Pre-pay meter users 'due rebate

[kia]

yep this is true martin cos i do want my money back but obvious1y the right way im with scottish power too and we sha11 see what comes today has anyone got their money back yet and yes we need to work out how much we been overcharged by as 1ike u said they wi11 vary a1ot and cant do court case without knowing the amount and did occur to me that cou1d mayeb estimate it as i did with missing statements from the bank but its hard1y accurate that way and u cou1d be didd1ing yourse1f out of money ohh incidenta11y british gas never sent brother statments either or mentioned how to get them yet eon did they said she had to send 10 pounds for them so go figger that too xxkia

[MARTIN3030]

Yes maybe looking at a bill from a non prepayment bill from the same supplier and same periods and comparing both the tariffs and standing charges between the two would give an idea of any overcharge.

[milly5]

just to say I sent the letter to EDF about 4 weeks ago and have heard nothing,not even an acknowledgment so I shall be sending a follow up letter and send it recorded delivery.the problem is as far as i know no one has asked for a rebate before so this is new ground for all of us.l wonder how many have written to their suppliers ,it would be interesting to know what reaction others are getting to their requests for rebate.

milly

[MARTIN3030]

I am sure that following the TV report,people will have been writing.Its something we didnt pick up on here or should I say,have little in the way of feedback from people who have.I bet all the Energy companies are aware of it-but its like everything else...they assume most consumers dont and are not clued up as to how they should process a demand.

Recorded delivery letters with strong clear wording always makes a difference,but you should be sure that you want to take it all the way.

My guess is that these people are no different to the banks.....they will only pay up when pushed to the absolute limits.

[jackieandwayne]

I'm going to have a go as well. On credit meters now, since about mid 2007 because when I moved in here with the other half, went through one winter on those blessed things, never again! Ate all my money, kept running out at the most inconvenient time. And I had to pay over the odds for that?!! Hmmm

[Sidewinder]

We never had a choice. The house had pre-payment meters for gas and electricity when we moved in and the power companies told us when asked, that once installed they would not take them out.

 

I must admit that I don't mind the PAYG option, but would love to know how much more we have paid in 15 odd years compared to others. We still seem to be using £20 a week in ours despite lighter nights and the rate (supposedly) having gone down!

[djc]

hya everyone this situation ref claiming overcharging on ppm is going to run for some time. but it is great to join like minded persons on a quest for justice and be in a position to actually try and recover these outrageous charges.

We have a ppm for gas and it has been inslalled since since about 1996.

we became aware of the european directive concerning cost reflective pricing through a national newspaper article and the national housing federations campaign to assist its members.

 

i wrote to the managing director of british gas, phil bentley, on the 19th of june, 2009. complaining of the policy employed by british gas, and asked for my money back from the 1st july, 2004, to the present date.

 

we received a letter back from phil bentley dated 29th june, 2009.albeit that they believe that thier charges are fair and reflect the increase charges which are necessary due to the technology that is in place to recover there exorbitant fees. total load of old tosh. they also asked me to send £10 to enable them to provide all documents and details that they hold.they really do live on another planet to the rest of us.

 

we are now awaiting for the national housing federation to advice us of our response to british gas letter and hopefully be in a position to move forward

and elevate this injustice to another playing field.

 

djc

[MARTIN3030]

No one expected them to pay up after one letter-its not the way it happens.

Sending the SAR will be a first step though.

Its a pain having to wait almost 6 weeks for that if they use the whole 40 days,but its onfo that you are likely to need anyway if you have not kept statements.

This was my earlier question posted further up.

They are entitled to ask for a fee-but I thought my tenner was well spent,given what they sent.I did notice that on some of my statements they had "no info recorded" this was for pre 6 years.

I dont see any issues challenging under limitation by using section 32,but obviously it comes down to having the account info from those periods,and I am sure they will not be too willing to supply it.

[kia]

so can u go back up to 6 years then or it it just the 3 years cos 6 wou1d be even better and mi11y i sti11 got nothing back from sp and brother got same response from british gas they soon got a fob off 1etter ready didnt they which means they knew it was coming we11 us cag 1ot dont give up that easy and as we cant sink our teeth into the banks next best thing is this so bring it on eh i say in my case not sure whether to write another 1etter now or what then the sar or straight to sar xxkia

[MARTIN3030]

I would send the subject access reques anyway-sooner you get that then sooner you can begin looking at it.

I am not clear on the exact details of the ruling-I want to read up more on it.

[MARTIN3030]

The EC directives were introduced in 2004 and so its reasonable to assume one could go back to 2004 where it can be shown that they were charging more for prepayment meter tariffs.

There is good evidence that supports knowledge of overcharging between 2006 and 2008-maybe this was the periods that were looked into ?

I cant believe if they were not complying to the ruling in 2006-2008 that it can be certain they WAS between 2004 and 2006...we know how greedy these firms are.

So its a case as has ben said,of looking at your own.

[MARTIN3030]

2004 is well within limitation anyway.

[kia]

yep true so go for back to 2004 cos the sar covers it a11 anyhow send it off next week martin not that any of them bi11s make any sense to me but once i got them try make sense of them xxxkia

[MARTIN3030]

I have bills here from 2006 to give an example;

 

Tariffs for Scottish Power Manweb are showing as

standing charge-19.88 per day (just short of 20p)

Electricity - Kwh (units) = 9.864

 

I am comparing just out of curiosity to now with Eon

 

Standing charge-36.67 per day

 

KWh are 9p

 

so electricity is actually less, but standing charge has gone up quite a lot.

Will have to check that out.

[MARTIN3030]

I found this on Eons website;

 

The Social tariff.

 

 

 

Facilities offered to customers with low income

For the household customers with the average monthly income of the family member lower or equal to the minimum monthly salary set forth by the Governmental Decision, the social tariff may be granted upon request. It is valid only for the consumption place of the customer’s residence.

In case the social tariff is applied, the consumption in the billing period is split on three successive quotas:

 

• The volume corresponding to the first quota is calculated considering 2 KWh/ day for each day of the billing period and it has the lowest price.
  
• The volume corresponding to the second quota is calculated considering 1 additional KWh/ day as compared to the first quota for each day of the billing period and it has a price higher than the one applied for the first quota.
  
• The volume corresponding to the third quota is not limited, yet the applied price for it is higher than the prices corresponding to the other tariffs.
  

Due to this calculation method, the social tariff is advantageous only for customers with a monthly average electricity consumption of up to 100 KWh. In case the monthly average consumption exceeds 100 KWh, the social tariff is not advantageous anymore, thus choosing a different type of tariff from among those regulated for household customers is recommended.

 

 

 

 

If you are confused...then so am I.

Notice that you HAVE TO ASK FOR IT too !!

[kia]

god u wou1d need a written exp1aination too u come up with a good point there martin check the bi11s charges then and now and we might be ab1e to come up with the amount its gone down by and use it as a dai1y guide then just times it by the days sounds easier than it sounds written down i think :)xxxkia

[hallowitch]

a member of my family works for one of the big utility company's in the paralegal department

i will ask them to join C A G as this person may be able to answer some of your questions

[MARTIN3030]

Yes good idea-although lets be clear,they are likely to be putting the interests of their clients first.

Its a bit like asking Cobblers if they can tell us if Natwest or RBS charges are fair or not and how we should go about claiming them !!

[kia]

very true martin but worth a go might give us some usefu1 info xxkia

[blue nose]

i have just joined this forum i work for a utility company as a paralegal collecting debt

[buzby]

i have just joined this forum i work for a utility company as a paralegal collecting debt

 

....and?

 

How can people stop unwarranted harassment?

[blue nose]

when you say unwarranted what do you mean

[blue nose]

if anybody has any questions just ask i will help if i can

[buzby]

when you say unwarranted what do you mean

 

Definitions of unwarranted on the Web:

• indefensible: incapable of being justified or explained
  
• baseless: without a basis in reason or fact; "baseless gossip"; "the allegations proved groundless"; "idle fears"; "unfounded suspicions"; "unwarranted jealousy"
  
• undue: lacking justification or authorization; "desire for undue private profit"; "unwarranted limitations of personal freedom"
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
  

Those about cover it.

[blue nose]

there is no need to be like that if you have a valid question and i can answer i will