I’ve fucked up and it’s going to cost me thousands- what do I do now?

[SnowQueenie]

A couple of years ago my electricity meter stopped working. Contacted the electricity company who came out and placed a smart meter. I continued paying the bills as they came in monthly, with increases when they requested it. They contacted me to say I needed to do a meter reading, but I have a smart meter so didn’t think anything of it. This month I’ve had a bill that’s more than 10 times my usual monthly bill. I’ve contacted them to ask what’s going on, and they’ve told me that I’ve not had a meter reading since October 2023. They’ve never come to do one, or told me the smart meter wasn’t working, so I didn’t realise. They’re saying they’ve been charging me as having 0 usage for this entire time, despite me paying £50-£60 a month. They’re now saying they’re going to back bill me for the entire time I’ve not been properly charged and that it’s likely to skyrocket my bills because of this. What the hell can I do? I’ve been paying monthly and didn’t realise there was an issue, surely the onus is on them to notice that the meter isn’t working and fix it. Or to come and take a meter reading if they haven’t got one? And how is it costing me £60 a month for 0 usage?

Surely if you've been paying £60 a month since October '23, you've got £900 on account ready to pay for your usage?

But also look into the back billing regulations: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/what-do-if-you-get-back-bill.

Ofgem suggests that you cannot be charged for energy used more than 12 months ago. Not a massive improvement but every little helps. The website below offers advise on what to do if you receive a back bill.

What to do if you get a back bill | Ofgem

I would dispute the bill, that should pause the pursuit of the debt until the dispute is resolved.
Meanwhile make an official complaint that they didn't let you know they weren't getting trains and you trusted they did with the smart meter being installed, the resolution of the complaint could include a compromise on the bill. Involve often if you don't get satisfaction directly

On your electricity agreement you have tariff with break down for few elements, look up electricity standing charge which every ]household pays per meter.
Electricity standing charge is "a fixed daily fee added to an energy bill that covers the cost of maintaining the energy network, meter readings, and other services. The charge is applied regardless of how much energy is used, and can be a significant portion of the bill for low energy users."
Then you can calculate how much you owe electricity company per calendar month.

Just found this in CAB website. Looks like you may only be due 12 months if energy usage bills.

Also, has the bill come from genuine company? Ie. Check it’s not a scam letter.

I had this , but not with a smart meter.

I paid my DD every month and thought more of it.

For 18months my meter was registering £0.

They were going to charge me in one go for that 18 months but I argued how they could even estimate that , I could have been on holiday / away / not using as much / fewer people in the house etc

In the end they just replaced the meter , we started "from scratch" and the 18 Months of DD ,less the standing charges , was credited to my account .

Push back and ask exactly how they have calculated the amount of they have no record of you use ??

First thing first, go and check the historical bills. Were these all done on zero usage and not estimated? As you said you've been paying an amount per month which is more than the standing charge surely?
Second, as PP said they have to write off costs older than a certain amount. They also have to offer you a repayment plan so once you agree the amounts (please double check their calculations!) Then you won't need to pay in one go and you can pay it as a small amount monthly.

Well no, won’t that be for the standing charges only?

OP, Did you not wonder why it was so cheap? I know I live in a drafty old house but my bill is never under £200 a month.

You have a standing charge to pay daily for your electricity and gas provision.
When my rental house was empty for 2 months with no power being used at all, I still had to pay some gas and electricity charges.
That's what the low payments you have been making were covering.

Shit situation though, it does seem like they could've done more to see why there were no readings from your house.

I'd assume some of what you have been paying would be for standing charges, but I don't think that wouldn't equate to £60 a month.

Surely you've been receiving bills - they would show what you have been charged for.

They contacted me to say I needed to do a meter reading
But they did ask to come and read it and you ignored it!

surely the onus is on them to notice that the meter isn’t working
I always thought it was for the homeowner to tell the electric company if it wasn't working- but may be wrong.

Do your bills all have the same meter reading numbers on there for all those months? Say a reading of 5681 every, single month? Wouldn't you notice that the dials/numbers haven't changed?
Don't you have a little electrical monitor for the smart meter to check its working? Was the £50/60 a month JUST the standing charge? If that is the case- that seems incredibly high.

Citizens advice might have advice or hopefully someone else with 1st hand knowledge will help.

The onus is on you to check your bills when they arrive to see that the usage is correct to the bill, whether the smart meter is working or not. The standing charge should be around £1 per day, so you’ve only been paying £30 per month for electricity. My Brother had a similar problem in that he kept his direct debit low, after they increased, so after a while he was in arrears, he asked for a repayment plan, can you suggest this.

Isn’t the standing charge like 60p a day, not £2 a day? So £60 per month will have covered some electricity, though probably not all, unless you’re a very low user.

Is it combined gas and electricity? There's a standing charge of about 60p a day depending on supplier but that would be less than £20 a month so you must have some credit if gas isn't included.

I got a bill for £2k, it was entirely my fault for not actually reading them but since they'd done regular readings and I always paid what they asked including regular increases I thought it unfair.

I barely complained, it was more feedback really, and they knocked it down to £500 and said they'd do £50 a month.

So do complain. You have a smart meter, they're supposed to be monitoring your usage.

What did the monthly bills look like? Mine have a breakdown of what the costs are.

You should definitely challenge this

1. If the smart meter has not worked since install it was incorrectly installed or not tested with comms
2. They cannot back bill over a year
3. They need to show how they have come to that number- was it based on historic usage
4. They should be prepared to put together a payment plan so that you do not have to pay all at once- if they refuse to do so you should raise a dispute with the energy ombudsman

Case Study: Back Billing | Energy Ombudsman

I just checked mine. I'm with octopus, 4 bed house.
Gas standing charge 27p day, £8.67 month, £103 per year

Electric standing charge 46p day, £13.94 month, £169 per year
So we pay £22 a month standing charge in total.

What is your standing charge OP?

Martin Lewis has info on this. I’m sure they’re only allowed to backdate charges 1 year. After that they have to suck it up.

I would suggest that you go to Citizen's Advice to get proper advice on what you can do OP. It's all very well people on MN telling you what they think, but they could be wrong. With clear advice from C.A.B. it should ensure that you only pay what you need to, whereas if you only communicate with your supplier, they clearly aren't doing their job properly now, so you can't be confident that you won't be given incorrect information, and then end up paying more than you should, or even not paying enough, only to face another massive bill at a later stage.

Thanks everyone. Hearing they might not be able to charge me for more than a year is a relief. The bills are similar to what they were before they changed the meter so I didn’t think it was an issue. I don’t have electricity we have oil, which covers all heating and hot water. So electricity has always been low costs.

@JC03745 they just said I needed to send them a meter reading, I thought they were getting them automatically so it was just checking. I didn’t realise they weren’t getting any at all

I’m with the poster above. If you’ve been paying 60 quid or so a month since October 2023 then you will have in the region of £900 in credit on your account. Unless you’ve been racking up crazy usage in those 14 or so months, I can’t see how you’re left facing a bill of thousands? Your online bank statements will have evidence of the direct debit going out so surely you provide them if questioned and ask where your money is. You will then be liable for the difference (up to 12 months) of any extra usage on top of that. If you’ve made no payment to them at all then that is a different matter but you say you have.

Surely they should have been estimating your monthly bill and charging you accordingly anyway? I don't always remember to give readings (and actually I'm due to so thanks for the reminder) but when I don't the energy supplier just estimates it... I've been with 3 different suppliers and they all operate in this way.

We had a faulty meter years ago in a flat we rented, and the energy company (Scottish Power, awful) kept chasing us for crazy amounts of money for years. We had been continuing to pay what was a normal amount for a 1 bed flat at the time throughout. We took them to the ombudsman and they left us alone.

Not sure if that's a route for you but I think they are partially at fault for not estimating your bills in lieu of a reading....

My bill is £300 a month, you can't have though it was £60 surely? Ok I see it is just electric my bill is gas and electric. It can't be thousands you own them then. My electric is £175 a month and gas varies but is generally £100 - £125

Who are you with? I can only speak of my experience with Scottish Power and E.ON, but I get an email statement every month, which states the smart meter readings, how much you have used and how much it costs, plus the standing charges. I assume most companies are the same and therefore you would notice that they had you down for zero consumption?