electric bill usage readings query

[encee]

i have now been informed by my electric company that my billing has been calculated the wrong way round.in english this means that since 2006 my night time electricity has been charged at day rate and daytime reading been charged at night rate.so in fact i will be owing a lot of money i think.what i want to know is what are my rights in this case.they are curently working out the costs but surely i must have some rights here in rageards to estimates and readings the electric company have used.
i thought i read somewhere that anything over a year old cannot be claimed back.please if there is someone who has some advise on our rights,i would like to hear.at the moment i am really worried.we are currently paying �30monthly we dont have a tumble dryer or anything that uses excess electricity.there are 2 people in this 3bedroom house.we do cook by electric

[encee]

all the bills are available online and i have printed them out.but iwill ask them for a breakdown of all the costs etc and yes its a good idea to make them work for it.they made the flippin error.thanks for that Doc.Spock.1

[evedawn]

I agree with Docs answer - i am sure they don't want the hassle.

But they WILL try if you don't stand up to 'em.

I do not know where you stand legally But DO ring 'em and be as firm and assertive as possible. Insist you speak with a supervisor / manager not the first person who answers. I comment becuase a friend recently had a similar problem with British Gas. He got a "backdated" bill for more than �300.00 - but it was an error on British Gas side and he contested - and was let off the entire "overdue" amount.

[Doc.Spock.1]

I presume they have been transposing the low and normal readings, ie meter reader error.

In the good old days this would have been spotted when the old fashioned books were scrutinised by diligent staff.


Progress eh.

[encee]

yes Doc.Spock.1 you got it in one.whatever transposing means???

[Panic Button]

I think transposing is what Spock does to beam down from the Enterprise.

[encee]

just spoken to someone else with the same query night rate used for day electric.needless to say they are keeping stoom

[encee]

now have bill pending for �650
gobsmacked

[encee]

moaned and queried to high heavens and they reduced debt to �178.to which i paid with reservation.

[Ethel]

:(

Thanks for the update. Hope your bills are manageable now.

Seriously see if you can change to non-economy 7 as you are getting no benefit from it whatsover.
They can still do it with two meters.

[rov1200]

I had a similar problem with my supplier. I was also on Economy 7. The problem was the timer which gradually lost sync and I found that the time was 3 hours out. I decided then to come off economy 7, go onto a comparison web site and choose a cheaper supplier.

Somehow they seem to think its the consumers fault for their equipment going wrong. Never had this problem before privatisation.

[encee]

hi ethel yes thats my next move.things seem a lot brighter now.parden the pun when one can't afford the brightness???
got my sense of humour back now and hubbys broken leg has mended after 8months.so some clouds do have a silver linings but thats another episode.better than corry..well nearly

[mmb3]

I am having exactly the same problem with that supplier at the moment. They installed a new meter in 2005 and somebody in their offices changed over my day and night rates so I have been charged everything at night rate since then and nobody picked up on this until December 08 when I phoned through with my readings. I have subsequently received through a bill for nearly �900 which I was horrified with. After lenghtly discussions with them this has today been reduced to �300 which I am still refusing to pay. I have phoned them every day this week and depending on who you speak to seems to determine how much they reduce the bill by. It is worth calling them once you have you bill and being quite insistent that you are not going to pay it. Good luck

[encee]

hi mmb3
just remember they canot go back further than 1 year.