ESB

zeus faber

Esb have not bothered to take readings of the meter of the apartment I rented, So at the end of 7 months I and have moved on I get a bill today for 406.51, with direct debit to be taken in 2 days.
Not only that they calculated the electricity used after a price last rise potentially over charging me by 30 euros,
I contacted them and informed them that i would be cancelling the direct debit with the bank I was not paying for something I did not receive,I was informed I would be charged for the return of a direct debit.
I asked as to why the reading was not taken I was informed that the reason "Inacessability", y meter is out side the front door unless the reader did not bring his key to open the white door I dont know what the issue was.
Esb have probably ripped thousands of people off at this, I think I will be highligting this elsewhere.

cgarvey

Did you get no bill, or a "we called" slip from the meter reader in that 7 months?

zeus faber

i got 3 bills that were an average of 20 euros a for 2 months, the meter is outside and is accessable as long as you can open the box

dudara

It is up to you to ensure that the meter readings on your bill are accurate and reflect your electricity usage. You can't blame the ESB because you didn't keep an eye on the bills. You can cancel the direct debit, but you're still liable for the ESB usage.

Because you didn't submit meter readings regularly, the ESB don't know when you used the units, and therefore will charge you at the most recent price.

Here's a link to reading your meter for future reference.

Did you honestly think that your ESB usuage was only €20 per bill for the last period of time?

zeus faber

To be honest I had no clue how much electricty I used as I never got an accurate bill and was rarely there, but surely there is some onus on them to provide me an accurate bill.
I have no issue paying them but 400 euros at 2 days notice? I think its a bit unfair, is there not a mininium amount of notification for when a direct debit is due to be taken.

dudara

In fairness to them, they do usually give you a longer period of notice than that. Contact their billing department and ask to pay the bill in installments rather than one lump sum. Explain politely that you received the bill with a very short period of notice. From what I hear, they tend to be accomodating.

It *really* is up to you though to give the ESB accurate meter readings when they are not able to take the reading themselves. When they have a pattern of readings from your meter, then they can predict your usuage to a greater degree of accuracy.

foggy_lad

they do advertise that they read meters 4 times a year but obviously they do not stick to this to save costs involved, but as said already you owe the money as you knew where the meter is and could easily have read it yourself when you got the estimated bills.

zeus faber

the meter is outside the front door,I had no reason to think it was not read, if it was inside the apartment I would have read the meter myself and submitted it,I think they should have at least gave me one realistic bill and estimated it off that. I just think its unfair that i get a bill for 400 euro and 2 days for it to be taken out by direct debit.

dudara

When you get the bill, there might be letters next to the meter readings on the bill. If there's an "E", then that means they didn't read the meter and they estimated the usage instead. If there's a "C" then that means its a customer-submitted reading. So you do know when they didn't read the meter.

craichoe

zeus faber wrote: »

To be honest I had no clue how much electricty I used as I never got an accurate bill and was rarely there, but surely there is some onus on them to provide me an accurate bill.
I have no issue paying them but 400 euros at 2 days notice? I think its a bit unfair, is there not a mininium amount of notification for when a direct debit is due to be taken.

You had months to submit a meter reading... its easy to do online, their not ripping you off, that is what you owe. This is common practise in every country.

Cabaal

every ESB states if the bill is estimated or not and if its estimated then they request that you submit a reading yourself...least it stated this on my last two bills which were estimated

Nobody to blame but yourself in this case, it sucks but pay up and move on with your life

ejmaztec

I haven't seen a meter reader for about 18 months, and even then the lady arrived, sat in her car a few minutes, then took off (I think that she was waiting for the yapping terrier that greeted her on a previous occasion, but he was locked in the house). As everybody else here says, do it yourself online, which is what I've been doing each time that I get a bill.

There's even more incentive now, to keep up to date with the readings, because the bills are so effing huge. Sometimes you get a bit of a bonus, like on the occasion that ours was over-estimated by €150 odd, but most times it's way in the other direction.

You can always negotiate a payment plan with them, so that the bill can be paid off before the next one is due, providing you've got the right attitude when you speak with them.

dahamsta

Aren't they required by law to check the meters 4 times a year?

ejmaztec

DaMelodrama wrote: »

Aren't they required by law to check the meters 4 times a year?

Or is it once in a blue moon? I heard that once a year was the minimum. When they started getting rid of all of their shops and closing depots, the readers seemed to become as rare as hen's teeth. I don't know whether the readers get paid for not reading meters - it's a mystery to me.

ejmaztec

I see on this "Welcome Pack", they do say that the meter will be read 4 times a year. We must be living in a Leper colony.



http://www.esb.ie/main/downloads/energy_home/2007_welcome_pack.pdf