EnergyBilling #ScottishPower #Backbilling
Hey everyone! 👋 Have you ever experienced a £1000 backbill from your energy company for just one month? Recently, I provided meter readings to Scottish Power for a new billing cycle and was hit with a huge backbill out of the blue. 😱 Check out the image here: https://imgur.com/a/Gzouc3R
I’m curious if energy companies are allowed to do this and if anyone else has had a similar experience. 🤔
Possible solutions:
- Contact customer service for clarification and explanation
- Review your contract terms and conditions for any mentions of backbilling
- Consider switching to a new energy supplier if you’re unhappy with the response from your current one
Let’s discuss and share our experiences to help each other out! 💡 #EnergyBills #CustomerService #EnergyIssues
What meter readings had you been providing before then?
How long is it since you last submitted an actual meter reading? This kind of thing usually happens as a result of under-estimated usage over a long time period. Once a reading is submitted, the account needs to be updated up reflect the current situation.
It does look like there’s an offer of a payment plan in there – they do consider the possibility that you won’t be in a position to give them the £1000 owed immediately.
That’s not a back bill, that’s you not submitting your meter readings for years and heavily underpaying. You can’t really complain.
If you’ve legitimately used the energy, then the simple answer is “yes”.
Assuming no meter readings have been provided, then it looks like you / SP have been under-estimating your use for some time.
Will SP expect the payment in one go? Very likely not, but expect your direct debit payment to revise upwards to reflect both the debt and your now higher consumption.
Yes, but not for anything older than 12 months. Apparently my smart meter had no signal for a year, so Octopus randomly billed me about £900. I queried and they cancelled.. £14 of it, because it was too old.
Either you haven’t been submitting meter readings as others have suggested or you have a “leak”. Make sure you look into the latter in case you have a dodgy appliance that is using far more power than it should.
I’m going to guess you’re a “pay on receipt of bill” customer rather than direct debit?
But yes, they can.
What do you consider to be “this cycle”?
How often do you submit meter readings?
Not helpful, but this is part of the reason why I got a smart meter. In the vast percentage of cases where they work correctly, it’s one less thing to think about for me and it helps avoid this kind of thing.