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Original poster

What to do Electricity bill could be £10,000?

288 replies

floridapalmtree · 12/03/2022 10:33

I have read the meter and think we are over 30,000 kw's over. I have been asked for a meter reading and think it's going to come to around £10,000. What do I do give them an accurate reading now? Or wait a year or so to give the correct reading hoping prices will come down?

The reason it is so much over is my mil was living here and had electric radiators on all day in her room and didn't care about the cost as long as she was warm. Plus there is a problem with the boiler and we have had the emersion heater on often continuously to heat water.

I just don't know what to do, any advice?

OP posts:
Kennykenkencat · 12/03/2022 16:42

j89vsd why does your friend have to pay it in one go?

Couldn’t she pay it over what ever time they will let her. That way she can fix her house and just pay an amount each month off the bill. Or pay an amount then pay the test monthly.

j89vsd · 12/03/2022 16:46

@Baaaa

Cant help but feel sorry for her. but she's only saved that much because she hasn't been paying her way.
Thats a bit harsh. Shes been paying £200 a month anyway which seems a lot to me. And its not like she's squirrelled away millions!

She's going to email her supplier now with my help (she's not Good at talking on the phone) and explain the current readings and ask what arrangements she can make to pay. We'll hope they're understanding and don't insist on immediate repayment. OP, hope you manage to resolve this too. A harsh lesson learned.

BingeOnChocolate · 12/03/2022 16:47

I find it odd you have not received any letters requesting an actual meter reading. My dad has an issue with his supplier for something different to this so I read into the T&Cs but it clearly states on the energy ombudsman/charter they cannot charge you for more than 12 months usage if they have made an error. So in your case, if they 100% haven't sent you any demands for actual readings or sent engineers around following no reading within a 12 month period, they cannot charge backdates use.

For my dads, I worked it out as X usage divided by the months between when they registered his last actual reading to when an error came known and then times by 12. For his, he was providing monthly readings but their system wasn't actually registering so every bill was a faff.

j89vsd · 12/03/2022 16:49

@Kennykenkencat

j89vsd why does your friend have to pay it in one go?

Couldn’t she pay it over what ever time they will let her. That way she can fix her house and just pay an amount each month off the bill. Or pay an amount then pay the test monthly.

I think she was worrying they will take her to court and so she'll have to pay in a lump sum, or that they wouldn't accept her paying £100 a month because the debt would take nearly 10 years to clear.

If they will accept her paying that amount monthly that would be a great outcome.

Hellocatshome · 12/03/2022 16:57

*I think she was worrying they will take her to court and so she'll have to pay in a lump sum, or that they wouldn't accept her paying £100 a month because the debt would take nearly 10 years to clear.

If they will accept her paying that amount monthly that would be a great outcome.*

I used to work in the debt department of an energy provider. Usually they would only go to 3 years, anymore than that we would refer you to a debt charity such as StepChange and then only go over the 3 years if they did a financial statement that showed you couldn't afford it over3 years or less.

ChickenStripper · 12/03/2022 16:59

@amusedbush who did you expect to pay for the electricity while the house was being renovated?

Kennykenkencat · 12/03/2022 17:00

Why would they take her to court if they have agreed an amount that she should pay and she is paying it.

If she doesn’t ask then she isn’t going to find out what they would accept and financially £100 per month at 0% interest over 10 years would be very good.

I think they might ask her to pay an amount then do the monthly payments. Haggle them down to what they want upfront and payments etc. They want to make sure people can pay regularly otherwise it costs too much to take people to court and send in bailiffs as they might end up with nothing or very little.

YellowChickpea · 12/03/2022 17:01

If I didn't have a smart meter I'd be getting dodgy Dave out to put me a new meter in!

j89vsd · 12/03/2022 17:02

Oh that's not great. I don't think she would want to be referred to a debt charity, as presumably they'd want to know about her savings and would tell her to use that? :(

I can see her paying from her savings to get out of this going further. Any kind of debt management is declarable to her employers, and she wouldn't want them told.

AngelinaFibres · 12/03/2022 17:09

@Fernandina

I think by law they have to have an actual meter reading at least every two years. Can you ask them when was the last time they had one?
The law is that they have to send a meter reader OR they have to write to the householder and ask for a current reading. OPs husband may well.have been asked and chosen to ignore it.
amusedbush · 12/03/2022 17:11

[quote ChickenStripper]@amusedbush who did you expect to pay for the electricity while the house was being renovated?[/quote]
You've misunderstood.

DH's gran passed away and my FIL (who was caring for her and dealing with her bills) didn't notify the supplier. She died intestate and due to a massively complicated probate process (DH lost both grandparents and his mum in a 12 month period, none of whom had wills), the ownership of the house wasn't transferred to us until almost 2 years after she died.

We could not start the renovations until the house was in our names as there was another family member dragging their feet about us buying them out.

So, there was a long period where electricity bills were being sent to the house because the supplier hadn't been notified. Our new account was backdated from the date on the deeds and, of course, we paid every penny we owed. The bills from the period before that date were paid from the estate and THAT is the portion I queried, because his granny's account should have been closed years before then.

There is more to it than I type out here - it was a mess.

bellabasset · 12/03/2022 17:15

The first advice I would give you is to read your meter weekly and take a photo of the meter with the meter no clear. This will indicate what your current usage is so you can see the amount MIL was using. Contact your energy supplier and give them a meter reading explaining you've arranged a physical visit. Explain the dates your MIL was with you and you've discovered she was using electric radiators in her room 24/7 so you hadn't realised you were building up a debt. Ask them to let you have previous meter readings and copies of bills. Set up an online account and pay into it for your current usage. But the majority of your usage would have been before your rate increased so they won't charge you at 30p. I don't know if the company will discount the bill under the circumstances. I thought that the reason meter readers were sent had a dual purpose of checking the up to date reading and that the meter wasn't being bypassed.

AngelinaFibres · 12/03/2022 17:23

@j89vsd

I've checked friends meter now, the difference is slightly more than OPs :( Friend has been saving for years to get some much needed work done in her house (New carpets and floors, replacing her front door and a couple of windows, repairing some dodgy electrics and plumbing) She has just over £10k saved for this which was just enough to cover it and has been getting quotes excited for it to start. She's devastated that is going to be swallowed up straight away by gas and electric costs. It will take her years to save it again.

Cant help but feel sorry for her.

But she is only being asked to pay for what she has used. Ignorance is never a defence. She has paid estimated bills that were far too small for years. Now the difference has to be paid. Would you think it was fair if she only paid for half of her shopping each week, or only paid for half of a new 3 piece suite. She has ignored reality and now it has bitten her very hard. Other people have gone without in all the time she has been living in a warm house and not paying for it
Rememberallball · 12/03/2022 17:24

@ MurmuratingStarling, the situation AuditAngel (and lots of others on the internet) is in isn’t caused by switching after being offered artificially low monthly DD; she was on a low fixed rate with a now defunct supplier (probably fixed 12-18m ago possibly) and was transferred over to BG as SOLR so her unit prices have jumped massively from the fixed rate. Plus BG don’t always bill regularly and some people are still waiting to receive their first bill from BG after being switched to them last summer/autumn.

While I agree that there are plenty of people out there who switched supplier because they were offered really low monthly DD without realising it wouldn’t cover their monthly usage, plenty more have fallen foul of firms collapsing and not being able to choose their replacement supplier who then choose the rate they are out onto!

TacoCats · 12/03/2022 17:33

I'd tell them now before 1st April. It will be very costly if you continue to leave it. It's not going to go down in price anytime soon.

j89vsd · 12/03/2022 17:34

@AngelinaFibres she has gone without certain things though, like I said she's been saving up to get some fairly basic jobs done in that time she's not been living on champagne and caviar. Yes she's used more power than she can afford, and in future she'll probably have to get rid of her aircon unit and only use her heating minimally. Lesson learned.

amatsip · 12/03/2022 17:36

Just seen this in a fb group 😱

What to do Electricity bill could be £10,000?
CeleriacOfTheNight · 12/03/2022 17:47

@amatsip

Just seen this in a fb group 😱
She may have a couple of teenagers, it's easily done Grin
chesirecat99 · 12/03/2022 17:52

FWIW, @j89vsd, I've just checked my emails out of curiosity. There is nothing in the pdf bills they sent me asking me to take a reading or even advising me to take a reading to check their estimate. My supplier didn't read the meter (external) and didn't send me a letter or email requesting a meter reading. I just got a letter from them out of the blue after they did finally come and take a reading saying that they had messed up and weren't going to charge me because of backbilling rules. Although it was only £10s not £100s or £1000s that was owed.

Baaaa · 12/03/2022 17:58

Thats a bit harsh. Shes been paying £200 a month anyway which seems a lot to me. And its not like she's squirrelled away millions! I get that but she's still had "free" electricity. So it's just a loan.

mellicauli · 12/03/2022 17:58

You can request that the meter is independently tested to see if it is faulty. It will cost you a few hundred if you are wrong. But it could be an explanation.

Bromse · 12/03/2022 18:06

It is more 'cost effective' to leave an immersion heater on all the time than to put it on/switch it off so don't worry about that.

Electric fires and fan heaters are expensive to run, do you not have central heating? I like to be warm but am quite happy with my radiators, if I didn't have central heating I'd be sitting in front of a fan heater :-). I turn the heating up and down according to the temperature. It's on low at the moment but if it gets cold later tonight, as it did last night, it will go up again.

Ask your electricity provider to send someone round to read the meter. I think you've got it wrong and as your bill has been estimated for so long, it's time to put things right.

kittensinthekitchen · 12/03/2022 18:13

Do you know what happens when some people don't pay their bills? It doesn't cost the lender, the costs are passed on to those of us who do pay our bills.

I have zero sympathy for those who are competent enough to manage their own finances and don't.

Hugasauras · 12/03/2022 18:14

That's not true. Immersion heaters can use an insane amount of power. Your water tank keeps water hot for long periods without the heater needing to be constantly on and reheating it.

From the Centre for Sustainable Energy:

'It’s better to leave the hot water heater on all the time, rather than turning it on and off.
This is a very common myth. But in fact, you really don’t need to be heating your water all the time. Your immersion heater or boiler will heat up hot water which is stored in a tank. As long as the tank has a good insulating jacket, it will keep the water hot all day, without needing to be constantly reheated. You can use a timer to heat your water for an hour or two each day just before you would usually need hot water for baths or showers. Modern washing machines, dishwashers and electric showers take cold water and heat it themselves so you don’t need a supply of hot water waiting for them in the tank.'