old gas bill

[mac981]

Hi I need some advise

 

We went on to pre-pay on the gas in 2007, there was a bill outstanding and i thought it was the best thing to do at the time.

 

Things arnt great right now but we came back on the regular meter at the end of october 2009.

 

On 28th Nov got a red overdue letter demanding £283.67 from EDF

 

Confused by this i sent a letter stating that we had just gone from pre-pay to regular meter for less than a month where did the bill come from as the red demand was the 1st communication since the change over. I also asked. (see copy below pasted from letter)

 

"

1. This is the first communication we have had from you since we changed from pre-payment meter during October 2009 to regular meter. We have received no bill.

2. We changed from pre-pay in October 2009. Have we run this up since then?. We were up to date with the meter, we may have just slipped into emergency credit just before the meter was changed.

Please provide within twelve days

• Copies of previous bill dated correctly where the £283.67 was requested.
  
• A statement showing the changeover from pre-pay to regular meter showing balance.
  
• An explanation of what this is all about?
  

"

 

Now yesterday 9th Dec recieved in an envelope dated 7th Dec on the Frank is a bill

 

This bill is clearly dated March 2007 and is for the £283.67. Nothing else has arrived.

 

I thought that the pre-pay meter allowed for the debt.

 

Between 2007 and now there has been nothing. I am sure i have somewhere some statements during the pre-pay period showing nothing outstanding.

 

What do we do cant afford £283 right now.

 

Any advise of how to deal with this please

 

Thanks Mac981

[dx100uk]

if they have not billed you for the money in the last 12mts, they cannot now do so according to industry guidelines

 

dx

[mac981]

thanks dx.

 

Do you ar anyone know how i go about desputing this?

[mac981]

Hi got home today and found another nice red demand for the £283.67. I am worried that the gas will be cut off for xmas.

 

anything i can do?

[dx100uk]

i can only say what i already have:

 

if they have not billed you for the money in the last 12mts, they cannot now do so according to industry guidelines

 

 

put it another way:

 

unless in the last year, they have sent you a bill which includes the above sum & period it is for, they cannot now demand payment.

 

it is more than 12months ago.

 

simples

 

call them.

 

there is a customer helpline on the bill.

 

you are not disputing it, you dont owe it. fullstop.

 

 

 

dx

[mac981]

ok dx

 

i will call them in the morning and report back

 

i can confirm since i went on to prepay in 2007(march/Arpil) I have had no bill for the sum above. All i have had has been the letters stating how much we have used on the prepay and how much equiv a day it costs. No mention of outstanding debt. (i thought it was taken off on the meter)

 

When we changed back Oct 2009 we had the red demand within a month. This was the 1st communication of such since 2007

 

that is what i will state to them.

 

Thanks

[dx100uk]

sounds funny

like you, i would of assumed the debt would be taken via a weekly ammount from your paykey bal.

 

thees a thread that tells you how to interrogate the meter.

 

i'll see if i can find it, might give some info to go with to with them.

 

dx

[dx100uk]

If you want to double check if there is a debt on the meter, do the following:

 

1. Leave your gas card out of the meter

2. Hold the red button until it beeps

3. Keep pressing the red button in until you get to screen 24

4. Insert your gas card fully

5. Press the red button again and reply here with what it says on screens 26 & 27.

 

I can't remember which one is which since it's been a while since I've worked for Scottish Power, but one is the Debt Recovery Rate (i.e. £5/week), and the other is the total debt on the meter.

 

from another thread

 

hth

 

dx

[dx100uk]

or

 

Insert the card in and hold the red button until it bleeps.

 

Screen 00 is the last amount put into the meter

Screen 01 is the last amount taken for debt

Screen 02 is the last amount taken for emergency credit

Screen 03 is the top up for gas

Screen 04 is the time

 

NOW THE IMPORTANT SCREENS - Amount will vary according to area and tarrif but this is for Seeboard South West area below

 

Screen 05 High Amount per Therm charged 8.341 pence

Screen 06 Low Amount per Therm charged 3.409 pence

 

Meter apparently calibrates itself at 2am each day, taking 38pence whether or not you have used gas, so the more you use the less it needs to calibrate!

 

Screen 24 Gas debt recovery (usually 70%)

Screen 25 Weekly minimum taken for debt (should be £5.00)

Screen 26 Weekly MAXIMUM taken for debt (didn't say what this is)

Screen 27 Debt

 

 

 

dx

[mac981]

Cant check any more as the prepay meter has gone and we are now back on a regular meter.

 

I guess somewhere in the change back process the old debt came to light as it were

 

anyway i will phone them in a bit so await a response

 

Mac981

[mac981]

Ok

 

been on to EDF and explained. The nice girl i spoke to put me on hold and went back to talk to pre-pay. The respones is this.

 

1. I had a debt in March 2007

2. We mutually agreed to to pre-pay meter

3. The debt was not loaded to the meter (i thought it was)

4. EDF did not persue it

5. upon changing back it has raised its ugly head again.

6. Now EDF are persuing it.

 

This was the summary. She said under the circumstances they were prepared to set up a repayment plan. I declined quoting the Code as dx pointed out to me. She said she had no ability to waiver the bill and i would need to write to EDF stating the case.

 

The outstanding debt has been put on hold until Jan now so i have no xmas worries as such. I just need to get my letter looking good and acurate and in as fast as possible.

 

I think the letter will need to go recorded.

[mac981]

Below is a draft of my letter i intend to send.

Is it ok or does it need ammending?

Regarding above account.

On 28th October we changed from pre-payment meter to a standard meter. A month later we received a RED LATE PAYMENT advise for £283.67 this was dated 24th November 2009. As we were up to date with the prepayment meter and had received NO other bill before hand we sent a letter to you on the 30th November. A copy of this letter is attached. The letter requested 3 things. See below

“Please provide within twelve days

• Copies of previous bill dated correctly where the £283.67 was requested.
  
• A statement showing the changeover from pre-pay to regular meter showing balance.
  
• An explanation of what this is all about?”
  

On the 9th December 2009 We received a gas bill dated 20th March 2007 (franked Exeter 7/12/09) for £283.67, this addresses item 1.

Items 2 and 3 are yet to be addressed by yourselves.

The 10th December 2009 saw another RED OVERDUE ACCOUNT bill.

On the 11th December we decided to call EDF and spoke to Ronna on your helpdesk. The situation was explained and she investigated. The following was the answer.

• We went to prepay in spring 2009
  
• At the time a debt of £283.67 was in place but was not added to the meter
  
• EDF did NOT pursue the debt at any time afterwards
  
• Upon returning to std meter the debt has surfaced
  
• EDF are now pursuing it.
  

It is our understanding from Industry guidelines that if a bill has not been presented or chased within twelve months then it cannot be presented now. This bill is dated March 2007 and is over two years old as EDF have not pursued it at any stage since it therefore is no longer valid and EDF should not re-present it.

We do not believe we owe the money and the bill should be disregarded.

Please can EDF reply by return and acknowledge the above to be correct.

Awaiting your reply.

[dx100uk]

that should do nicely

 

dx

[mac981]

found a mistake already.

 

I put "We went to prepay in spring 2009"

changed it to

"We went to prepay in spring 2007"

you have to be so carefull and read and read

[mac981]

Hi its been a while but i have a reply

 

Basically it says i am liable and that i requested the debt not to be put on the meter, further more i also contacted them in december 2007 asking for a settlement bill (i dont think so but how do you proove it) Also why is the bill dated march 2007

 

I am to contact them to discuss payment options

[mac981]

Hi its been a while since last posted on this thread.

In the end i ended up paying for this old bill. I agreed to pay EDF £200 per month for six months to

1. Keep up with current usage under the direct debit scheme

2. Pay the outstanding balance over the 6 months.

 

This was last August. Yesterday i phoned EDF to say ok i have been paying my £200 and the old debt is now clear. I want a reduction in my monthly payment to bring me back down to the idea of paying for the Gas and Electric by direct debit spread over the year. The Girl i spoke to said no as i have a balance of £400 on the account now.

 

Forgive me if i am wrong but i thought the idea of paying by direct debit was to spread the cost out over the year. Ok we have used a lot of gas over the winter but soon the heating will go off and gas usage in the summer is very low so surely it would cover it. The £200 per month is killing me