Large debt to Electric Company. Do they have to accept repayment plan?

[Arashi]

Posting for advice for my mum.

I have read her meter for her today and if the readings are right she owes the electric company nearly £10,000. I think this is because the last time she gave them a meter reading she had given an incorrect number - she gave 4 digits but it should be 5.

She is elderly (obviously) and suffers from osteoarthritis and had poor mobility and is waiting for an operation. She struggles to access her meter the best of times and is terrified of a prepayment meter - both because of the cost increase (she has heard they are more) and the difficulty of topping up - she's not very technological and would struggle to get to the post office to top up there and the worry of being cut off due to her age.

She wants to know if she offers to pay her current bill (get a smart meter so the readings are accurate) and offers to pay £100 a month off the arrears which realistically is all she can afford do they have to accept? Or can they force a prepayment meter on her? Obviously if they take her to court she would be unable to pay so there is an option of IVA / bankruptcy but she would rather pay but its such a huge amount and would take ages to pay back?

Has she ever had a meter reading taken by the electricity supplier, one wrong reading wont result in a 10k bill I would contact the company and ask for them to read the meter or take a photo and send it to them. Have youn got copies of her recent bills that we could look at if that helps.

She used £10k of electricity between one meter reading and the next???? That's bizzare. It doesn't sound right at all.

When she gave the incorrect reading did it issue her a large credit/refund? Because it was lower than the previous reading? Is it not sat on her account?

I believe they can only bill back so far, especially of no meter reader has visited for a while. When did she last submit a reading, the systems normally highlight anomalies.

www.ofgem.gov.uk/check-energy-back-billing-rules

12 months' limit

Is it an old meter?
Three things come to mind.
Firstly, if the meter is old it may no longer be calibrated properly and the dials are slipping.
Secondly, is it an imperial or metric meter? (It usually gives an indication on the face of the meter).
When did the meter last get read by a meter reader? I think there are rules about how often one of the company's own people should read it.

She uses about 50kw a day!!! Her electricity bill is £500 per month!! She is rattling round in a old falling down house with electric as the only source of heat but wont move.

She sent in a meter last October which was 2116. The meter reading today was 37786. I suspect she missed a digit off the Feb reading and it should have been 22116 or 21160 or something like that. She has a credit of about £1200 on the account currently. They have been estimating bills since then as she has been unable to read the meter.

I have no idea when the electricity company read the meter - before the pandemic I would guess.

There probably was a credit when she gave the reading - she gave the reading as my uncle had passed and the bill was in his name and she was swapping to her. Any credit would have gone into his estate and will be with his daughter now and no way to get that back.

Surely if this was last October, they will have a meter reading prior to this where she has been paying correctly

I don't think she will owe £10k as they will be doing estimates of her usage, it'll just be an adjustment in what the correct reading was in October?

Don't know if I'm over simplifying it?

If she cannot read the meter herself have her registered as a vulnerable customer for regular official meter reading.

I'm assuming the 12 month back billing wont apply if she's give a wrong meter reading?

The new company should have had access to the previous closing reading.

Its the same company. I suspect (although can't prove) that my uncle has not bothered giving a meter reading and instead pocketed the money mum gave him each month and has either sent in false readings, or just rolled along with the estimated readings.

I know she is using 50kw a day as she has had my brother staying with her the last 5 weeks and he has been taking the readings daily as we have been trying to work out what she uses - we wanted to compare with putting her on a calor gas fire. its only when I have gone to submit the reading today following a text request to send an updated reading that I looked at the old one and saw the hue difference.

I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. Do you have access to her previous bills to try to untangle it? If her meter is 5 digits, they are unlikely to have accepted a 4 digit reading. Are you certain that you have read it correctly and not included a decimal by mistake?

Its old. There is a sticker on it saying it was tested in March 1986 ... It might well have been installed in 82 when my parents first moved in.
If you turn all the fuses off in the fuse box in house the dial still turns around slowly, but if you switch the switch by the meter then it doesn't - does that mean its slipping?
I arent sure how to tell if its imperial or metric? It says it does 250 revs/kwh. its an S200 I6 Watthour meter.
Definitely noone has been out since before the pandemic, but could be longer.

If her last correct reading was 1,000, for example, then she sent then 200, they either wouldn't accept it or there would be a massive credit on her account. So now the reading is 3,000, she won't owe the difference between 200 and 3,000 unless she was issued a refund when she said the reading was 200.

Yes I am absolutely sure. There is 6 digits on the meter, the 6th digit being a little red one which I don't include.

I don't have access to the previous bills as they were in my uncles name. I assume they wont give them to me either.

I am relatively sure that it is correct (unless there is a large slippage and she is not using 50kw a day). The estimated readings on the last bill is 800kw a month She is using at least double that. So she definitely owes them a large chunk of something.

Yes, this is what I was trying to say (badly) below

It's very unlikely it'll be £10k from a wrong reading

Is it a new account in her name, that had an opening reading recently? Or was she able to change the name on your uncle's account?

The company should have something in place to handle this that doesn't involve her paying for electric she didn't use. She hasn't used 10k of electric, she has a reading error. These happen.

I've had incorrect reading errors twice (both times by professionals, one of my meters seems to be tricky to read), I was charged, I challenged it with evidence of previous readings and photos over emails and it was corrected.

I appreciate what everyone is saying, but her meter reading today definitely is correct. Her estimated reading on her June bill says 8402 so she owes loads.

I just need to know if they can force a prepayment meter on her, or if they will accept £100 a month off the backlog if she keeps on top of her current.

I can go and investigate the old bills, meter readings etc, but as soon as I submit this reading a bill is going to come through for thousands and that will send her into a panic.

Don't submit it until you have spoken or written to the company. If you know how much she has used each month tell the company the previous reading was incorrect and that you estimate it should have been x. (Would 32116 make more sense for example?) CAB should be able to advise if you are unsure.

You need to get the electric company in to check that her meter is running correctly and to take an actual reading not an estimated one. Its the electric company who will decide what, if anything, she owes and what payment plan they suggest. Have you been round the house to see what she is using, 50kw a day is very high useage. Does she have a gas mains supply to her house.

If the bill was in your uncles bar won't they chase his estate for the bill?

My uncle was an absolute tool who moved in about 5 years ago after mum had an operation. He slowly took over everything and morphed my independent mum into a simpering, fawning mess. He took over all bills being "helpful" and mum just gave him to cash as requested for him to pay them. Since his death we have found a litany of ways he has taken advantage of her and pocketed cash. I would be completely unsurprised to discover that the electric (I know she has been giving him £500 a month for the last few years for it) is yet another.

She has no gas to her house. The house is electric and wood only, but mum cannot manage the wood herself so he heats the house with electric heaters.

My concern (and mums) is that the payment they ask for will be unrealistic. Although these sound like large amounts and she is on a good pension she has very little room for manoeuvre in her budget. If they ask for £500 a month for example she has no way. If she stops going to a couple of her activities, she can put the taxi fare to the debt and pay them £100 a month. I just need to know if they have to accept it if shes keeping up with current amounts.

I've debated just opening a new account in my name and then at least there is no way they can cut her off as we'd make sure the meter readings were correct and she was paying the correct amount each month, but mum would rather sort it if she can.

Hello, I owed £800 and wanted to set up a repayment agreement for £100 a month for 8 months. British Gas refused and said I had to pay it off within 6 months or they would pass it onto a debt collection agency which they did.
I don’t know the answer to your prepayment meter question but I doubt she will be able to repay this to their standards.