Electricity billing

[Richard]

Not quite DIY but im sure you guys will be up on this matter.

I moved into my new house in September, and received the same direct debit billing amount from n power that was in place for my old address.

I rang n power to inform them that I was now at a different adddress and had informed them of my final meter reading at the old address. N power told me they would refund me for 3 months direct debit for that address.

N power had no record of a last meter reading for my new address

At my new address I switched to scottish power having been there for 3 months without a bill, scottish power have set me up on a direct debit based on a monthly usage reading i gave them. Where is the bill for the first three months?

[Ian Stirling]

Compute it based on the price per Kwh, and the number of units you've used. Put that amount of money aside.

[TheOldFellow]

For up to 6 years IIRC. High interest bearing account preferably. It's not unknown for these things to take a couple of years to sort out.

R.

[tim.....]

Same happened to me.

I moved in (read the meters) and at the same time applied for a new supplier expecting that it would start immediately.

But they wrote to me, telling me that they would take over the responsibility in 4 weeks time (which turned out to be six).

Then just before they started, I got a card to fill in that day's meter readings, which I did.

I've been billed for my first three months with the new company. And I'm still waiting for the the bill for the first six weeks.

tim

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[Mark]

Believe me, Npower are pretty hopeless. I've had endless problems with them - the only reason I'm still with them is that they've massively overcharged me by reading someone else's meter - and I reckon the only hope of seeing my money again is if I hold out with them until they confirm the metering is wrong, and the money is safely back in my pocket.

Absolutely, do this. You will still have to pay for the electricity when the bill eventually arrives, and the companies will chase you for payment. However, the companies are supposed to allow you to repay the debt in installments - the period of which should be the same as the period over which the errors occurred. (So if they don't bill you for 18 months - when they eventually send you a bill for £1000, they're supposed to accept it in installments over 18 months).

Make sure you have a record of asking for a bill in writing.

In fact, this type of billing problem was so frequently referred to the watchdog, energywatch, that they subsequently wrote a letter of 'super-complaint' to the regulator OfGEM. OfGEM have now limited the time period after which unbilled usage cannot be billed for to 2 years. From July, this reduces to 1 year.

M