She could just ring up and ask for the money back.

Sorry, it used to be a tenner. Didn't realise it had gone up. Write to them and demand a break down of the penalty.

Put a request in writing asking for the breakdown of the bill and how it has been accrued. If they don't provide a satisfactory explanation complain to energywatch.

Prepayment meter tariffs are often more expensive than the standard credit tariff and always more expensive than the direct debit tariff (except with ebico). Also if you lose your card, it could take you several days to get a replacement, possibly leaving you with no power. You should only get a prepayment meter if it is the only way you will be able to budget for your supply.

If you do not pay the bill within 36 days of receipt you get a £10 charge. There is no £14 charge, however there is a £40 charge but this is only levied when a dept rep visits your property. With regards to legality, you should write in demanding a break down of the charge similar to the way in which you would ask from a bank. If they can justify the charge then it would be legal, if not then it would be an unlawful penalty.

Try turning absolutely everything off at the wall, including the fridge (don't worry they are designed to stay cold for several hours as long as you keep it closed) and even your alarm clock. Check the reading, give it an hour and check again, it shouldn't have budged. You will soon see if any electricity is still going anywhere. Then try turning appliances on one at a time to see how the meter is affected. Don't try to short cut simply by switching off the main fuses, if there is something draining the power without you knowing that would simply shut it off as well. Just out of interest how is the property heated? If you don't have storage heating you can't be running the whole house of a 1 bar fire surely. Do you have oil/gas?

Technically they can do it as said above,however energywatch take a very dim view of the practice. Usually if it is a large amount and they have had access to the meter, but haven't bothered updating it, then a complaint to energywatch often gets some of the balance written off. However if they have been trying to update it but are unable to access the meter then you may not be so lucky.

I would guess the reason it is taking so long is all the accounts have been transferred to a new billing system over the last 12 months (as featured on energywatch ), if they are going back three years then part of your account will be on an old system and part on the new one, which will probably make it more complicated. However 60 days is still an unnaceptable timeframe, my advice would be to wait and see what customer relations do this week, if they don't sort things out and get a cheque to you pronto then go to energywatch or the energy ombudsman. As for your final gas bill of £1.74, I would just ignore it. I believe their system writes off debts under £5 anyway.

Zenith, have you considered simply providing them with a meter reading yourself if you get an estimate? Before you worry about queuing or the cost of the call, they have a freephone automated meter reading line you can use Also they are only legally obliged to read the meter every two years, perhaps a letter to the regulator encouraging to increase the frequency of meters readings would have more effect. I do agree meters should be read more often, but unless the regulations change your complaint will achieve very little I'm afraid. Funnily enough, I've seen two meter reading vans in the last fortnight, don't know which company they were working for though (one accuread, the other metering services).

gazhodge1981, send them the information again with a covering letter by recorded delivery. If it's not resolved within 28 days then complain to energywatch.

Unfortunately it's too late now to stop them going to court unless they agree to halt action. If you had asked for the prepayment meter before they had started arranging court action you would have been okay. What you'll need to do now is get things such as statements of outgoings and income, etc, to demonstrate to the magistrates how much you can afford to pay, and hope for the best. I would recommend speaking to the CAB as well for further guidance.

youmustbejoking - while BG are a pain to get through to, at the end of the day you didn't cancel in the cool off period so if the contract was done properly you haven't got a leg to stand on I'm afraid. Richard - they don't need to know who your current supplier is to switch you. They are asking who your current supplier is to decide their sales pitch.

Call back and ask for a prepaymet meter to pay off the debt and book an appointment for before the court date, otherwise you will be charged fees for disconnection and if you don't pay it will go to a debt collecters, buggering your credit rating for a good few years.

British Gas wouldn't supply incorrect readings to Powergen... the new supplier gives the readings to the old one. However it does seem crazy it has taken this length of time to sort out. Have you asked Powergen to re-send the readings to BG at any stage?

They are in breach of the data protection act, you should complain to the information comissioner.

Tampering with the supply is a criminal offence bill2high... if you get caught you can (and people frequently do) go to prison. Anyone who advised you on here how to do it could technically be done for aiding and abetting, so I doubt you'll find much help I'm afraid.

You won't be able to stall them, but if you ask them to fit a prepayment meter then they will do it witihin a few days which will prevent disconnection. Is there any reason why, if you fond out there were arrears on the account 7 months ago, you haven't done something about this before? Also, if you are a student, isn't it loan time about now (if you have one)?

On your bill (usually tucked away in a corner) there will be a big S followed by two rows of numbers. It is the first two digits of the bottom row that you need.

If they have charged you £40 for an retuned payment I dare say you could. What was the charge for and how much?

There are some good points there ozzywizard. I'd recommend waiting until the agent has done the data protection checks first before asking for the information, and explaining why you want it (ie you have had problems before), so the agent is less likely to go on the defensive. Whilst every company has rules, the more experienced ones will know which one's can be bent a little so if you are pleasant and develop a rapport with them they are more likely to take the time to help you properly and may cut a few corners holding up the resolution of your problems However entering an account does not always mean the call has been logged, but it does make sure the agent isn't sitting staring blankly out the window. Also just because you ask to speak to the named manager doesn't mean they won't say he/she is unavailable, sorry you will have to speak to someone else, but it does improve your chances.

The landlord probably owns them, the utility companies don't use coin meters any more. You put the money in the meter, he/she uses it to pay the bills. It is illegal for the l/l to charge you more for the power than the unit rates paid to the supplier, although he/she is allowed to add a seperate charge for upkeep of the supply (maintaining the meter, collection costs, etc).

1) Yes, because they billed it before the new regs came in 2) A SAR would simply give you the information they have on their records, which probably wouldn't iclude a correct up to date balance. 3) Has your mother tried phoning with a meter reading and asking them what the current balance is? Easier said than done I know, negotiating through their customer service, but she should try. You should also be aware if there is an outstanding balance they will immediately send a bill for it once the transfer has gone through so your mother would need to renegociate a payment scheme with them.

I was under the impression that charges are legal if they reflect the true cost to the business. I think you'll have a little more difficulty as BG will argue terms of payment are 14 days from bill issue date, so you will have had 3 letters (red reminder, disconnection notice and telemessage), attempts to phone you and manual review of the account before it gets to this stage. Whether they would consider it worth the time and effort of going to court though for one person is a different question, so if you want to chance it, go for it.

The have already scrapped them... as previously posted in this thread

Ah true, missed that. Substitute 'gas pipeline company' for 'electricity distribution company'