By Sharon Smith, Community Energy Advisor
Sharon was initially contacted by the lady’s mother-in-law in September 2023. She was concerned about the accuracy of the meter at Luca’s property as she had been maintaining her bills, was very careful with her energy usage and had received bills that did not appear to make any sense. Despite raising this issue with the energy supplier and questioning the reliability of the meter, the matter had still not been resolved.
As this appeared to be something that required more investigation, Sharon agreed to meet with them at a local library. They were asked to bring along current meter readings and have access to the online account.
After looking at the bills online, it was clear that there were lots of questions to ask of Utility Warehouse, so Sharon offered to help prepare a letter of complaint.
The original complaint was submitted to Utility Warehouse via the CEO which listed many questions and observations in relation to the account and mainly why it took 7 months to find smart meter readings and why all previous bills were cancelled and re-issued after such a time resulting in a debt of almost £800. The readings being displayed on the meter did not reflect those being stated by Utility Warehouse.
Several emails were exchanged, and the meter replaced, but the original not tested for any faults. Initially £200 compensation was offered to the family which would be used to offset the arrears… – this was not acceptable as there was no mention of whether the meter was being tested for accuracy, so they declined the offer.
After highlighting the failures of their billing system and the photographic evidence that the meter was displaying a totally different reading to that which was being sent to the energy provider, an acceptable offer was suggested to Utility Warehouse which they agreed to: –
– Cancellation of the whole outstanding balance
– Cancellation of the bill for September @ £130
– £200 compensation for inconvenience
– £150 warm home discount added as credit on the cleared account rather than being previously used to reduce debt
– Agreement to replace smart gas meter to one that will work with up-to-date systems and ensure that no further estimated bills are produced.
This was a fair offer that the family were very pleased with and were very thankful for Sharon’s intervention and support in resolving the matter.