hi, thanks for the replies; one question though... though any new supplier charge to have the line changedback? i should have to pay any charge as i never gave permission for talk talk to screw up my line in the first place or did i give them the okay by taking out a broadband only package with tiscali in the first place?

Hi, Does anyone know what this is? i rang to get my MAC code from talktalk after months of abject service and was told they couldnt provide me with a MAC code as i was on a MPF connection - what on earth is this and how do i change provides on it? is it true i no longer have a MAC code? i did when i joint tiscali years ago as i had to provide one from BT - what happened to it?... this is the email i got from talktalk: please help!

there's no way they can enforce a refurbished laptop on you if your policy is new for old. Seems strange to me that they would even try to turn your claim down for dropping it whilst carrying in the first place -it's portable. whats the point of owning a laptop if you dont move around with it?

got a meter reading analysis from them - does anyone know what this means? Elec Analysis.zip

Are you on friendly terms with your ex housemate? Seriously doubt you would get anything back from the power company as only your name was on the bill so you'd be legally responsible for it. I would personally make a claim in the small claims court for the money from your housemate : they'd have to either pay you, proof they didn't live there ( which I'm assuming you'd be able to prove they did) or have a ccj placed against them.

Hi, just wondering if anyone has had previous experiences along the same lines and what they did to handle it if so?... I previoud posted about how my parents live in a 3 bedroom bungalow and where being charged stupidly high electric bills. I/they were advised to get someone from the electric company to come out and check the meter to make sure it was working correctly which they did in febuary. Someone from n-power came out (after they missed the first appointment and we complained about the way they were handling the case) and installed a box to check the meter and said they'd be back in a month to remove it and check the readings. It's now june and they still havent been out to remove it. They were mucking my mum around and were suppose to have come out in April. When i found this out, i took on the case for them and was told when i rang that the person handling the case was "on holiday" and they were going to be calling us to find out it the contractors turned up. They also said they have been having "difficulties" with the contractor who installs and removes the units for them. I agreed to get them another chance after asking for the ombudsman's details and agreed to a removal date in a reply to their email for the end of may. Consequently the handler who the email was sent to was also off so by the time they got my email, that date was also unavailable so it was changed to today... they never turned up again. Just send a email to the case handler at n-powers complaint team asking for a final letter to be attached to his reply so i can go to the ombudsman tomorrow with. Has anyone else been through something like this?

cheers for the advice, it's actually npower their with now though. i will ask my mum to record the usage and call them - dont suppose you know which team to ask for there? would it be the same? (consumption team)...

if i had a pound for eveytime i told them to stop using so many freezers i could afford to pay their bills and stil have change... My parents live in a remote area so like having the additional food available to them as they dont get to go shopping regularly. that aside, they actually used more at their previous address but this was cheaper (probably due to the price increases you mentioned). As for the water, the immersion heater comes on at around 3am for an hour and usually lasts the day. is there anyway in which an appliance could be tested to tell how much electric it would use over the year if left on - such as fridges and freezers? i think its going to be 1 of 2 things - either they do use that much electric and need to cut back or the meter reader's faulty. we'll have to get it checked to be sure, but it would be nice to know exactly what the appliances use. wouldn't the fact the 2 freezer are grade a for energy efficiency make a difference? the bills are coming in at nearly £275 a quarter - i would expect the bills to be around £175 a quarter (£700 per annum) for a person on their own in a 3 bedroomed bungalow. surely 1 grade A freezer isnt using this much electric?

Hi nottslad, they are on economy 7 tarrif. as for the bills, they seemed to have doubled from the old address - and 4 of us lived there?

it does, just checked. forgot to mention that we thought the supplier (e.on/powergen) might have been the problem, so have recently (april) changed to npower, but their bill is just the same. i suppose there is always the possiblity that my mum does use that much electric, but at this stage i refuse to believe a woman with 2 dogs approaching her 60s uses 4 times as much electric as i do.

Hi, Finally managing to get round to this issue again after a few distractions.... Had a bit more of a look at the bills coming in and broke down the charges: 2005 = 923.78 2006 = 1258.24 2007 = 959.80 2008 = 729.35 (missing a quarter bill) 2009 = 633.99 (so far up to sept) i dont know much about elecrtic bills but these seem extortionately high for a single person in a 3 bedroom bungalow who works part time & is on their own for 8 months a year. i brought one of those "owl" meters which measures the usuage at any given point. We tried the turning the power off for a while and the meter reader but go down to 0 so we've got no idea what's using the electric. My Mum doesnt use anything out of the usual - watches tv in the evenings and boils the kettle now and again. The house does have a medium sized double fridge freezer, a small fridge in the garage and 2 other freezers (both grade A efficient) but these were all at the old property as well - in fact then, we had another fridge on top of that and they were al old in-efficient types, but the bills wereless than half they are now. anyone got any advice? i suspect that someone's else's electric charge is going into our bill ( we live in the countryside so neighbours are quite far apart.)

i had the same thing in flat for the first 2 years i lived there. i shared a flat with a friend for 2 years before they moved out and i stayed on. eventually the bill came through for the period (once e.on finally got their admin in order). i agreed to pay half the bill for my share of it and refused to pay anything for my then flatmate's share as i considered it e.on's fault for not sending a bill. they tried to make me responsible for the whole amount and demanded i pay so i took the case to the ombudsman. They ruled in my favour but not for the reason i was refusing to pay. they said that as e.on didnt send a bill (they did but just to the wrong address), it was reasonable to assume i didnt receive any bills therefore was liable for none of the costs. sounds like something that might apply to you.

Hi, I've recently decided it would be good to get a grip of my finances and got in contact with the slc. i've been paying my student loan for around 4 years, only small amounts. I've now got my account details and there's nothing on their site about the account history. I didnt receive any statements as i didnt keep my address details up to date. Is there any way i can find out what they have been doing with my account for the last 4 years?

anyone?

hi wino, The first few bills were from est, but the last have come from meter readings i was told.

Hi, Hope some can help me one with an issue my parents have gotten into... My parents live in a 3 bedroom Bungalow. One work away a lot of the time is only home on holidays and once a fortnight, give or take a few days over the year. My Mother is the person who is home most of the time in the house on her own. The property is oil central heated and used at the times you would expect it to be ( winter etc ). The issue is the amount they are being charged for the electric by e.on. I've recently discovered that they have been charged £300+ per quarter for the electric. Now i live in a 2 bedroom flat so wouldnt expect the charges i pay to be relevant to a bungalow, but i only pay on average £30 a quarter. I dont see how my mother living on her own could create such a high charge. There's nothing in the property which would drain the electric and the last property they lived in 6 years ago didnt have bills anywhere near this amount ( and this was when they were 4 people on a regular basis ). I suspect that either the meter is faulty (which e.on want to charge us £90 to look at) or there's been a mix up and they are paying a charge which should have gone to someone else's property. Can any offer any advice of what they could do?

out of curiousity, did you ever provide them with a meter reading during your time at the property?

this is interesting - i've had the same thing. i keep ringing the tech department about dropping connection on both internet and dsl. happens just randomly when you visit websites, access email, download stuff... been going on for since about april time. they are arranging for an engineer to visit to test the line. i dont live in goole though, i live in nottm.

thanks for that - i've written to powergen and am currently waiting for their reply. i'm hopeful this can be sorted out reasonably and so far i have to say powergen have been quite helpful.

oops - meant to say i was told by powergen they can charge for the last 18 months. does anyone know anything about this?

Hi, thanks for that - i've spoken to powergen today and asked them why their charging for more than a year? they asked where i heard that from, but then said i was mistaken - they cant charge the the last 18 months. has anyone any idea why they would say that? i've found a copy of the "code" online and think i've found the section that applies to me: "If the supplier is at fault, and the customer has not received a bill for more than one year, then from 1st July 2007 any outstanding amounts that relate to energy consumed more than one year ago will be cancelled." seems quite clear there, so not sure why there could be some confusion over the dates?

hi, yes the tenancy agreement has both names on and the gas was in their name up until they moved out. also shouldnt be too hard to get copies of the agreement for everyone who has lived their since i moved in. don suppose you know the name of this 1 year ruling in case i need to quote it do you?

oh right, thanks for that. i wonder if they have already done that and the amount they are asking for is just the last year? anyhow, i'm sure i'll find that out when the bill and letter arrives explaining the charges. could you tell me what these rules are and who decides them so i know what to quote when i call? thanks very much for your help by the way...

Hi all, I came across this forum a while ago and found it pretty handy for my problem then so thought i would see if any one could offer some advice for my current issue. I'll try and keep this brief (but it'll be hard to...) : i'm a tennant in a 2 bedroom flat. I've been in this flat since 01/11/2005. I moved in at the same time as my flatmate and did all the usual about setting up accounts and such. The problem begins with these accounts. The water and gas were done fine, but when we rang powergen about the electricity, they couldnt find any details for the property. All in all we rang them 6 times over this, and after the 6th time of asking and powergen insisting they dont have an account for the property, we gave up trying. So lucky us (or cheeky?) have not been paying for electricity up til now. My flatmate left, and others have come in - now with my third flatmate since moving in myself. Thing is, this has now caught up with me because on monday 16th august, i get a warning of disconnection notice through the door. It was addressed to "thomas fish & sons" and plot 32, which i have since found out are the builders of the apartments. When i rang them asking what it was about, they said ignore it and it obviously been sent to the wrong address. The next day i get a call from someone else at powergen who said it wasnt the wrong address and could i check the meter serial number? So i did and called back on friday 20th august with the details. They matched. The lady there said they have had an error on the account with their admin department and apologised for the mix up and said it was partly their fault. Now i want the matter sorting so gave her the current meter reading and the amount outstanding is £470 (is this good for 2 years?) Her next statement really surprised me: she said as it was partly their faulty for the original mix up and not keeping their records in order she said they would come to some arrangement to pay off the total amount in smaller payments. Now i know this would happened eventually and have money set aside for when it did. I also know i am responsible for half that payment as my share of the bills so would happily pay £235 towards it. What i want to know is can powergen insist on me covering someone else half payment? The previous 2 flatmates have since moved on to god know where, but shouldnt powergen have to take some of the financial burden for their error? I know the bills are the responsibility of the tennants, but my arguement is, if these bill were sent on time the costs would have been split - this now cant happen due to their "admin" error. i really would appreciate it if anyone could offer some advice on this matter about where i stand legally. thanks for reading.