Hi everyone, We are coming to the end of our tenancy in a small 1 bedroom flat. It's a conversion of a small house into 2 tiny flats that didn't involve separating the utilities, so the water and gas is included in the rent. The electricity is in the landlords name, with each flat having a coin operated electricity meter. It's an ancient pound coin operated meter and at the start of the tenancy it was set to take 18p per unit of electricity. Later during the tenancy a coin got stuck and when he came to repair it he bumped the price up to what looks like 21.5p per unit. Adding up what we have spent on electricity it comes to nearly £900, when average households appear to spend 400-500 pounds. From looking at the law (Maximum Resale Price Provisions - OFGEM) it seems like he is not allowed to charge us more than £5 over what he personally paid, and at the residential rate only. In addition he has a legal duty to tell us what he is paying, and provide documentary evidence. Here is what I have: A photo of the meter at the start of the tenancy, showing the total number of coins inserted, total electricity used and the price at 18p per unit A dated photo now showing the same meter, with the price currently set to 21.5p per unit and the total number of coins inserted My questions! We emailed him yesterday asking for this proof and despite visiting for a viewing today (the 16 viewing so far) he didn't mention it, although we didn't bring it up because there was a potential tenant with him. We can send a recorded delivery letter and bring it up in person, but what happens if he refuses? The OFGEM document doesn't say, other than that the price we pay should be reduced by double the base rate for as long as he refuses, but we are leaving soon. I estimate that the most we are out by is about £400, so it would be a small claims job if it can't be settled between us. Is this enough evidence to get a favourable judgement? Any other advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you! edit: found a photo of the meter at the start of the tenancy

Afternoon all, Could really do with some advice if possible. It's a bit of a long story but I will get through it as quickly and accurately as possible. On 13th June 2013 the wife, the kids and myself moved house (we rent with a HA). When we moved into the house we already knew, through speaking to one neighbour, that the property had been empty for a while due to flooding. Our Housing officer informed us that electric was supplied from Southern Electric, we took meter readings and phoned Southern Electric up. There is no gas supply to the property (or to the village for that matter - very rural). We set up a direct debit for £65 per month. For the first few months living here any post that came for the previous tenant we would bundle together and hand into the HA once we were going past (we had no forwarding address). Once it got past about 6 months we just threw the letters in the bin tbh. About 3 weeks ago we got a letter that was addressed to Miss D xxxx/current occupier, so I opened it. It was a letter from a debt collection agency (face 2 face) operating on behalf of Ovo electricity, demanding £2150.50. I called Ovo to explain that we don't owe this debt, we are with Southern Electric. The guy said to me that was fine and that he would update their records immediately. However, Monday, we were away on holiday and didn't get home until Monday evening, a doorstep collector turned up at our house and obviously as we were not there put a card through the door to say that he called. Again, I called Ovo to complain, saying we didn't owe this debt and that we are with Southern Electric. However, at this point the chap turned around and said, no you are with Ovo. They, as it turns out do supply our property with electric, not Southern Electric, and have done since December 2011. The chap said there was a request from Southern Electric back in March 2013 to take over supplying the property, but Ovo denied it as there was debt outstanding. It turns out this was our HA asking Southern Electric to supply it when they were doing the necessary work on the property when the last tenant left. I phoned Southern Electric to check this out, and after about 30 mins of investigation they confirmed that indeed Ovo do supply the property, not Southern Electric. The lady I spoke to said she would raise a formal complaint on my behalf, but this could take a few months to sort out. Obviously Southern Electric have about £750 of my money. Which leads me on to Ovo. After all this I gave the chap at Ovo our current meter readings. It turns out since we have been here we have used £1650 of electric, so we were massively underpaying Southern. The reason Southern didn't spot it earlier was because all there bills/statement were estimates. The chap at Ovo said to cover current consumption we would need to pay £135 per month - that's fine. However, he also said the debt of £1650 needs to be cleared in 12 months. There is no way I can do that. It would push my bill up to about £275 per month (until I get the refund from Soutern), then down to £220, which I just can't afford. The guy did say the only way they will extend the debt is through pre-pay meters, but they just are not practical where we live. Our nearest pay point shop is nearly 7 miles, and even in this winter, which wasn't that bad by all accounts, we couldn't get out the village for about a week in total through flooding etc. I did, in another conversation, ask them to fit a smart meter as you can top them up online which would be fine, but he said our meter isn't compatible, and as they didn't have to do it until 2020 or something they wouldn't do it. I have told Ovo I can afford £175 per month, but they won't accept. So, what do I do? I have left it that Ovo are going to call me next Wednesday to set up a repayment plan of £275, which in all good conscious I can't do because I can't afford it. I have called Soutern god knows how many times to sort out getting my money back (and compensation) and just get told it is going through the complaints system. Southern are trying to push the blame onto Ovo, saying they should have contacted me well before now. I feel we are being right royally screwed here, and don't know where to turn! Thanks.

After getting a new electricity meter fitted I have received a shocking bill I was wondering if anyone could give me some help and advice. On 17/05/13 a new single-phase digital meter was fitted replacing an old analogue meter in the communal hall of the Maisonette I live in. ‘Lowri Beck Services’ have been trying to replace it for years, over that time missing a couple of arranged appointments! Checking my records I have found that the last actual meter read NPower undertook was on 11/02/11 at 36903KWh and the last read I undertook was on 5/10/11 at 38480 KWh. The reading taken upon fitting the new meter on 17/05/13 was 52842 KWh. I have therefore taken the spread of excess KWh owed as the difference between the last actual NPower reading date (11/02/11) and the date of the meter change (17/05/13 ). In order to work out the cost am I right in assuming the excess units should be spread out over this period? The last bill I paid was £149 up to 42372 Kwh estimated used, date 19/02/13. Therefore I work out the excess units as follows: 52842 – 42372 = 15939 KWh over 27 months (17/05/13 – 11/02/11) . The next bill I received was £1562.62 for the excess units generated by changing the meter, estimated meter readings and dates of 41843Kwh 07/02/12 until 52842Kwh 16/05/13 therefore: 52842 – 41843 = 10999Kwh over 15 months (16/05/13 - 07/02/12) I don’t know why they have taken the estimated excess start date as 07/02/12 rather than the last actual read on 11/02/11 or my read on the 05/10/11. I also don’t know why NPower used the meter reading 41843Kwh as the start of the excess Kwh rather than the meter read of 42372 Kwh that I have already paid up to, an overcharge of 305Kwh. Am I eligible for the 12 month back-billing restriction? Would this be taken as 12 months prior to the bill for the excess units of £1562.62 (which was reversed) or from the last bill I have actually been asked to pay, rather than been reversed (I still haven’t received one as yet!)? Answers to the above questions would be really useful and any help in how I go about structuring a response to NPower would be gratefully appreciated. Ps any advice as to where to address letters would be great, my account is currently under review by the complaints team due to informing NPower of the problems via telephone.

Hello, This is my first post on here. Recently i have been contacted by Buchanan Clarke & Wells (a debt collection agency). It is for an old electricity bill. I once stayed in a shared flat. I ended the contract with the letting agency, paid my electricity and Gas bills up to that point and moved out. One of the flat mates stayed on for another three months in the flat and never paid his electricity or gas bills. He stayed there with two other people who the letting agency new were staying there for three months, none of them signed a new contract. He paid all the rent from his account for the two other people - the letting agency must have know about this....... The letting agency new I had moved out, and I have an email trail showing that I ended the monthly rolling lease with them. For some reason I am now getting letters from this debt collection agency for this electricity bill. I totally dispute the fact that it is my debt. And on two occasions the letting agency have said they will contact the electricity providers and the debt collectors to remove me from this debt. Is there a template letter I can send the Debt collection agency and some advice? Many thanks in return.

How to read your Electicity or Gas Meter please choose from the following PDFs: How to Read your Electricity Meter.pdf How to Read your Gas Meter.pdf Before Printing the PDF TIP If you DO NOT wish to print Page 1 (Cover Page) of the PDF, please ensure to do the following: Ensure you go to your Printer Settings and set it to 'Print from Page 2' (this way Page 1 (Cover Page) should not print out). Note: This will save you Ink & Paper

Hello, few background info: I have a joint tenancy with another person. Contract with SSE is only in his name. He is being threatened with disconnection due to high bills. After the latest bill in Feb this year he owes Southern Electric £1.5k. He tried several times to arrange repayment plan but everytime he did SSE wanted more than he could afford so it's well behind now. All repayment plans failed as SSE wouldn't negotiate and acknowledge he could only pay what he could only pay... We just got a letter today saying that we will get disconnected shortly. Also stating that alternative is to install pay as you go meter, and it would cost a lot of money! Last thing we need is to add up to the bill! I am on ESA and housing benefits and cannot really spunk out a lot of money as I haven't worked for more than a year. This entire situation just adds up to my depression and anxieties.... They said if he tries to switch providers they will block it! They're within their rights to do so. My questions are: 1) How to negotiate with SSE and arrange repayment plan? At this point they're asking for £250/month. Too much! 2) Is there any 'safe period' by law that they cannot perform disconnection of electricity services? 3) Only he (the other tenant) has a contract with SSE. They will block him if he tries to change providers. How does the situation look for me? Can I change providers or get a contract with new provider?

Incorrect electricity meter clocks are going unnoticed, meaning millions of households on reliant tariffs could be paying too much, consumer group Which? has warned. The watchdog said its members had come forward to warn that their meter clocks had been showing the wrong time, potentially leaving them "significantly out of pocket". About 3.9m UK households are on time-of-use tariffs, such as Economy 7 and Economy 10, which offer customers a lower rate for electricity during some hours and a higher rate for others. Gary Day, a retired engineer from South Wales, told Which? he had saved himself and three neighbours more than £2,300 after discovering their meter clocks were wrong by several hours. They were all on time-of-use tariffs with supplier Swalec, which supplies gas and electricity to customers throughout Wales. Day told Which? magazine: "I have only checked four meters, and every single one of them was wrong. I am horrified that there might be hundreds of others that have these clock errors and don't realise it." http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/feb/20/electricity-meter-clock-fault

My mum has a small business, a shop. Recently she contacted her energy supplier (one of the big names) and negotiated a (hopefully cheaper) new contract. Within a day or two (Tin Foil Hat time) someone contacted her about cheaper electricity and a few days after that she received a letter from BES Commercial Electricity Ltd. It's possible they had been hassling and cold calling her for a while. This letter claims she entered a verbal agreement on the phone. She called to question this and the 'customer services' dept told her they will be taking over the supply, the changeover is in process and will cost £400 to stop from happening now. The tone of the letter is quite threatening, as was the phone call with the customer services department, especially for my mum who is now nearly 70 . So I’ve Googled BES and can’t find a lot of nice things said about them online. Which is what led me to this forum. It would appear this is all standard practice for them. My understanding is distance selling regulations aren’t applicable to business, even if they were the standard 7 days is over. Unfortunately my mum doesn’t remember exactly when or what was said during the call (she’s had a few health issues, an operation, complications then fell over and broke her arm so has had a lot on her mind). I think I’ll just write them a (recorded) letter telling them their services are not required, if they believe a verbal contract has been entered then to provide evidence and a full recording / transcript of this verbal contract. I’ve told her NOT to hand out bank details, and call her current supplier and tell them she wants them to remain her supplier. Are we doing the right thing? Can they just grab the supply? I've read so many nightmares on the internet today just want to make sure I am going about this in the right way.

Regulator Ofgem promises the biggest shakeup of the energy retail market since competition began All UK households will receive simplified gas and electricity tariffs by the end of the year and must be told the cheapest deal available from their supplier by the spring, industry regulator Ofgem said on Tuesday. Energy companies must offer no more than four tariffs for each type of fuel in the first stage of a package of reforms, which aim to make the energy market more transparent and simplify pricing. The reforms, backed by the prime minister, include new standards of conduct – a sign that the regulator is taking more aggressive action against energy companies found to have misled customers. Ofgem said the new guidelines would force suppliers to go through "a culture change" in the way they treat consumers. David Cameron pledged last year to force energy companies to offer customers their lowest tariffs – a promise the regulator is now trying to deliver. Ofgem has described the reforms as the biggest shakeup of the energy retail market since competition began. In the first step, new enforceable standards of conduct require suppliers to ensure that every domestic customer is treated fairly. New rules forcing suppliers to put details of their cheapest offers – personalised for individual consumers – on all bills will be introduced by the end of March. http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/aug/27/simplified-gas-and-electricity-tariffs

John Lewis is to trial a new product-labelling scheme that, for the first time, will give consumers the lifetime electricity running costs on the most popular household 'white goods' such as washing machines, washer dryers and tumble dryers. Backed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, it is intended to enable people to better understand how energy efficient products can bring real savings to household bills. By choosing a more energy-efficient washer dryer when replacing an old appliance, for example, it is claimed that consumers could save over £500 on its lifetime energy costs. The six month pilot involves displaying the average lifetime electricity running costs in a number of John Lewis product categories. The aim is to test the effect of putting the lifetime running costs of appliances on product labels – as opposed to just how many kilowatt hours of energy they use per year, information that will still remain. It is hoped that the labels will lead to an increase in the number of energy efficiency products being sold. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/09/john-lewis-product-label-scheme-energy-efficiency#

Hello, I have a general question about debt collection standards by electricity providers... The OFT provides guidance on debt collection which seems to only relate to debts collected under the Consumer Credit Act. Debts arising from the supply of electricity seem to be exempt from the act. So my question is, does anyone know whether there are any other acts of law or authoritative guidance regarding debt collection standards for electricity accounts? Kindest Regards FFP

You would think that Npower would realise there is an error and sort it out !!

Hi everyone; I apologise if this thread is long winded, but I will put everthing that has happened in cronological order. Basically, I have lived in my property for 16 months and have never received an electricity bill. Ok here goes: March 2012 I moved into this current property. Eon were informed of this and given meter readings. March 2012 Received a welcome pack from Eon stating they will be supplying my electricity. July 2012 I have not received any bills to date. I wrote a letter to Eon informing them that I have not had a bill and please could they send me one. 02 July 2013 (twelve months after my letter requesting a bill) I received a bill from Eon for £1255.47 from 01/03/2012 to 19/06/2013 approx 16 months!!!! 11/07/13 I sent a complaint letter to Eon outlining the Back Billing Code. Nothing heard back letter ignored. 16/07/2013 Letter from Eon saying please pay bill 17/07/2013 Missed call from Eon 18/07/2013 Missed call from Eon 19/07/2013 Missed call from Eon 20/07/2013 Still no reply from Eon Re: my complaint so i sent a formal complaint letter/account in dispute letter via email to their director of complaints. Nothing heard email ignored. 22/07/2013 Missed call from Eon 23/07/2013 Missed call from Eon 24/07/2013 Call from Eon saying I owe £1255.47 and how would I like to pay. I informed them of my complaint and the back billing code of practice. Adviser states he can see my complaint and will investigate. 31/07/2013 Threatogram from Eon saying pay up now or account will be passed to debt collectors and will incur further charges. 06/08/2013 Formal complaint lodged with OFT. 07/08/2013 Another call from Eon asking to pay the bill now! I informed the advisor that account was in dispute and I have lodged a complaint with the OFT. Also stated the back billing code. Unfortunately she had no idea what the back billing code was. She asked why I havent paid the bill in 16 months. ( Because i never received a bill ) WAS GETTING ANGRY HERE!!!! As i pointed out to her: 1 Eon knew i was living at the property 2 I contacted Eon because i had not received a bill 3 I received a bill after 16 months 4 My complaints have been ignored. Her reply ' so why have you not paid your bill' Because you never sent me a bl*@dy bill. Arrrraggggghhhhhh Apparently after going around in circles like this for 10 mins she will investigate!!!!! I have lodged a complaint with OFT they are pursuing an account that is in dispute and have no idea on backbilling. What do I do Please help

Hello, we moved into our new build flat 2 years ago and set up straight away with Npower. for the first year we were paying just £20 a month for electricity only, then suddenly after a year we got a letter saying we owe £300 and our bills have gone up to £120 a month. after looking into it it turns out the MPAN number on our bills is our neighbours meter. We have now been waiting 4month for NPower to send someone out to clarify that our Mpan number is not the correct one and every time i ring up they just tell me they are waiting for someone to get round to it and all i can do is wait! im worried the longer it takes the more we are going to owe them as our neighbours flat was empty the first 6months so weve definately used more elctricity then him. is there anything i can do to speed them up so i can get it sorted and change to a better supplier?? thanks in advance for any help

Hi folks, I really hope you can help with an extremely stressful situation that I am having with my electricity supplier EDF energy. The level of customer service that I have received so far has been appalling. This is the story: I discovered that there was a massive discrepancy between the reading that I had in February 2013 and April 2013. in just over 2 months, according to the reading, I have used pretty much the same amount of electricity that I use over 2 years. Obviously there was something wrong, I got in touch with EDF and they told me that an engineer needs to come to inspect my meter. On the 1st of July 2013, (after 2 and a half months)a n engineer came to my house to inspect the meter and he said that themeter was fine. according to him I should pay the discrepancy as it is not EDF's fault (or meter's fault). The amount of money, according to my rough calculation, for the discrepancy of 12000Kwh should be around £1800. Obviously, you can easily understand my level of stress as there is no way that I have used this much electricity and also I cannot afford to pay £1800 in one go. I have all my bills from 2008, since I moved in, and they can easily check that there must be a mistake. Since April I have been trying to get an EDF manager to call me to solve this issue but nobody ever called me back, I always had to deal with a customer service advisor via” live chat”. The reason why I asked to have a manager contact me is because I think this is a big problem for me and I would like to have one person only to deal with it, I don't want to get too many people involved otherwise it creates lots of confusion and misunderstanding. I have all my bills since 2008 and they can easily see that the discrepancy between Feb 2013 and April 2013 is extremely weird. All the customer service representative as well thought that it was very odd and that there must be a mistake. Plus it is only me and my wife who live in the house and we both work Monday to Friday, we leave the house at 6.30am and come back at 6.30pm, if not later. the house is always empty for at least 12 hrs every weekday. We are extremely stressed because we know that we didn't do anything wrong or different than usual in order to have this massive electricity consumption (again, 2 years consumption in 2 month time!) and the fact that probably we have to pay around £1800 bill is making us living a nightmare. On the 5th of July I received an email from a customer service advisor who is following my case, saying : "The account would be rebilled to reflect the updated meter reading. If the meter is not faulty and all over general meter details were previously checked, I can see no other explanation than that the meter readings that were supplied previously were incorrect. " It is very hard to believe for me that for 5 years I gave them the wrong reading numbers. I am not a genius but I am not even that dumb! I can easily prove them that the average consumption that we use for the electricity isaround 5500-6500 Kwh per year but to prove this, unfortunately, I need one year. The customer service advisor assured me in one of his emails that EDF will find a solution to this problem and he also told me to relax (easy to say!). Well, his solution was the above, rebill me with the updated reading. I am not going to pay for electricity that I know I did NOT use. If they are so sure that I gave them the wrong meter readings they can prove that to me, as I know for sure we have never used that amount of electricity and we shouldn't be charged for it. To add more frustration to this situation, when I came back from work that day I found a bill of £1715.04! I was shocked about EDF speed when it comes to delivering a bill and getting money but when it comes to solving a problem for which I am not responsible, or getting back to me regarding my problem, it took them 2 and a half months! As a customer, I requested them to work this out with common sense. I paid my last bill based on my annual statement (£229). I am more than happy to continue to pay this amount of money, which I feel it is right, for one year until April 2014. After that they can come and check personally the meter and calculate the consumption and they will see that it will be around 5500-6500Kwh/year. Or even better, they could take my word and update the meter with the new figure that EDF will read, as they think I mis read the meter, and start a new account still under my name. What else can I do? If the don't help me to solve this situation I will get in touch with Ombudsman. Also, I need to mention that since we moved in 2008 they never came to check the meter or read it. The last time that that meter was checked was in 1989 and the meter itself was built in 1969. I will not pay for electricity that I didn't use based on suppositions, hypothesis or like EDF sayd "evidence that suggest ...." Please help because we are extremely stressed. many thanks

This is real strange. I just noticed(whilst reviewing my financial situation) my electricity supplier have stopped charging me, it has been around 3-4 months. My direct debit which I set up with them 4 years ago has not changed, so why have they suddenly stopped taking money from me?? Nobody has read my meter for about 6 months roughly. At this point, 1. Do I inform them(backlash being I'll have to pay 3-4 months worth of electricity, and I'm afraid I won't be able to pay up currently) 2. Do I go online and change suppliers?? 3. Do I not say anything?? But now, that I know - I feel some guilt and must inform SOMEBODY! Free electricity is not right, is it? Please advise.

I have a rather unusual case that i am hoping someone can help me with. In 2011 i was being supplied electricity by British Gas when one day i received a letter saying sorry you are leaving. This was news to me so i called up to find out what was going on. We discovered that my account had been switched to Total gas & electricity. i am not a business but a domestic customer. It turns out that my electricity meter was logged as something called a multi-occupancy meter (still not sure what this is) and even though i had a bill in my name, when my housing association changed their commercial electricity supply my meter was switched alongside the rest. Whats more the bill was no longer in my name. i immediately contacted both the supplier and the housing association to sort this out which both said they would (done on the phone so no actual record). forward 3 months i still get no bill i again contact my housing association who said they would sort it out. After about a year of this i give up (how long is reasonable to chase this up). i am well aware that i am using electricity and as such should be liable for the bills. Today i receive a bill for the period 12/06/11 to 21/02/12 and i assume that more bills will follow which will total an awful lot of money. Total are a supplier of electricity to businesses i am not sure if they are signed up to Code of Practice for Accurate Bills (back billing) so where would this leave me. Also i have never agreed a contract with Total and as my supplier was British Gas and i did not simply inherit an electricity supply will Total be able to claim that i inherited the supply. at the time British Gas did put in an erroneous transfer request but it was deemed that it was a legitimate transfer due to the meter being multi-occupancy. the earliest email evidence i have is dated 13/12/11 from my housing association stating that they contacted Total asking them to put the account back in my name (on reflection i do not like the wording of that email) Where do i stand on this matter. What can i do going forward. would like some advice before contacting Total. Don't want to risk being cut off with 2 children and 1 due. As i final bit of info i noted on the bill that Total refer to me as a domestic customer (does this matter) also the amount per unit looks very high and they have a standing charge. Sorry if this is a bit long winded.

Hi Guys, Really looking for some advice here please: Let me start from the top: I stay in a 2 bed flat, all electric. we are very energy wary so everything not needed is off. We also do NOT ever use the storage heaters as the heat from below warms the flat just fine! Last year I was on the £53 per month tarrif by direct debit and all was fine. This year I have been increased to a £74 pound tarriff. This seemed very high for nothing running. So now to today - I'm now paying £125 per month as i'm now over £400 quid in DEBT to them for using, yes you've got it, very little electricity! I've asked for house visits, bill checks - all come back with no help as I'm paying the correct Tarriff. I bought a 3rd part meter reader (EFERGY) programmed with the Scottish Power rates and my bill for today is currently runing at £1.18 usage. I'm on a 2 rate meter (ELSTER 100AC) that gives me a C reading, Rate 1 Readng and Rate 2 Reading. Scottish power say Rate 1 is night, which on the meter is the day rate and Rate 2 is day which infact is reading 1 night rate on the meter. My head is all over the place trying to understand why the billing is so high in a flat which is empty during the day as myself and my partner both work. Im getting nowhere with Scottish Power and the billing is now going up and up and up. Starting to get a little worried, can anyone please point me in the right direction. Thanks and much appreciated!

Hey guys, I wonder if someone can help. Last time I was here, Ploddertom and wonkydonkey were brilliant when it came to reigning in the HMRC bully boys that attempted to steal £k's from me. I have posted this over at MSE. Although I am receiving helpful responses, there is a lack of definitive answers. I fell into arrears last year with electricity provider - Npower. We came to an agreement on a repayment plan but unfortunately as I am self-employed I defaulted on payments again. Npower then refused to budge. They wanted to fit a pre-payment meter. My son's use of the internet for study (examination period) made me reluctant to agree. Anyway, I was notified of Npower's - thru Utility Management Services - intention to make an application for warrant of execution. This would enable them to fit the meter. The court date was set for 20th May in a location 250 miles from my home. With work at a premium right now, and funds scarce I could not afford a 500 mile round trip on a weekday. The following day three cowboy's arrived, informing me a warrant had been granted and they wanted to execute it. They showed me a piece of paper - supposedly proving said warrant - but could not give me a copy. There was little I could do because although I could deny them access to the house, the acutal meter is on the outside of the premises. So I was forced to relent and let them fit it. Having done some research there are a few anomalies which I would like to address: i) I read on the CAB that you must be given notice that the warrant was issued and then given 7 days to make payment. I was given 1 day and not informed that the warrant was granted. Npower say that it says on their letter - notifying me that they will make an application for warrant - that they will call immediately at my property. This is true, but does it exempt them from the 7 days notice and notification of successful application? ii) The amount outstanding has increased by almost £900 since yesterday. When I phoned Npower, I was told that: £150 court fees £50 engineer fees £600 'other charges'. Is this all legitimate? iii) The debt collector couldn't provide me with a warrant and when I requested the warrant number from Npower they replied, 'You'll have to contact the court'. Is this standard practice?

Hi guys I've been struggling to keep up with payments on my energy supplies recently and today decided to check my account to monitor my bills. I've noticed that for the period of Nov - Feb in 2012/13 they have charged me £750!!! I live in a 1 bedroom house, by myself - I have 1 heater on regularly. I flicked back through the bills and for the same period of Nov-Feb in 2011/12 they charged me roughly £300 - I noticed the tariffs have changed - what are my rights with this? It seems insane they can more than double your bill with a tariff change?!!? Advice is very much appreciated.

Hi I will try to say it as short as possible due to late hour I was going to change energy supplier, so in order to get best possible estimates on comparison website I searched for a first bill I submitted in my newly bought house about year ago. But when I digged into it I found out that provider issued to me wrong meter readings. They switched LOW and NORMAL readings on E7 meter. From my calculations I could underpay between 200-300 quid as I almost never used night tariff. The switch/mistake was not really possible to happen - as during this time I had 3 meter readings by a authorized person, which has taken GAS readings [they appear on a bill as Actual readings] but Electricity readings appear only as estimates or customer readings ONLY for a whole period. Looks like 'meter reader' discovered cock up but never was bothered to put it right. On top of that electricity meter is much easier to read from gas reader because of better access. My question is what to do? One thing is underpayment but what about the period before I have moved in here, wouldn't they want to charge me for whatever loooooong period? I know it sound ridiculous, but I've read stories and peoples got plenty of problems with debt companies because of mistakes in utility companies. And since I will want to change my mortgage lender in some time I need good rating. I want to simply avoid any problems with company that unprofessional contractor/reader didn't do his job properly. Pay whatever estimates they will come up with, change supplier and start on a fresh page. Any help please.

Hi My daughter moved in to a property last September with 4 other tenants who all got on together. Two of the tenants, right at the beginning of the tenancy told that they would not be in the property for 3 months in Jan, Feb and March as they would be on placement. It was agreed that they pay the rent but not put towards the gas and electricity (apart from the standing charges). As they are all new to this my daughter came home for Easter not happy and unsure as to why the bill for Feb/Mar was £185 (one month) when all the others have been around £60 to £85. I looked in to this and all the months apart from the first one have been Estimated readings apart from the end reading of this high bill which is an Actual reading. I explained to her why and showed her all the previous months estimates and usage: GAS not inc VAT Period Previous Present Kwh Charges 19 Aug to 17 Sep 2012 9213 9219 A 67 £5.47 17 Sep to 18 Oct 2012 9219 A 9255 E 403 £24.46 18 Oct to 15 Nov 2012 9255 E 9322 E 750 £36.14 15 Nov to 18 Dec 2012 9322 E 9427 E 1175 £52.90 18 Dec to 17 Jan 2013 9427 E 9533 E 1186 £52.27 17 Jan to 14 Feb 2013 9533 E 9635 E 1142 £54.24 14 Feb to 13 Mar 2013 9635 E 9945 A 3478 £150.88 as you can see from above the usage in the above GAS (Electricity is separate which shows another £39 which makes it a total of £185) it is obvious that the last bill's usage should have really been split on the other bills as well if they had done the proper thing and given actual readings every month. My daughter now understands and she has text the two that have been away. We know that there is no proof but common sense and it is obvious from looking at the figures. All we have asked is for them to pay £35 each towards this bill and the rest of this year they will have to do proper readings. One of the girls said OK but the other one is just been silly. Texts from her saying that the readings shows that they have to pay £150, etc. etc. etc., and it is what has been used!!. Spouting on about how her mum is a landlady so she does understand !!!!! All we are asking is for a fair contribution of £35 from each of the two that have been away. If she does not pay would we have any grounds to take to small claims court. I know it sounds silly but it is principle. It is just a fair, common sense request for them to contribute. Thanks in advance Lisa

Hi from longtime lurker,first time poster!

Certain I was being ripped off I left a property about a year ago and have since found my electricity bill has gone down massively during my time at my new place. But I am certain my old landlord was profiteering from the electricity. I would like to make the following points for my case and would like an answer as to how legally he was operating. 1 The landlord never showed to any tenant regarding a license enabling him to resell electricity. 2 The Bill issued on a piece of waste card would look like this (see below) Flat 3 Electricity for March £35.00 Signature of landlord. 3 He never provided any evidence of what the bill actually was during my 9 year tenancy in my bedsit where I was living and only used a computer, a light, a kettle and a hairdryer. Bills like the above were typical and normal to say the least. They would randomly go up and down but since I have moved in to this new flat I pay only £20 a month and run much more electrical appliances now than previously. I never even knew who his electricity supplier was and no bills ever turned up at the house either. 4 Each room in his property had a separate old meter downstairs that no one ever got to see but him but he calculated each tenants use from those meters downstairs in the basement. 5 There was no stipulation regarding utility bills in the tenancy agreement or to the payment of it. This would typically go on in many of his properties, most of his tenants that I have conversed with are in agreement that he is 'fiddling' the electricity bill but have no proof and cannot ascertain proof from the landlord of what the bill actually should be. I am quite certain myself that I and other tenants were being ripped off. What can be done and is there anything else I should know? I left the property owing some £200 in electricity arrears to the landlord, but I am fairly sure it is the previous landlord that owes me money and that's why I never paid him.

Hi All I hope this is the appropriate place to post this subject/issue if not i apologise. I need some help and advice to a major problem. I have not received any electricity bills for over 5 years or so ever since i moved in to the property. When I moved in I tried to find out who my supplier was, but got nowhere as I was passed from pillar to post, some said that the address/ flat didn't exist etc etc. To this day I have not received any correspondence from the supplier who I am not sure on who it maybe I think it might be EON or npower or scottish power. Naturally I want to start paying as this is getting to me as I am terrified at the prospect of receiving a large bill for back dated one. Is there a law to safe guard the consumer on this is not my fault but the fault of the supplier not providing me a proper service?? Please can you answer this question as it is very concerning. Please can you help and let me know what my rights are. Any if anyone similar had problems with the above providing and how it was dealt and weather you had to pay all the backdated years too. Please let me know. Thanks in advance. Simon