£800 Powergen bill....

[charlie1963]

what i was trying to say was not that the installer had got it wrong but that powergen changed the cheap rate hours from 12 til 7am to 10.30 pm to 12.30am and then from 2.30 am to 7.30 am. without letting me know!! so all my timers clicked on at 12.15,( enough to give them their 15 min allowance,) the meter clock runs 13 mins fast so everything in the house fired up at 3 mins before i hit day rate for 2 hours.

Storage heater on full whack, 2 convectors on, washer and oven! if i'd known i'd have reset to 10.45 pm

[demon_x_slash]

There does seem to be a trend, looking at all the various threads, with Powergen sending out unexpected bills of around £700-800. Is this anything sinister, or am I reading too much into things?

[ozzywizard]

Co-insodense if you believe in them that is, darn I cant even spell it. lol.

[Darren]

We had similar problems with powergen a few years ago. After a letter increasing our DD to £96 per month, we question the increase and was told that it had was caused by previous estimated bills, but we had been paying the same monthly amount with them on DD for the previous seven years. we asked for the meter to be checked and they refused saying there was nothing wrong with it, we then complained to energywatch and they told them they had checked the meter (lies, because they refused to do it) and said that it was fine and we still had to pay. Energywatch said they were closing the file as they were told the problem was sorted, we complained to them and told them the truth about the matter and all they said was they would write to them again. Anyway we changed supplier and told powergen that we had cancelled the DD so now they would have to do something about it. They did - they sent it to a DCA and still didnt check meter. I told DCA that I was not paying until meter was checked and fixed, they sent debt back to powergen. Powergen then said they couldnt check meter as they were no longer our supplier. They then did something positive - they sent the debt to another DCA, same story until they gave up. Its a shame energywatch were so slow as the amount had decreased to £65 by the time I cancelled DD, cuz we still ended up paying over double the amount we normally pay for a year

 

I (mistakenly) thought that withholding payment would have got them to sort the problem, but their only interest was getting our money. Our new supplier checked the meter for us and now bills are back to normal

 

what was the amount of our unexpected bill, yes youve guessed it £802

[demon_x_slash]

Co-incidence? (I can, lol)

 

*Twilight Zone music*

[charlie1963]

josamolly did you check your meter to see what times it changes over from day to night and vice versa. powergen are still telling me 12-7 if i ring and ask the adviser at the other end of the phone. also check the clock on the meter and see if that is telling you the right time.

[Josamolly]

Ok an update... Having just given Powergen another reading apparantly i am using £23.65 per week in electric.. does this sound normal? It certainly doesn't to me...

 

I haven't yet checked as to what time it is switching over, but the consimption just seems so high..

[ozzywizard]

Average consumption on electric is 13 pound a week for a family of 4 .

[charlie1963]

Hi, Josamolly. I've managed to get mine down to £26 a week by avoiding the 18p a unit from 12.30am- 2.30am, having the storage heaters and immersion removed, and putting timers on everything else to use the 4p units. The fridge and freezer run for 2 hours through the day to top up and i've given up using the cooker, and hairdryer!! I don't use an iron dryer or hoover (i have a pine floor), don't have a tv and I use the fluorescent in the aquarium for lighting in the front room. I live alone in a 2 bed flat. I just found on all the gumpf on my electricity two meter readings from last year. 27th june06 4956 day rate, 12th july 06 5599,

night rate 4731, 5393. What do you think of that then??????

[Josamolly]

Update on this... having paid £400 off, i still have a £467 bill... they have taken readings from me over the past few weeks and still insist it is correct....

 

Where do i go now.... ggrrrr

[photoman]

This £800 business is spooky !!

 

Okay, this isn't Powergen, it was British Gas, but here goes.

 

Late last year, I recieved a Gas bill for around £400, which I thought was a bit high so I rang them.

At first I thought it was because the lazy @@**'s had not been reading the meters for ages, and had just been sending estimated bills.

I went out to the front of the house to read the meter to give them an actual reading. Whilst reading it I noticed the metering wheel was flying around, which I thought odd, as I had no gas appliances on at the time?

Just out of interest, I then decided to open up the other two meter boxes at the front of the house (it's a house converted into 3 flats), and lo and behold, after switching appliances on and off, I realised that British Gas had got the meters the wrong way round, and I was paying someone else's Gas bill !!

After further investigation, it appears this had been the case for over 6 years !!!

I complained, and got a refund of around £800....... great !!

 

However... I was also concerned that this meant that the recently bereaved pensioner on the ground floor would be liable for the same sum.

I felt I had to argue her case also. ie; she would have been a lot more careful with her Gas consumption, had she known it's true cost, and so should not be held liable for their own error.

They were having nothing of this, and I also complained to the Ombudsman Energywatch..... who surprise surprise, although shocked have no authority to interven and force compliance.. (a bit like the OFT) !!

 

The crux of the issue is, that when the peeps come to read the meters, they are supposed to check something called the MPR (Meter point Reference), and this confirms the property the meter relates to.... instead they were just opening the boxes, and just guessing which meter related to which flat.

 

The current situation is that the poor lady on the ground floor has now been forced to use a Keycard, and every time she puts it in, practically all credit is sucked off.

 

At the same time I wrote to energywatch, I also CC'd my letters to my local MP's and Council, and the Local Press. All were horrified (I even got a phone call at home from my MP, ready to take this on..... suppose it's a vote winner the cynic in me says, but anyhow it was good to know they were on board)

 

The way the situation stands now, is that the lady in question could not handle all the stress at the time (bereavement etc) and asked me to hold back on pursuing the case.

She has now just asked me to re-start matters. And this I certainly will do (just want to get my Bank charges issues resolved first, and anyhow I believe that Statute of Limitations gives us another 5 and a half years from cause of action, ie, my discovery to instigate claim)

 

My question to you all here is this:

 

Rather than just demanding that her bill be wiped, I now think it would be worth pursuing this regards Damages. ie; From my own point, the fact that I was put under additional financial stress due to their errors for over 6 years (financial stress that did actually cause me to become ill at one point).

Plus from the pensioners point, damages for the financial hardship, and stress it has put her through in recent months, plus the strain of dealing with this all.

Any views anyone ??