E On taking the mickey with Bill

[Welshchris]

I moved to my flat back in November, during the last week of November and since the ex occupent was with E On i had to take an account with them till swalec pull a finger out and switch my account over.

3 Weeks after moving in i recieved a bill on my name for electric of £1153 for 3 weeks electric, i rang up and said no way do i owe that and they tried stating i never give a meter reading when i moved in which i said i did because i give the same meter reading to them as i give to Swalec.

This morning now i recieved a bill dated from November 22nd 2008 to Jan 6th 2009 of £263.75, so i rang and asked if they were taking the mickky, no way in hell have i used that much electric in that ammount of time, in my old flat my electric bills per quarter were only between £90 - £112 so the woman asked for a new meter reading which i give and she refused to acknowledge it saying that one of the rates as the meter has 2 rates is lower than what it should be, and i said well thats what the meter says. I checked the meter now and the rate 1 which is day time rate seems to be spuratic, its even lower again than what it was this morning when i took the reading which means theres a meter problem and no way im paying for electric i havnt used which they claim i have to.

Anyone have any ideas what i can do?

[haydnwalker]

Contact them and advise them that you've noted the meter is playing up and they should send someone to check it? They should disregard the old bills, but they might not as if the meter is on the blink then theres no proof you did/didn't use that electricity is there...?

[SMG]

As you have only been there for just over 2 months, there is no way you could have uses that much leccy. They will know that. Did you get the readings when you moved in???

Your predecessor may have tampered with the meter. Ask for a new meter, then monitor the amount you use. You can then work out how much you used since November.

[Welshchris]

Originally Posted by haydnwalker

Contact them and advise them that you've noted the meter is playing up and they should send someone to check it? They should disregard the old bills, but they might not as if the meter is on the blink then theres no proof you did/didn't use that electricity is there...?

if the meter is on the blink they wouldnt have any way of knowing how much ive used and im not paying that bill cos ive not used it.

---------- Post added at 01:14 ---------- Previous post was at 01:13 ----------

Originally Posted by SMG

As you have only been there for just over 2 months, there is no way you could have uses that much leccy. They will know that. Did you get the readings when you moved in???

Your predecessor may have tampered with the meter. Ask for a new meter, then monitor the amount you use. You can then work out how much you used since November.

i did give meter readings when i moved in and i have a witness to the readings taken because the caretaker of the housing association was with me at the time because he showed me how to take the reading as i didnt know how to use the meter then.

[haydnwalker]

My point was - that you could argue the meter is on the blink so they need to prove you used the energy...?

[Angua]

Try Ofgem and also worth checking the rate of VAT being charged as it should only be 5% but they may have charged as a business use with the full rate of VAT plus a climate change levy.