£1,000 electric bill :(

Basher said:
In which case check they have taken the meter readings right. If they have then you must pay it and would have no case for not doing so.
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Yup I get that, but the point paradigm is making is valid. You can't charge someone a set amount for a service then suddenly hike it 10 fold because you were undercharging by your own mistake. Or maybe you can, that's my question :D
 
They can do, it's between the two of you to get the estimates right.
 
They almost certainly will let him increase his direct debit by £30 or something to gradually pay back the balance.

I've never heard of a utility company demanding the balance in full, unless you plan on switching supplier.

We've done the same with water and electricity over the years. Although with 1k, they might want £70ish a month so it's cleared in just over a year....

Best thing, is ask them. But unless they're some rogue provider they will let you pay it back over a period of at least 12mths...
 
AdladUK said:
Yup I get that, but the point paradigm is making is valid. You can't charge someone a set amount for a service then suddenly hike it 10 fold because you were undercharging by your own mistake. Or maybe you can, that's my question :D
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You say you have over £1k outstanding on your account. You don't say the model in which they will re-coup that. Is that something which they have outlined?
 
CAB = Citizens Advice Bureau.

Having a reading from when you moved in would be very useful in this situation.

EDIT: wow, I was very slow to post!
 
Does the true proper reading they have now and the first one match ignoring their estimates?

If it does, you owe them I;m afraid. It's you to you if they supply an estimate to inform them they are wrong.

You can contact them due to the size of the bill and ask them to pay in installments over time.
 
Basher said:
You say you have over £1k outstanding on your account. You don't say the model in which they will re-coup that. Is that something which they have outlined?
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No we haven't discussed that yet. The lady is ringing me back tomorrow once I've done my "research" (AKA made a thread on here) :D
 
...but it does seem like a VAST amount of electricity to be using for one person.. and no heating. Unless you're growing marjeewaarnaar 24/7.
 
A month ago I finished paying off £500 with nPower after both them and I under estimated my gas usage when we moved into a new house so I was underpaying for 12 months.

nPower were very good about it and just upped my direct debit for a few years (it fell a bit each year), demanding all of that in full is quite harsh but I'm afraid if you've used the electricity you do have to pay for it. Id consider asking them to do the same, otherwise if they're going to demand it up front you might as well move to another cheaper supplier ;)
 
There should be a .pdf somewhere in your account which will resemble a paper bill. That will have an estimated meter reading in it. Cross reference that to your actual meter reading.
Also, if you see on the right you can select 'enter meter readings'. Do that, and enter 59663. Hopefully it's just a mistake. If it's not, you want to get your meter checked out as they can go faulty...
Do you live anywhere near Ibrox?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-11075227
 
I got stung with an £800 electricity bill in my own place for the same reasons. AFAIK you can't get out of paying - you used the electricity, the T&Cs of your agreement allow for corrections from underestimated bills. What happened in my case was that I came to an agreement with my supplier to pay the bill off in instalments over the next year (because I'd acted in good faith, don't have £700 right now, they have some responsibility because of bad estimating).

I make sure I periodically provide an accurate meter reading to my new supplier now.
 
Yeah assuming everything is correct then it's about £1,200 total for the period of Oct 09 to Aug 10. That's about £120 a month which seems really high to me for 1 person
 
Clearly a meter misread? Go and take a reading yourself and enter it online. There's a link to it in your screen print.

Edit - as above.

Also - maybe someone is nicking your electricity for their own 'herb garden'!
 
It's not a misread. The reading they took for this bill is correct. The point is they've been estimating my bills way too low for the last 3 payment periods. Now they just realised (after taking a reading) and are pretty much saying "oh sorry we didn't bill you right, you now owe us £1,000."

I was simply wondering if they had the right to do so, which it seems they do
 
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