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MG123

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  1. Puzzled as to what Fixed Deal it was as the Fixed Price 09 went off in July and the Fixed Price 2011 not long after. There is a further fixed price which is more like one that follows the rates. My straight to the point response is, you will still receive bills and fixed price does not mean a consistent amount for your bills, usage varies especially through winter. Paying £40.00 a month for a winter period is low and maybe your query to this could be that the sales agent quoted you the wrong DD but they are not billing trained, work on what you provide as well.
  2. The will see it that the fuel has been used so they have the right to find out who is responsible. But in the case of a contract Im not sure.
  3. This may sound cheeky but pilot lights for boilers etc do still use gas but Im not entirely sure it would be as much as that!! Its about 0.5 units or something daft like that. But thats per WEEK. (I could be wrong) Gas meter test would involve meter taken away by a regulator, replaced with a new one and the old one goes through numerous tests usually by OFGEM who then decide if meter is working to a certain degree of accuracy. If it is fine then the charge is applied to customers account, if ti works out that its not accurate then Ive encountered (once in five years) the charge being waivered and an amount worked out that customer has been overcharged then written off. Also imperial units and metric units are different averages so although your parents may use 7 they may have an older meter etc etc and I always feel making comparisons between homes is silly as no home is the same. Its unlikely the gas is being redirected from another home as that involves a hell of a lot of digging holes and if it isnt a gas leak then Im kind of puzzled. Have you got out a CORGI (theyve changed their name now i think) and asked them to check all the pipework too? Im kinda lost unless the usage during the four hours is from your pilot light, could be worth completly wiping everything off includng the pilot lights and then taking reads a couple of hours later, may sound silly but would save you money in the long run. Good luck x
  4. Maybe you should ask for a breaddown of the bills over that period and not just copy statements. There were price increases around that time as well. Get them out to your meter for gas too, even take a picture of the meter to prove your point. How on earth did they get that reading or has there been a meter exchange notnupdated correctly? Hmm Oh and the last poster is right, there is Fuel Direct which takes money from your benfits but Im not sure if the supplier your with does the scheme of offering a discount on the units of electric use, npower did a similar scheme but have stopped it. Prepayment meters are a pain but do learn you how to be efficient even more so and some companies dont have standing charges but I cant list them as cant remember. Good luck xx And sorry its brief.
  5. Collections Direct are an internal agency of Npower hunny, in my opinion Id get a letter written via yourself advsing that you would like to be able to discuss this account query and get him to sign it. Send it over to Npower, give me a bell and Ill get some good addresses for you. Drop me a line. Ive worked with them.
  6. My parents are in a 1950's three bed semi and use around 28000, combi boiler and gas cooker. Double glazing. 33000kwh is not as much as what you think considering what you use, boiler to heat water and heating for 5 hrs a day. What temp is the heating at? Sometimes setting it too low can cause extra use to be used to take it to the recognised temperature. Or too high and excessive usage caused. Im sure they would have had a dept that would specialise in advising you of the usage in your home but it sounds to me like you're being fobbed off and not offered any advise or explanation as to what to do to bring it down.
  7. Theres a lot to take in here. Heres my advice on what to do next....half of it you have already said!!!! With regards to the meter itself, on installing a meter there is USUALLY card with the installation reads on. Or a sticker..if thats handy then theres a starting point. I would absolutely ask them for the last firm read taken, any attempted visits and also reads that failed 'tolerance' Sometimes, when a customer gets a read and fills in the card and leaves it,the engineer picks this up,refers to supplier who will then view this, if out of tolerance (too high or low...) then an Invalid Read letter of some sort should be sent to advise the customer to call or make contact. Get that appointment booked, take your own read (youve done a lot of checking up) and ask them to backtrack using your information which will also be backed up by the official read. They then should evenly (as best they can)distribute the usage over the year back to that firm read and apply the relevant price changes and certainly NOT add any additional usage at the current rates. You can ask them to hold the account until the backbill is done and I have action requests on this basis before and recording usage over periods of time is also used to amend supply readings and also backdate tariff prices. The above is NOT impossible and insist on this being done. I honestly think writing would be better, ask for thier Comaplints or Head Office address, you can rant or rave as much as you like and you also have the information logged word for word too. Also pay recorded delivery, a small cost for resovling a large issue in my opinion. In your letter ask for a Complaint to be raised, ask them to contact you with the reference number and their Complaints procedure. If this simple thing cannot be actioned for you then ask for it to be raised onwards. Consumer Direct can give you some pointers but wont take on the Complaint until the supplier has been given reasonable chance to do so. The Ombudsman will also guide you. Now from the suppliers point of view: The meter only has to be read once in two years, they can gain a warrant for a safety check so again there may just be readings in between cycles that have assisted in the working out of the estimated account. If the engineer has made reasonable efforts to gain access then a card is left and the customer can leave an updated read at any time. It is the customers responsibility to monitor their usage, reads and their bills as well as the suppliers. We rely on cooperation of the customer, as subject to debate, we want to make sure the customer has an accurate record and balance. In effect, whether this has been over estimated or underestimated, the gas has been used and the supplier is perfectly entitled to ask for the payment of this. Its not that they havent sent statements, you would have a big case if no bill for 6 year but its unlikely you will have an amount written off. You may notice that I havent added anything about the suppliers view on a manual account being done. This can be done and any decent advisor/supplier would be happy to produce a bill with assistance from the customer especially in difficult situations like your own. Just a little note, my two year old has Aspergers and ADHD and he CAN read the meter...... Drop me a line if you need there
  8. Im with ozzy on this one. If its in your name and no other way of proving others are responsible for that debt then yes you will have to look to pay. Could be a tenancy agreement you have with all signatures...then if they dont have a forwarding address I guess thats it...hard luck (sorry) If your new home is with the same supplier you can ask for debt to be transferred. Should there be a prepayment meter as well then it can be altered to collect debt. The supplier may be able to review the situation, let them know, it is a final account and there may be more scope available to pay this off in manageable instalments.Even a Debt Management Company or the CAB can assist you. Dont leave it hunny.
  9. You can ask them to reassess your reading, they may ask you to take a record of reads and gain a pattern of consumption and back track from there. They may have reads from a previous tenant to line up with and use. If the unit usage is what you mean as how much it has advanced then that is certainly excessive and certainly questionable but if you are referring to 15000kwh after being converted then that is not excessive. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/utilities-gas-electricity-water/189543-huge-gas-bill-help.html You have a thread opened re this honey and it would saved you time typing all of that out as your other thread certainly helps and an update added to it. Anyway, if you need a hand then just ask but it simply is a case of asking them to amend, give them a pattern of cnsumption and demand they use a reading that reflects approx your gas usage. N:)
  10. Recerts are like for like meters. They shouldnt be sticking a prepayment meter in unless you specifically agreed or a warrant obtained. Just ask them hunny.
  11. Maybe there was an unbilled reading in 2007 and they have gone back to that? Meter readers can take interim reads, possibly a gas safety inspection,they take reads on them. If she has paid on estimated bills, in fairness, even leaving a read card wouldnt be sufficient for me. Id be checking my bill and asking for a further rebill on my own read but Im picky lol. Find out if there was a reading available, also look through the bill and check they have apportioned units over different price changes. Hopefully they have and havent gone and billed her 10 million gas units at current rates considering how much they have increased in 2008 alone. Possibly the company has played fair and tried to apply different prices for her benefit and Im certain she would have been more concerned if they hadnt gone that far back. Back billing policy on this one? Im fairly certain that may not apply here, if theyve gone ahead and backdated tariff prices for the customer.... Back billing is when you simply get a bill on your doormat for the last three years with no interim bills, no awareness of supplier etc etc. Or for example you get one bill then fail to see another down to the suppliers error. Id view that differently. If anyone on the forum can advise me further Id appreciate it but my view would be that she has been getting bills, she has been using gas. Id be asking nicely for payment. (Im a meanie..)
  12. An energy bill can be applied as part of bankruptcy, as far as I have experienced. Problems pop this q in the debt problems forum, they can advise you more. If its the first letter about the bill then get on the telephone and explain the problems youre having. Maybe until the time you are going into the bankruptcy route you could apply for Fuel Direct until this goes through, depending on which benefits mind but portions would go to your debt and consumption. Maybe it helps. Second letter usually advises they will visit but they cant disconnect without a warrant and they are usually asking for some sort of explanation and/or payment options on the visit. Also, bog standard stuff from me, check your bills right, get an up to date read etc. Good luck, this recession crisis is hitting everybody so hard. Bills go up but wages and benefits never do to the same extent
  13. How long was the electric bill over, I mean in days? Ive not seen them necessarily sculpt electric. It looks to me like your bill was for just over a quarter and the basis of the bill is that on avg 2kwh units a day are used at the higher day rate before the lower rate comes into play. Then it looks like your previous bill was for 69 days???? Hmmm. I dont like that but would be keen to find out the period of the bill exactly and can guide you as to whether it can be redone for you. The gas, well, gas scupting has DEFINETLY made you bill increase. The longer you left between giving the readings the more of the higher units are charged before you benefit from lower prices. Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb around 882kwh per month charged at higher rate avg of 25/28kwh per day. I can explain in more detail if you need. Spreading Warmth tariff- £125.00 off each fuel Applying for this before 2009 meant you were entitled to the discount on or after the January 2009 account. Applying AFTER that would apply to the April thereafters account. Check the dates you joined, ask when it would have been applied and if clearly should have been on the bill before changeover then ask them to do a backdated tariff on there and get it back. Drop me a line if you need there hun x Oh yes, just a quick note, have you checked if your Economy 7 is beneficial, it does look like you use a lot of night units (so could well be beneficial anyway)but ask your new supplier to do a comparison with that final bill and standard rates they have. Worth a look.
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