Power Company Sent an Agent

Interesting. You inspired me to check my usage online. I never checked it before. In August it was just over 200. No air conditioning, minimal cooking. I do use fans though, and leave some lights on.

My bill is double or triple in the winter. I think because I have the humidifier on 24 hours a day. (The landlord pays for heat.)

There are always outliers. Years ago, someone was taking my info so I could request child support. The guy didn't believe I spent $0 on entertainment. Hello? We run out of food at the end of the month. What entertainment?
 
I kept my AC on 83 all summer. My AC in the last two weeks has come on perhaps 2-3 times total. The apartment next to me, their AC has been running day and night. Wonder what their bill and usage is?

I guess they are not used to low use clients. When I owned the house I only used 1-2 units most months. Can't remember what a unit was gallon wise.
 
debodun said:
Here, the company I use lets the customer read and send in the meter readings by Internet or phone call. If I forget to do it, they "estimate" usage.
Click to expand...
Some of the companies here, do send those similar type of estimated bills, for some number of months, and thereby they regularly send a person to read the actual meter, but far fewer times per year;
They say they adjust it at that time, so that you don't pay extra, but I dislike that system.
 
debodun said:
Here it's monthly.
Click to expand...
actually , altho' the majority of people.. and I was one of them who sent every 1/4... I should have said I no longer do that... I have a similar set -up to @Don M. ..so I rarely have to read the meter.. except of course this year while the energy prices have gone sky high, and each time it's been increased, I've had to take a reading, so that if I wish to switch to a cheaper Supplier I can..
 
Last edited:
debodun said:
They probably want to know how someone can get away with using less than 200 KWH a month.
Click to expand...

My usage this past month was 55.86 kwh, at a cost of $16.75 which comes to $.30 per kilowatt hour.
Most of that cost was for them having their meter on the side of my house, their energy use for their meter,
plus a delivery charge. The actual usage charge including their usage was $5.81, and the extra $10.94 was for add-ons.
 
Like Don, it's all automated here. Have belonged to the co-op here for over 40 years, and we are fortunate that our rates are low. Our bill runs around $160 for the shop and the house combined, and I have some pretty heavy usage in the shop. Several times a year I actually get a check from the co-op.
 
Never been asked to read my own meter. Around here they are installing wireless remote readers. As we transition to electric cars, charging stations in the garage become a problem. Peak usage at midnight is a looming issue. I doubt wind and solar will be sufficient anytime soon. Nuclear is so feared and hated that it is not a likely source. Maybe fusion? However, when I was in high school we had a kid who was the son of a Russian immigrant physicist. The kid drew an explanation of nuclear fusion on the blackboard. Here we are quite a few years later looking at the same pictures and waiting for it to happen.
 
About 10 years ago, the local DPW came around and installed remote meters on the water intake f homes in the village. No need to bother homeowners by having to come in and read the basement meters.
 
I've an ongoing complaint via ombudsman service regarding an energy company who keeps imposing themselves that they're our electricity provider.

The National Database says (according to case handler) that our chosen provider (we have the right to choose who we want to supply for both gas and electricity, freedom of choice) is only for gas and this other obnoxious and harrasing company for electricity.

I've contacted my provider of nearly 19 years today (13 June 2023, 15 years at old address and nearly 4 years at new address) and the customer rep assured me that they're my supplier since 2019 for BOTH GAS AND ELECTRICITY. She also gave me her name for reference, they have the recordings from phone conversation today and have proof to pass on to Ombudsman case handler whenever he calls them this week.

As I've tenure with them and they have records of when they helped me during Bereavement settlement after husband died, they'll provide all proofs that I've been with them from day one.

I've also raised the alarm with Ofgem and reported this glaring error and hard-nosed attitude of this other undesirable company. It was very upsetting to my husband (and I've found out that his health condition which took him away last year, is aggravated by stress. If too much stress suffered it shortens life's expectancy), we suffered this abuse from 2019 until now. Hubby died in April 2022.

I was asked if he'd suffered extreme stress during the past 3 years. I answered, yes every week from this company who can't get a clue that they're not our provider. GP said she wasn't surprised that his heart gave up.

Anything you can suggest to help this situation would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!
 
I'm really not clear what you mean ..! if you alrady have an electricity and gas supplier... why are you not just ignoring the other company ?... what is this other company doing to you ?.. are they sending demands for payment?.. if so tell them to take you to court, given they're not your supplier, they won't be able to...
 
Our electric supplier here in Toronto has a 4 step rating system, that encourages homeowners to do their clothes washing at "off peak hours " during the week and get the lowest rate of two cents per kilowatt hour. If you wash on Saturday or Sunday you get the second lowest rate of 4 cents per kilowatt hour. The Highest rate is between 9 am and 6 pm, Monday through Friday.

During the summer months we keep our indoor temperature at 22 C or 73 F. During the winter we keep it at 22C, as required by the Ontario Landlord and Tennant Act, as we have tenants living in the basement apartment, and the second floor apartment. We live on the main floor. About half of the electricity produced in Ontario comes from water generation ( from rivers and water falls ) and the other half is nuclear and wind and solar generation. We stopped burning coal for electricity generation about 20 years ago here. JimB.
 
hollydolly said:
I'm really not clear what you mean ..! if you alrady have an electricity and gas supplier... why are you not just ignoring the other company ?... what is this other company doing to you ?.. are they sending demands for payment?.. if so tell them to take you to court, given they're not your supplier, they won't be able to...
Click to expand...
These past two days dear @hollydolly have been eye opening. I've discovered that we were never at fault but that British Gas had the wrong MPAN Number all along.

Apparently, this means that I've been paying electricity to another property other than my own. I wish upon wish that this other arrogant company had listen to me and taken the situation with my supplier.

I've found out today after speaking at length with the customer rep that he will deal with the other company and resolve this sirdid situation within 10 working days.

So if I heard correctly, my supplier will pay all that I spent on electricity and maybe gas as well, I don't know for certain just now.

Regardless, earlier today as I was sitting down to enjoy my lovely lunch I got a text message from obnoxious comp demanding money with immediate action required.

Me, I was under (the wrong impression apparently) that the ombudsman service were the one who would relay the information to the company and that my private information was just that PRIVATE. If they continue to harass I'll have no recourse but to get a restraining order as I've never been at fault and I want this harassment over effing yesterday... That's a good bit of update news but now the second day where I'm stressed out, melting like a snow cone and throwing up from a now empty stomach.

You can imagine how angry I am to discover these truths but I still will not pay as I'm not the one at fault...
 
Dear Supernatural..I have no idea obviously how it came to be that you are being charged for another property, but what is important is that if you don't owe it.. then ignore the calls ( block their number ) (, ignore any letters) , and let them attempt to take you to court. if you don't owe any money to them and they know this, they will not be able to sue you..and if they feel they do have a case then you'll be able to prove your innocence to a judge..

In the meantime contact a lawyer.. and ask for them to send a Cease and Desist letter to the company.

If you know for sure you do not owe these people money, then forget them... don't let this make you ill with stress.. they can take nothing from you..
 
hollydolly said:
Dear Supernatural..I have no idea obviously how it came to be that you are being charged for another property, but what is important is that if you don't owe it.. then ignore the calls ( block their number ) (, ignore any letters) , and let them attempt to take you to court. if you don't owe any money to them and they know this, they will not be able to sue you..and if they feel they do have a case then you'll be able to prove your innocence to a judge..

In the meantime contact a lawyer.. and ask for them to send a Cease and Desist letter to the company.

If you know for sure you do not owe these people money, then forget them... don't let this make you ill with stress.. they can take nothing from you..
Click to expand...
Thank you so much @hollydolly I'd completely forgot about the "Cease and Desist" Letter. I'm going to speak to the Justice of the Peace whom helped me recently with important papers. As I'm on benefits, I'll need to have him tell me where the office of Legal Aid is in my town. Cheers!
 
jimintoronto said:
Our electric supplier here in Toronto has a 4 step rating system, that encourages homeowners to do their clothes washing at "off peak hours " during the week and get the lowest rate of two cents per kilowatt hour. If you wash on Saturday or Sunday you get the second lowest rate of 4 cents per kilowatt hour. The Highest rate is between 9 am and 6 pm, Monday through Friday.

During the summer months we keep our indoor temperature at 22 C or 73 F. During the winter we keep it at 22C, as required by the Ontario Landlord and Tennant Act, as we have tenants living in the basement apartment, and the second floor apartment. We live on the main floor. About half of the electricity produced in Ontario comes from water generation ( from rivers and water falls ) and the other half is nuclear and wind and solar generation. We stopped burning coal for electricity generation about 20 years ago here. JimB.
Click to expand...
Hey @jimintoronto , we had coal now unused power plants and no water or hydro power, but nuclear and solar is a recent innovation.

In our working travels and now, we still have 19°C in the colder months. Today, our indoor temperature reached 27°C even though we have a cube AC by JML , the living room is cool and our bedrooms but the remaining ones are hot and the humidity is high.

Our current outdoor is 20°C at nearly 10pm. However, when I woke up at 10am it was already 25°C outdoors. We kept all curtains closed but it really got bad.

It means that at this time we're going to move into our rooms to keep cooler. Kitten is drinking copious amounts of water from his fountain and lucking ice cubes. Poor wee mite.

Thankfully, I'd been able to turn off winter heating in 15 May. That reduced the bill for gas anyway. Also, I've found out that I've a good credit balance which I'm pretty happy of. Thanks!
 
In November 2022, I discovered something very strange from my gas/electricity provider. This prompted me in raising a complaint with the ombudsman.

I was hoping for some BREATHING SPACE, while I went through our paperwork to see if there was any evidence of this other energy company being involved.

I was sincerely hoping that the ombudsman service would have at least sent this other energy company, a "Cease and Desist" letter to stop the threats and abuse (as @hollydolly recommended to me, yesterday).

Needless to say, I've found no paper trails amongst our files. Therefore, as hubby's died, I've no way to find out how he dealt with them.

When I had the courage, I deleted his mobile phone account via Tesco Mobile. On his phone, I'd found no contacts and/or texts regarding this other company. After clearing his possessions and cleared what we had planned to sift through, I took the bull by the horns and dug into his two email accounts.

Once again, I've found no evidence of correspondence of any kind from this other energy company but the usual ones regarding our gas/electricity accounts with our long-term provider.

I then proceeded to delete all accumulated emails, combing through as I went and then terminated the first email account. I then dug into the second one and once more, found nothing.

In July 2022, I contacted the Bereavement group of my energy supplier and they were amazing at helping with the transition from hubby to me. Once this was accomplished, that's when I received a barrage of letters from this other company.

As the one thing that I won't cooperate with anything is when the first text message I received from this other company is exactly what I'd expected A THREAT...

Now, from the ombudsman recommended action, I've contacted my provider and they've now raised an investigation of their own and I was asked if I wanted them to deal with this other company, to which I replied a resounding YES PLEASE? and thankfully they said they will.

After waiting 5 months if no contact from ombudsman I was desperate to get answers but I'm finding myself having to deal with it by myself. Another 10 working days to wait but knowing my provider, they'll get to the bottom of this mess.

Definitely happy to discover I wasn't at fault and neither was hubby, as it seems the errors were with my provider. Although, I definitely out the blame in this other company to have caused so much stress to hubby that I'm in no way surprised that his heart gave up.

In conclusion, I'll keep you updated on whatever I get but it might take a while. This company refused my complaint stating that they haven't had 8 weeks to deal with it. BS as this has been ongoing since July 2019.

When you don't know there's a major problem at hand, we just considered this other company as obnoxiously using aggressive marketing. How am I supposed to know, unless I get help and I feel that I've only begun to get this ombudsman to provide the tiniest bit of hope.

I'd like to thank yous marvellous online friends here at seniorforum dot com. I could write the Cease and Desist letter myself but I feel I'd be opening a can of worms. At the end of the day, I just want peace and quiet to mourn both my beloved son and husband. Thanks heartfelt 💓💓💓

This is what I'd expected from the ombudsman. Them to contact to stop the abuse and then contact my provider and dig until the fault or faults were found out. I just wanted BREATHING SPACE for crying out loud.
 
hollydolly said:
Dear Supernatural..I have no idea obviously how it came to be that you are being charged for another property, but what is important is that if you don't owe it.. then ignore the calls ( block their number ) (, ignore any letters) , and let them attempt to take you to court. if you don't owe any money to them and they know this, they will not be able to sue you..and if they feel they do have a case then you'll be able to prove your innocence to a judge..

In the meantime contact a lawyer.. and ask for them to send a Cease and Desist letter to the company.

If you know for sure you do not owe these people money, then forget them... don't let this make you ill with stress.. they can take nothing from you..
Click to expand...
UPDATE: Now Company B and Company A, after being contacted by the Emergency Help Unit. Company B, called me saying that they would resolve the situation in two weeks. What the guy from EHU said, it would take a month (all from 17 July). Meanwhile, Company A has deadlocked, meaning that they won't do anything anymore and on the meter display I had, GAS had a Tick ✓ but Electricity had a X.

So, I've no way of adding cash to prepaid meter with Company A. Tonight (25 July) meter for electricity ran out. EHU closed the complaint with Company A, but I've heard nothing regarding Company B. On top of all that, on the National Database Grid, Company B shows a home address in North London, England. Eye opening mess, isn't it?

I'm going to be calling OFGEM in the morning to see what they can do, after hopefully, they'll listen to my situation. As I've been assured in the deadlocked letter from Company A, I owe nothing to no one. Therefore, it's a dispute regarding the National Database Grid, which shouldn't be the problems of any regular consumer/customer of any Gas/Electricity Provider in the first place.

Therefore, they should fight and fix their problems outwith of me being involved and I should be able to move to another supplier without further delay...

What's your opinions if you're in the UK and have encountered this similar situations? Will OFGEM help out? Thanks!
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top