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Got a shock this afternoon from my gas supplier, they have just realised they have been wrongly calculating my gas billing for three years.
These bills were taken and calculated from actual meter readings, not estimates and they have admitted they had been applying the wrong formula for my 4 digit gas meter, they claim they believed I had a 5 digit meter and based there formula on that. I can`t believe there incompetence and they must be total numskulls not to realise something was wrong 12 meter readings ago when I first changed supplier, how can they assume you have a five digit meter and calculate a bill on that, when even there meter readers right down a four digit number.
Anyway it turns out they grossly under charged me and now they expect payment in full, plus they want to more or less double my monthly payment.
The under payment runs into a small fortune, has anyone else ever had a similar problem. I can`t find much by goggling, just a few that have been overcharged for the same reason, total incompetence.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/01/are_you_paying_too_much_for_ga.html
Jeez Paul thats horrible 
i caught the tail end of a programme last night where a business having similar circumstances to you was being charged nearly £60k for 5 years of undercharging but I think they said that as a consumer any errors in miscalculations the energy companies could only try and claim one year, not that this is right anyway.
As has already been pointed out If this is a consumer bill then the most they can charge you for is 12 months. If its for a business premises you are really screwed.
Quote: i wouldnt pay at all, THEIR meter readers, THEIR incompetence and most of all for 3 YEARS
That's as maybe but you are tied by contract to pay any under payment ragardless of fault.
As I understand it they can only make you make for 12 months worth - they have to write off the rest unless your registered with them as a business then they can claim as far back as they like. I don't think there is any way out of paying the 12 months but I guess they might let you pay it off over the coming year or something. Edit - cambirder types faster than me!
I know that with credit cards, court judgements have deemed 12 months to be a reasonable time to correct undercharging errors. So if you apply the same principle they should only be claiming one year's correction. Although you can't blame them for trying, I agree with mohikan.
One glory of big business is that if the cost of the undercharging is less than a lawyer's fees they will often back down - and a few years ago that was estimated at £6,000. So create a godalmighty fuss.
One question is: didn't you think at any time 'goodness, these bills are low'....
Lol I`m in total shock how can anyone apply a five digit formular to a four digit meter and not notice, they only picked up on it thanks to me complaining about an estimated bill following my last meter reading, it turned out the meter reader wrote 9999 as the reading.
Lol the even tried to accuse me of replacing my own meter 
Quote: One question is: didn't you think at any time 'goodness, these bills are low'...
Not really, the cold caller promised lower gas bills if I changed to them, I was pleasantly surprised after re- calculating a bill and arriving at the same amount.
A good number of years ago i stayed in a 2 bedroom flat with another one above...after a few months i realised my gas bills were astronomical and didn't know why, in the end i started falling behind and had to get one of these card payment things, but when the guy came to install it he noticed i had been paying for upstairs and upstairs had been getting mine and advised me to get in touch with scottish gas ! so the bugger upstairs had a flat like a sauna while mine was like an igloo !!! did complain but nothing ever happened.
Quote: Is this a business or consumer bill Paul?
Consumer
Quote: Not really, the cold caller promised lower gas bills if I changed to them, I was pleasantly surprised after re- calculating a bill and arriving at the same amount.
Hmm. If numbers they gave to you enabled you to calculate the same amount as your bill, then they are really on shaky ground.
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