Nasty Bills from ESB after I Switched to Bord Gais

josefmak

I have been a customers for 4 years, I transfer my account from esb to Bord Gais and i receive the last bill from esb that paid in full at the post office.

last week a receive a bill of the same account have been already closed for the the amount of 1626 euros (14 pages)

plz help :eek:

ronaneire

Where the bloody hell they get €1626 from?

polishpaddy

lol

Sparks

Moved from Target Shooting of all places...

ozt9vdujny3srf

I'm no expert on the issue, but is it possible that int the last 4 years your metre hasn't been checked, and you had been undercharged?

My understanding is that ESB Bills are just a repeat of the charge from the last time the meter was read. When the meter is read again any discrepancy between what the ESB had estimated yoru usage to be and what it actually was is brought up to date.

If this is indeed the issue, you can avoid the same troubel againin the future by sending the ESB your meter readingsevery month yourself.

BC

Agree with truckle.
Check your previous bills. If there is an 'E' beside the meter reading then it means it was estimated. Its very possible its been estimated for years and this is the balance on the account.

calex71

If it is the case you where undercharged on estimated bills , im afraid you'll have to cough up.

I'd love to say offer to pay €1 a week off it but there probably some other consequences to that such as interest etc

Better off getting rid of it as soon as you can.

As a matter of interest have they charged you interest on the bill already or any other fee's by way of penalty?

Starting to wonder a few things about that situation were they have consistently estimated and undercharged a person. How do they calculate an accurate bill ? As if they charge you current market rate per unit you would be paying well over the odds than had they billed you accurately in the 1st place no? Given that there would be some grounds to negotiate the bill down ?

Or am i just being totally idealist here

Fnergg

calex71 wrote: »

.....As a matter of interest have they charged you interest on the bill already or any other fee's by way of penalty?

Starting to wonder a few things about that situation were they have consistently estimated and undercharged a person. How do they calculate an accurate bill ? As if they charge you current market rate per unit you would be paying well over the odds than had they billed you accurately in the 1st place no? Given that there would be some grounds to negotiate the bill down ? .....

What happens when ESB Customer Supply has to apply a retrospective undercharge due to estimated readings is that the accumulated usage is reapportioned so as to give the customer the benefit of the different rates that applied for the period. Naturally, given the absence of actual readings in the interim, the reapportionment will be a guesstimate but at least the customer is not being charged for all the units at the current rate.

There are no interest rates or other fees applied.

It just goes to show what can happen when customers ignore estimated bills and don't bother to phone in their own readings. We all of us have a responsibility to examine each invoice we receive and if any one is significantly over or underestimated we should be arranging to have it adjusted.

Regards,

Fnergg

foggy_lad

Fnergg wrote: »

What happens when ESB Customer Supply has to apply a retrospective undercharge due to estimated readings is that the accumulated usage is reapportioned so as to give the customer the benefit of the different rates that applied for the period. Naturally, given the absence of actual readings in the interim, the reapportionment will be a guesstimate but at least the customer is not being charged for all the units at the current rate.

There are no interest rates or other fees applied.

It just goes to show what can happen when customers ignore estimated bills and don't bother to phone in their own readings. We all of us have a responsibility to examine each invoice we receive and if any one is significantly over or underestimated we should be arranging to have it adjusted.

Regards,

Fnergg

so much for reading the meter 4times a year! but on the other hand maybe the ESB have messed up here and have sent out a bill for an amount which is not owed at all? have they billed again for the entire 4years usage?

ozt9vdujny3srf

The only way is for OP to check his/her previous bills and give the ESB billing guys a ring. There isn't a whole lot of advice you can get that isnt sepculation without details, the staff at ESB should be able to tell you exactly why that amount is owing.

Shelflife

Id def give the esb a ring in the morning.

Do they not have an obligation to read the meter at least once/twice a year?

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

As part of the switching process a final reading is done on the meter and the customer has the option to do this themselves. By any chance was the final reading wrong ? It's a hell of an amount of money but it's also a lot of units wrong. Check the last esb bill received versus the latest final one. How different is the readings. Check the reading yourself and make sure it matches.

Davy

If you can use boards.ie you can use youraccountonline.esb.ie if you are a ESB customer supply customer.

No more estimates, and no more paper bills in the door if you choose. Also shows a usage chart from month to month and it doesnt cost anything or is it hard to use.

Online account FAQ's

artyeva

definately sounds like a case of previous readings being estimates, but i would definately check the number of units just in case.

when esb read my meter once they put a 9 where there shoud have been a 1.... it meant me getting a bill of over €800 more than it should have been but I rang them straight away to rectify it and they were fine [no apology for the heart attack i got opening the bill though :eek:]

Thoie

Davy wrote: »

No more estimates, and no more paper bills in the door if you choose. Also shows a usage chart from month to month and it doesnt cost anything or is it hard to use.

Just to be aware, according to the T&Cs, no more paper bills if you sign up - there doesn't seem to be a choice about it:

You will only become a User when you log on to the Site using your registered email address and password for the first time. Once you do this you will no longer receive paper bills. Instead, from that point onwards, you will receive an email notification to let you know when your bill is available to view online.

If you still want to receive paper bills, you can still adjust your meter reading online without signing up for a paperless account.

Davy

Thoie wrote: »

Just to be aware, according to the T&Cs, no more paper bills if you sign up - there doesn't seem to be a choice about it:



If you still want to receive paper bills, you can still adjust your meter reading online without signing up for a paperless account.

Thought i had the option when i signed up.


From the FAQ:

Once you sign up to view and pay your bills online, we will discontinue your paper bill and instead email you when your bill has issued and is ready to view online.

The online bill will be an exact copy of the paper bill, and you can file it electronically or print it if required.

Cabaal

Thoie wrote: »

Just to be aware, according to the T&Cs, no more paper bills if you sign up - there doesn't seem to be a choice about it:
.

Not a big deal, in fairness they give you a archive of your bills in PDF format

Thoie

Cabaal wrote: »

Not a big deal, in fairness they give you a archive of your bills in PDF format

Ah yeah, but you know the number of people who don't read T&Cs - I was just preventing a slew of posts in here in four months time when people got cut off for not paying their bill and having to listen to how the ESB were being mean, and no-one expected that they might have to pay for electricity even though there was no paper reminder, and aren't the ESB mean, and they didn't knoooooowwwww.

CutzEr

Wait wait wait wait.. You switched to Bord Gais.. After what happened with the bank ****? WTF!

bungler

its definitly cause of meter readins, ESb networks are supposed to read your meter but its on the customer aswell and if they could not get an access for any reason its up to you to provide the reading. i always ring it in every 2 months and get an actual bill which is great