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I’ve taken a utility company on and won!

Roy

We bought our new home last November, the electric meter didn’t work, I notified the supplier and in January a new meter was fitted. For the two months the meter wasn’t working the usage was estimated at £350 of electricity , this is bearing in mind that the house is unoccupied. The company said that they would monitor are usage for two months with the new meter and then adjust it.

I’ve been emailing and explaining that the invoice hasn’t been adjusted, it now stands at £477. The company finally emailed back and said that the invoice is too high and offered £72 off and as a good Will gesture make it up to £100. Their computer had formulated a spreadsheet and it was attached.

My instinct was the person had gone to their supervisor and been told to offer us £100. I looked at at the spreadsheet and could see it was incorrect, the pattern in the numbers wasn’t right. They had purposefully made the spreadsheet look complicated when it wasn’t.

I emailed again and explained that their calculations were incorrect, no reply. I then sent my working out of the spreadsheet and pointed out that they had the day and night readings in the wrong columns. My other point was that in the first two months we had apparently used £350 of electricity and for the two months with the new smart meter we had used £54. 
No reply for a week, a rather ‘sheepish’ reply finally came, “ We are extremely sorry and seem to have made a genuine mistake with your account. We have now calculated that we have overestimated your account by £300. Please accept our sincere apology.” I had calculated it at £298 but there had been a price increase within the period.

I have decided to gracefully accept their apology and refund, I know I’ve still used a lot of my time for nothing but I have enjoyed the ‘sweet smell of success.’ 

Parents

  • I don't like Direct Debits and I don't like Smart Meters.   

    My choices (and I don't like being told)

    So I pay my bills, always on time, and read my meters when requested to do so (because they don't seem to do that much anymore)

    The laugh is they tell me I could 'save' if I paid by DD.   (If I give them permission to debit my account, I can save.) 

    Apparently I can also 'save' by having a smart meter.   

    1 in 5 that have a smart meter aren't happy with them, but that's besides the point.   I don't want one.  I resent the insinuation that a device is going to tell me that I could use less. How?

    This device is so clever (apparently) that it is going to save me more than my own brain does which already programs me to turn things on or off when not needed.   Yet I still need this device, they say.

    When I last spoke to my provider (about an estimated bill, and the inaccuracy of it)  some guy whom I found very hard to understand tried telling me that it was my own fault - if I had a smart meter, I'd not be getting estimates.   

    What part of 'the customer is always right' have these people forgotten?   

    When I threatened to take my business elsewhere, he replied that this was my prerogative.  Meaning his task to get me to agree to a smart meter was actually more important than the retention of my account.


Reply

  • I don't like Direct Debits and I don't like Smart Meters.   

    My choices (and I don't like being told)

    So I pay my bills, always on time, and read my meters when requested to do so (because they don't seem to do that much anymore)

    The laugh is they tell me I could 'save' if I paid by DD.   (If I give them permission to debit my account, I can save.) 

    Apparently I can also 'save' by having a smart meter.   

    1 in 5 that have a smart meter aren't happy with them, but that's besides the point.   I don't want one.  I resent the insinuation that a device is going to tell me that I could use less. How?

    This device is so clever (apparently) that it is going to save me more than my own brain does which already programs me to turn things on or off when not needed.   Yet I still need this device, they say.

    When I last spoke to my provider (about an estimated bill, and the inaccuracy of it)  some guy whom I found very hard to understand tried telling me that it was my own fault - if I had a smart meter, I'd not be getting estimates.   

    What part of 'the customer is always right' have these people forgotten?   

    When I threatened to take my business elsewhere, he replied that this was my prerogative.  Meaning his task to get me to agree to a smart meter was actually more important than the retention of my account.


Children
  • in reply to overwhelmed & underwhelmed ( O & U )

    I do see your point, I had no choice, once a meter became faulty a smart meter is the only option given. The days of the meter reader are sadly over.

    The meter  I have seems to be okay, it has a SIM card in it and an aerial as the house is remote. I’ve decided not to have broadband.

    Im living 250 miles from the house and can watch the electric usage from my phone though an app. I can see if anything is being switched on which is good security wise.

    The customer is just an account number, the company is there just to make money, the customer is just an inconvenience.

    I had an old black Bakelite meter  removed from my old house, I had always read it and given the readings, after it was changed my bills dropped massively. My only concern is that the new meters are very advanced, they can feasibly cut your power off from their end.