is entirely their fault in the first place? Of course it's their fault, because even when I report over and under-charging and provide accuarte readings and ask for a corrected bill, they IGNORE ME.

By the way, when they abolished the standing charge and raised the basic rate, my quarterly bills increased by 30%.

You can see why I prefer to receive correct bills and to keep my records straight - in case something like this happens. I'm concerned that if I give them a new meter reading, they'll just add it on to the end of the next bill, all at today's prices which might be over £1000.00.

Also, they did this before in 1994/95 when they were Eastern Electricity and it took over a year of letters to sort out. They simply cannot scrap an incorrect bill and start afresh - they seem ensorcelled to simply add everything together on the next bill and try to sort it out from there, which is impossible for dim-witts with only a primary school education. They need to employ people with at least two "O" levels. I even gave them the figures and did the calculations for them!

Also, my meter seems inaccurate as it still spins (very slowly) even when everything is switched off and the fuses turned off. I have monitored my use for the last 13 weeks and I've been using about 30 units a week.


How do I get this sorted out?


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[ozzywizard]

grr I just typed a great response out for you and my internet froze so lost it. just my luck.

Anyway back to your problem, there is a lot of what you said that is wrong and unlawfull as you very well pointed out. I know this is just a small thing in your issues but the 10 pound for reading the meter is illegal as they are bound to manage your account and obtain reads from you FOC.

My best advise to you is to phone them, do not get into discussion with the CSA who answers but ask to speak to a manager, confirm to them they are a manager and make them aware if your not satisfied with them you will request to speak to the section manager.

Calmly explain to them all of the above and work together to manage your account correctly.

If not satisfied then ask for the section manager.

After this you have a clear case to go to the energy supply ombudsman.

Under what circumstances can a customer apply to the Energy Supply
Ombudsman for an independent review of a complaint?
The Energy Supply Ombudsman is there to resolve complaints which have not been
resolved to the customer’s satisfaction through the supplier’s own complaint handling
procedures.
Four criteria have been identified which need to be met before a customer complaint is
considered to have reached “deadlock” and the customer will be given access to the
Energy Supply Ombudsman Scheme. This is when a customer complaints has got to
the position where:
.there is no new information to be gained on the complaint from either the
customer or the supplier;
. the complaint escalation processes have been followed;
. the customer and the supplier still cannot agree to a resolution within the
supplier’s complaint procedures; and
. having more time will not improve this position

.

By following what I said you have followed the escalation process.

Good luck, keep me informed.

[baldasacoot]

Cheers, Ozzywizard (misty morning, clouds in the sky...)

I'll try that and see what happens.


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[ozzywizard]

Good luck and keep us informed.

[Surfer01]

Why on earth are you still registered with them? Change suplier at the earliest opportunity which is about now. I also strongly suggest you write to Energywatch and outlining your compliant. For info have a look at MoneySavingExpert.com ad-free, free to use, Consumer Revenge!