Electric bill problem, I think I owe £15k :o

[electricbills]

This is not a begging thread before anyone piles on. But I am in a flap over discovering the above.

I've had some health issues, plus building works at home which combined together meant I've not been able to read my meter for a few years as it's in an awkward spot. I can't remember the last time either I gave a reading or anyone came out.

I can now access the meter and with all the stuff about electric prices rising I thought I should start with a clean slate. I couldn't access any of the previous readings online but submitted my figure of 31460.

I've since had a bill (obviously generated before my reading) and according to this my last estimate was 52440. I can't access any bills or readings online further back than 12 months and I don't get paper bills haven't for years.

So by my rough calculations based on kwh of I think 21p, I owe about 15k. My usual bills are about £300-400 per quarter. I feel sick.

I can just about pay it if I completely empty my savings and sell some stuff. But it's such a huge amount of money. I couldn't pay it in one go.

What do I do now?

I'd love to know the outcome of this. Fingers crossed you're in for a good surprise and not a bad one!

Op I would suggest taking reads every day at 12 hour intervals eg 9am and 9pm for 7 days and take photos which show the time and date. This will show you and your energy supplier avg units per day. This will help prove it the meter has been clocked or not. If the meter has been clocked (meaning you’ve used over 8000kwh and owe money) then the energy company need to prove that they have made every attempt to gain a reading (eg sent a meter reader out at least once a year and sent letters requesting reads or asking for an obstruction to be moved) for back billing to be applicable. As you cannot get online you can make a subject access request for any bills and letters sent and the supplier has 30 days to send them to you this can be via email or letters.

Hopefully it is that you have been over estimated and due a refund. But I would recommend the reads so that you can call the supplier with these reads in a week time and get them to generate an actual bill there and then for you.

Anything past 12months has to be written off. The law was changed few years ago to make this explicitly definied.

@Comz

Op I would suggest taking reads every day at 12 hour intervals eg 9am and 9pm for 7 days and take photos which show the time and date. This will show you and your energy supplier avg units per day. This will help prove it the meter has been clocked or not. If the meter has been clocked (meaning you’ve used over 8000kwh and owe money) then the energy company need to prove that they have made every attempt to gain a reading (eg sent a meter reader out at least once a year and sent letters requesting reads or asking for an obstruction to be moved) for back billing to be applicable. As you cannot get online you can make a subject access request for any bills and letters sent and the supplier has 30 days to send them to you this can be via email or letters.

Hopefully it is that you have been over estimated and due a refund. But I would recommend the reads so that you can call the supplier with these reads in a week time and get them to generate an actual bill there and then for you.

This is an excellent idea. Especially the photos.

A friend's elderly brother died last year and it was found that he overpaid 7,500 -- the estate was able to reclaim it after a a bit of a fight with the electric supplier.

Do you know how meter readings should be interpreted. If you don't I would submit the reading and wait for the lekky company to contact you. It sounds like a little bit of knowledge is dangerous.

I deal with utility companies all the time through work. Depending who you are with you may be able to get on a live chat. To prove your real you can just submit a photo of the meter, it's what we have to do if reads haven't been submitted for a while or are far out from the estimated.
They definitely owe you money, 9 times out of 10 their estimations are higher than actual usage. Don't let them push you into using your credit to pay future bills either, all for the refund. They cannot refuse.

I have no useful advice whatsoever here for the update. Very hopeful they owe you the 4k. I couldn't even imagine the stress

Did you manage to speak to anyone ?

No point panicking until they get the bill to you. Wait and see. If your true meter reading is actually so much below their estimate, though, you should be fine. I got into a mess with estimated readings too, a smart meter keeps me on track now.

Contact citizens advice, they have a brilliant energy advice team who will be able to give you the best advice and advocate for you. Good luck.

I've been in credit quite a few times and it's easy to either get it paid back or they take it off your next bill/s.

I'm not sure why you would think they wouldn't pay it back, I don't think legally they could do that. We all only pay for the energy we use.

Also get a smart meter if you can. As a fellow person who isn't good at keeping up with meter readings/general life admin, it saves me a lot of hassle and stress!

The average household electric bill has been before now £1,277 per year. That means for average use you would need to have not paid anything for 11 years to rack up a £15k debt. Don't panic, I'm sure from what you've written they owe you

Hope this is soon sorted for you op.

You sound very disorganised but here's a way out.
You say that your bills are all online so you'll be able to see what your last actual reading was.
If you haven't saved them then ask your energy companies to provide all the bills since your last ACTUAL read.
Then you need to know what the tariffs were throughout that time - did you change or did they roll onto standard variable?
It's going to be complicated as if the prices changed during those years, you will have no true idea of the energy you used before and after each price change, therefore you can't argue with their billing.
What's done is done. If you couldn't get to the meter you should have rung them to ask for a visit.

1. Write down YOUR LAST ACTUAL readings for gas and electricity on separate pieces of paper.

Gas meter keys are available from hardware stores for about £1. Mine is outside the building on the pavement against to wall of a commercial premises and I read it every month without fail, plus I take a screenshot of it as back up. I've done this for almost 12 years.
The company has had no alternative but to issue estimated bills and in the past few years the costs have gone up. What you paid per quarter 5 years ago would not cover your bills in the last few years so you'd be underpaying.

It doesn't sound like you owe them anything looking at those meter reads it's more likely they've overestimated over the few years because they realised you haven't submitted a reading so they thought they can get away with it for a bit. I'd persist on phone to them and ask them what your balance would be based on the meter readings you give. Don't say you think you owe them they'll jump at the chance of claiming you do at the moment. Just explain that your confused how estimated reads can be so different. Ask for the balance based on your reads and if they owe you ask for it back. If you do happen to owe them then I would suggest you find out now before a bill is generated because you'll have 14 days from the bill generated to pay it. Asking now will give you a little extra time.

I've not read the whole thread so sorry if this has already been suggested. If you do a rough calculation it should give you an idea if you have been under or over paying. Assuming you have had a fairly normal week for electricity use, check your meter and see how many units you have used since you checked last week. Divide the units used by the number of days since your first reading to get your average daily usage. Times this by 90 to get roughly how much you use in a quarter. Check your last bill to see what they charge per unit, then you can work out the cost of the electric you actually use, don't forget to add on any standing charge. Is this under or over what you are paying per quarter?
This is clearly only going to be a rough calculation and does not allow for different rates over the years but since you have either been paying a fair amount too much or way too little it should give you some idea which it is.

If the readings you have stated here have been read correctly - and you haven't accidentally missed a number when taking a reading - you have overpaid and will definitely be entitled to a refund - there will be no problem asking for or getting a refund - this often happens - often when you leave one energy company and move to another - often people have overpaid their previous energy company. You will also want to ask them to adjust your monthly or quarterly payments so that they more accurately reflect your actual usage.

How were you not able to access the meter for a few years? How did building works make it impossible to get a reading.

Speak to the energy company - if you owe them money speak to Citizens Advice who are BRILLIANT with this kind of stuff

Phone them and check the actual amount, if it is this huge, tell them you can’t afford, they have to offer options on repayment, is compulsory.

@electricbills
Hey OP, have you looked on your meter to see if it has the ability to show you month by month usage for the past 12 months? Then you will know exactly how much you've used this past year and it will help you to figure out of you've gone over or under. İt sounds very unlikely that you owe 15k. Maybe after the price cap has gone up, but not for the past, however many years.
I had a problem in my last place where I moved in alone with a round the clock breastfeeding baby and had no carpets furniture etc and was sorting all that out and forgot to take initial meter readings. I solved it by using the function on the meter which shows you how much you've used each month, for the past twelve months. Try pressing a few different numbers and see if it comes up. I think mine was either number 4 or 6.

Resd your meter today and compare it to the one you just took. Basically what is 1 days usage?

Multiply that by 365 to get a years usage. That should give you an idea if you could possibly have gone round the loop.

Have you got some old bills which show actual electricity use?
If you have you should be able to get a rough estimate of how much electricity you've used over the last few years, assuming your usage hasn't changed much.

Is it sorted yet OP?