Deceased Parent Nov 2021 - Electricity was switched off, but still got charged £70PCM!!Mums Flat. ***Resolved with EON***

[sean110869]

Hi,

 

My mother died in November 2021

 

when I contacted her supplier she was in credit to the tune of three hundred pounds, following her death, I switched off all her appliances and the fuse box but somehow her bill was around seventy pounds per month.

 

I queried this and was fobbed off,

then raised a complaint in July stating that I wanted an explanation as to why the electric was being charged when it should not be even being used. She was in an over sixties flat with separate meters in a cupboard some two stories from her property

 

her fellow residents have advised me that my mum is not the first to have had bills for empty flats and others have complained.

 

So far the provider has written off the debt and the standing charge but I have just confirmed that following my complaint the meter reading has now magically not changed.

 

Any ideas as to what I can do next as I do not think bar the standing charge that I should have been deducted the credit let alone end up owing money. 

[honeybee13]

Hi Sean. I'm sorry about your Mum.

 

I've moved you to the main Utilities forum and expect people will be along to advise later.

 

HB

[unclebulgaria67]

Seen a similar issue with a late relatives flat.

 

They had communal lighting linked to their meter, so they had been paying for external lights, for the benefit of other residents. 

 

Flats are known to have meter wiring issues due to the developers electricians incorrectly connecting wires to the wrong meter.

 

That is one explanation.  Another is that wrong meter readings have been provded due to wrong meter being read.

[sean110869]

thanks for the reply 

[Ethel Street]

Did you take meter readings yourself after your mother's death when you turnd everything off?  Are meter readings obtained directly by the supplier through a smart meter or does it depend on you submitting readings to them?

 

Did your mother own the flat? What are you doing with it now, selling it?

[unclebulgaria67]

Depending on current ownership, an electrician could verify whether there are wires connected registering usage that has nothing to do with the flat.

 

 

 

 

[Ethel Street]

Depending on the type of meter I'd go further and say you can do a preliminary check without needing an electrican. If the meter is like the ones I've always had it has a disc that spins as electricity is used - the more electricity that's being used the faster it spins. But if no electricity at all is being used by anything connected through that meter the disc should be completley stationary, not moving at all.

 

So if you still have access to the flat and to the meter then you can check it yourself. Make sure everything in the flat is turned off, as you have done, then look at the meter and check if the disc is moving.

 

If it is moving it's likely something other than the flat is wired to it.  

[sean110869]

Its an electronic meter which is one of the reasons why I don't trust it not sure how they work but I am pretty sure easily hacked or manipulated

[Ethel Street]

Have you compared the readings you have taken yourself against the electricity company's readings on their bills?

 

 

[sean110869]

yes as they were always estimated 

[dx100uk]

time for an SAR me thinks?

though i cant see how she got charged anything if the meter read has not moved since you turned the breakers off?

 

something id weird here.

 

who's the provider??

 

so you are after the £300 credit back from time of death, poss minus a small daily standing charge?

 

dx

 

dx

 

[sean110869]

dx - the reading on the meter did move with all the appliances switched off as I did not switch off the fuse box as we were trying to sell the property so wanted lights and sockets so we could clean it.  I thought the initial bills from the provider was due to this activity plus letting a family member stay for a month while mum was in hospital and then until her funeral.

 

I only took a few readings initially in response to receiving an astronomical estimated bill. It was only when these showed a monthly bill of seventy pounds roughly when the flat was empty that I began to query what was going on.

 

I only realised the charge was ridiculous after a few months had passed, as I was working six days a week, dealing with probate, insurances and all that a death entails. When I raised my initial query in March 2022 the provider wrote to me and said they could not deal with me until letter of administration was sent in. This despite them having moved account into my name as executor. Getting the admin letter took nearly seven months from mums death as there had to be an inquest into why mum died, 

 

From March until June the bill was being eaten away and I could not provide meter readings as provider closed my online access and refused to speak to me.

 

Once the register had approved probate I sent letter in with a complaint, with the loa, but was fobbed off again, sent another letter in threatening public humiliation to them.  got a reply saying will credit account down to zero but nothing about the credit amount and could I please send readings per month which I have just done.

 

What annoys me is the twists and turns the provider has made to prevent me from dealing with this and the fact that now following my last complaint the meter seems to be magically working as it is not recording any electricity consumption which would be right given the fact I ended up switching not only the electric off via sockets etc but also the main fuse box.

 

I do not have a problem paying standing charge as we all have to. My problem is where has all the other charges come from, which the provider seems unwilling to explain or confirm.

 

I would like the credit back but not sure what to do next other than follow up on the complaint and say breakers off - no movement on meter,  breakers on - electric consumed despite flat being empty and no one in it. 

[dx100uk]

how is heat provided and how is hot water heated?

 

you have a digital meter so it should be quite easy to atleast find the circuit that is taking the power.

 

most digital meters should have a green or red flashing light indication when power is being drawn, sometimes says 100 by it, sometimes 1000.

or you might have a far right digit that increments.

 

turn the mains income breaker on and pop along the other breakers till you identify the circuit drawing current. by watching the light/digit. breakers will be labelled like lights, sockets, cooker etc .

 

might be an idea to do a bit of investigation yourself then you are one up on the provider who is?

 

dx

 

[sean110869]

Just a quick thank you to all those people who helped me with this on here,

 

was resolved with Eon refunding the majority of the charges to me minus the standing charge,

 

never admitted an error but still backed down, probably cheaper to settle with me as an individual than the whole block of flats,