KerinSoph,

As SSE has stated they have attempted to read your meter without success, I'm not sure there is much else you can do. Ultimately, it's a shared responsibility to ensure your energy account is kept fully up-to-date with the most accurate meter readings. This is a message we are constantly trying to deliver to consumers as it helps ensure these types of issues are avoided.

With the supplier advising they have attempted to take readings, and issued bills clearly showing they are "estimations", I'd suggest accepting the debt and looking to get a repayment plan in place with SSE as soon as possible.

SSE (Scottish & Southern) are regarded as one of the best energy suppliers for customer service and so I'm sure they will do all they can to help you through this.

In terms of moving forwards, I'd suggest you ask SSE to agree to move you to its 'Standard Energy Online' tariff. This is the supplier's cheapest tariff and will enable you to manage your bill online.

The advantages here are that you are able to quickly and easily enter "actual" meter readings to ensure your bills remain as accurate as possible. It also enables you to keep an eye on spend and consumption.

In terms of paying £70 per month for gas & electric, that's not too bad. I too live with my partner and our bills are £70 a month on one of the market's best deals.

My top tips for you moving forwards would be:

Get on an online tariff - ensure you enter actual readings every 90-days

Pay by Monthly Direct Debit - it spreads the costs across the year and offers better discounts

Keep an eye on the market - with prices and products frequently changing, it's worth comparing products every 6-months to ensure you are on the best deal possible for your individual requirements.

Take control of your energy - our society is quick to point the finger of blame but ultimately we need to take responsibility as individuals and ensure we're doing all we can to protect or finances. Leaving it to others is a dangerous game to play.

As a final point, ensure SSE have correctly applied the unit rates for certain times over the 2-years. For example, the energy you used in 2007 would have been alot cheaper than that used currently. Therefore, ensure your consumption is split fairly and the relevant unit rates are applied to calculate the amount owed accurately.

If you need any further help don't hesitate to ask.

I have to agree with Velux,

you have a reduced bill now with the units evenly split between price increses,

however it is still your fault why the company has not had an actual reading for over 2 yrs as you could of rang them anytime ince a bill recieved and given an actual reading and you have been very nieve to sit on your lorals and not provide a current reading and realise that you were severely paying under the odds.

if you were slightly concerned you must have family or friends whom you could of inquired how much they were paying quarterly ro realise you were getting away with murder.

your bill has just come down oer £500 and you should feel lucky now and plan a payment plan to reduce this over the next 2 yrs to get back on track which the supplier will be more than happy with,

regards,

John.

Sorry I have sat on my hands for long enough. You cant blame the provider if they have tried to read your meter on several occasions, if the meter is indoors not sure if you are aware but they can force entry with a GSI warrant to read your meter, then customers would complain, I ashume that your meter is indoors.

Even with this, you still had bills that said it was an estimate, they do indeed say this for a reason not meaning to be rude or anything but take responsability to read. Going to any regulator would be pointless, they will turn around and say the supplier has tried to access and that you could of at anytime taken a read but you instead ignored them.

By the way, when they say they have had 'no response from these letters' I honestly did not receive any letters whatsoever before getting my bill from them.

Just wanted to make that clear.

Thanks.

Hi Scott, Thank you so much for the reply.

I emailed customer services at Atlantic last night, and raised the issue of the increased gas prices over 2 years, and stated that we should be charged for the units at the various prices over the past 2 years (turns out its longer than two years, its actually 30 months).

This is the reply i got:

Thank you for your email.

I have checked the information we hold for your gas meter and as the advisor you spoke to yesterday explained it does show that you have what we would refer to as a catch up bill. I have reapportioned the units charged for on the latest statement you have over the different prices since your last actual bill. This has reduced the balance to £994.71.

When a bill goes over a certain amount of money it will go to special department who deal with large bills, who will try and investigate before releasing the bill to the customer. We have tried to contact you by letter to check the reading and discuss how such a large bill was produced. Unfortunately we had no response from these letters so had no choice but to release the bill from our system.

Meter Operatives get sent out every six months to collect readings for us to use to bill your account. These would mean that normally a customer's quarterly bills would alternate between an actual and an estimated bill. Unfortunately in your case when Meter Operatives have gone to your property we have been told they were not able to gain access to the meter. Due to this you have had estimated bills since May 2006. When we send an estimated bill it is shown on the front page of the statement with a thumbs down symbol, as well as an E next to the reading used for the bill.

We will not expect you to clear the balance of this bill in one payment and are happy to spread out the balance over the same period as this usage has been consumed. ...........

The email then goes on to explain how we can spread our payments out.

Is this fair, should i back down and accept the reduction they have given us (which should have been the original total anyway, so not really a reduction) or does the fact that they have not read our gas meter for 30 months mean we can fight this a little more.

I'd be very grateful if Scott would reply.

Thanks so much.

KerinSoph,

If the issue lies with the energy supplier i.e. they failed to take an actual meter reading, then you may be able to negotiate that they only charge you for 1-years consumption instead of two.

It may also be worth raising this with the energy ombudsmen and also Consumer Focus.

Don't panic just yet. Gather as much information as possible and speak to the supplier to come to an agreement.

They need to take some responsibility for not taking a meter reading for 2-years so this might be your best angle.

Let us know how you get on and we'll try and help at each stage.

You must make a formal complaint to the supplier before consumer direct (taken over from energy watch) will take up the complaint.

If your meter is in side however and the company proves you have had bills , which by paying you have it shows that they are estimated on each of them. They only have to read your meter once every two years.

My heart goes out to both of you but you are going to have to pay it. Back in the bad old days, showing my age, I had a waitressing job just to pay for fuel bills over the winter quarter so we didn't have to sit with coats on. Sad but true.

try not to worry about it now as what is done is done,

try contacting ofgas oe even citizens advice CAB and see if you have any way to complain as they should of at least put up your monthly amount or estimated quarterly bill over the last 2 yrs, also I'm sure they're responsible for attempting to make the meter readings during this period and leaving you a card to say they'd called??

John.

Thanks for the reply.

No, no one read our meter until December 2008.

We probably have been nieve, but like i say, this is our first time renting etc so we assumed the gas company would know what to charge us. They said they gave this estimation for 2 years due to previous tenants usage. I cannot see how we would have used this much more than anyone else.

We did begin to think that we would owe them some money by the time this winter bill came, and by that i mean a few hundred quid, not £1500.

I just dont see how they can get away with charging us so little for so long then hitting us with a huge bill out of the blue, without contacting us, telling us that they needed a reading etc.

HI,

has no one ever read your meter since moving into your property??

your company may be liable if they have not increased your monthly direct debit over the last 2 yrs as prices widely publisized have gone up tremendously which would of meant you gas bill would of done the same.

for the sort of use you explaining to me your bill would be similar to a 2 bed semi which i live in,

a few yrs ago i was paying half of what i pay now which is about £60 monthly (Annually approx £7-800) and i price-locked my gas and electric price last spring before the last big increase which would of added another £100 to the total above.

i can't believe you were only paying 40-50 a quarter??

you need to contact ofgas and have a word as they are partly responsible for not taking any readings and for not estimating your winter bills much more.

if a summer bill is 30 units a winter bill would be 120 units so hence 4 times higher so your winter est quarter would be more like £150!

you are partly responsible however and should of checked your meter reading once you got your estimated bills or if and they should of someone of called from your gas co to read meter and left a card you should of rang up and left an upto date reading.

as far as what you owe i'm sure it is correct as you have been very nieve to think you would only pay 40-50 quarter and not owe them considerable large amount of money, i know this doesn't help but it is the truth.

regards,

John.

Hi there,

This is my first time posting here. Today i got in from work and received a gas bill from Atlantic Gas (who also supply our electric). I opened the bill up to see that we apparently owe £1530.46 from Sept - Dec 2008...!!

Me and my partner live in a privately rented small terraced house in Leicester, 2 bedrooms and we have the heating on for a few hours a day during winter. We have a gas cooker which we use max of 45 mins a day.

We have been receiving estimated bills for nearly 2 years now, they have always been very low, around £40-£50 every quarter. We assumed, with this being our first house, that was probably correct. We always pay the bill online. We never had anyone come round to read the meter until December 2008.

As soon as i received the bill today i was immediately on the phone to Atlantic. The advisor laughed and told me 'not to worry' as it was 'definately a mistake' when i explained the situation.

He then asked me to read the meter, which, i will be honest, i didnt know how to. He talked me through it and i gave him the readings. He also asked for the serial number on the meter.

He then proceeded to tell me it was correct. After much panicking and explaining to him that i simply cannot pay that he explained why it was so much.

Apparently the estimated meter readings were obviously estimated extremely low, as this has been over 2 years, the actual ammount we now owe has been calculated over 2 years.

He then told me my gas bill should be £70 a month, which i still think is very high for just two people. He spoke to his manager and told me they will accept a payment plan over 2 years instead of 1 year, and i will now be charged £70 per month plus £1530 divided by 24 months which is £63 so in total they want to charge us £133 a month for gas alone!!

I told him there is still no way we can afford that, and there really isnt. We are both in our early 20's with full time jobs which only bring in 12k and 10k each. On top of all our rent, and various other bills, we would have to starve to even get near that ammount each month. He didnt have a lot else to say, except he would give me a couple of days to think about it, and to call them back.

Im extremely stressed out, and have no idea what to do next. First off, i assume they cannot get away with estimating our quartly bills that low, and then hitting us with a huge bill 2 years later??

Any advice will be greatly received and i will reply to all questions asked.

Thank you.