Hi My name is adam

For 6 months myself and my girlfriend livied in a studio apartment in the manchester, we moved in on the 13th of oct 2007.

we got our bill a which was not out from aug to oct which was for 60 pounds. my girlfriend rang them to try and sort it out. but there customer services are not very good, anyway after that we heard no more from them. they sent us a bill in march 08 which said we owed them 160 pounds 100 for the bill from oct to march and the 60 from aug to oct. my girlfriend then rang them and they explained that we were not there from aug to oct for the the 2nd time. they asked us to do a meter reading one on monday and one on friday. which we did they quoted us 900 pounds!!! my girlfriend refused to pay this and they put her on hold and got back to her say this was a mistake. they then said it was 600 pounds she then refused to pay this!!

they then said to do a meter reading over 5 days every day. while all this was going on we where in the process of moving out. and the 5 days that we did the reading were looking after my parents house. as a test the only thing we left on was the microwave digital clock. we did the reading and we came back to them with the reading and told them the figures they still told us it was 647.52

on the back of the bill it had this

15 apr 2008 to 15 apr 2008

Night energy reading last time 3147 reading this time 3147 units 0

Primary day energy reading last time 7315 reading this time 7315 units 0

your tariff is economy 7

night energy

0 units at 4.62p £0.00

primary day enery

0 units at 0.00p

standing charge at 8.58 for 1 days 0.08

total charges for this bill including vat 0.09

total from previous bill 647.43

is this right

No-one can tell you if this right or wrong and a huge amount depends on what you use and when you use it.

You need to write to Southern Electric by recorded delivery to sort this out - in the UK, 'phone calls rarely do anything except get people's backs up. In this I would state the following:

Previous tenants names (and if known their current address), the date you took occupation, the date you ceased to occupy the premises. I assume that you took a meter reading when you entered the property and one when you left. You then state that you are liable only for the dates that you were in occupation and that the landlord/previous tenant is responsible for all other bills outstanding.

I would have thought that you should be paying around £150 to £200 per quarter if you are using only electricity for cooking, heating etc. in the coldest and darkest months. Less during DST.

Hope this helps.

SHARK!

Carvil,

Have you called energywatch to see if they can help?

Energywatch Tel: 08459 06 07 08.