£7000 bill from Opus

[moomoo101]

Hello everyone, it's my first time posting so thank you in advance for any advice that you can give.

 

About 6 weeks ago we had a phone call out of the blue from an Opus rep 'Tom'

to say that we had a large bill and he needed to speak to us.

We are very rural and we had an actual reading just previous to the bill.

 

 

Prior to the phone call the direct debit was set up,

everything paid on time,

never a late or missed payment.

I thought it was a [problem] call at first?

 

I couldn't believe it when we were told it was for £7000.

We own a building which is a small ex pub/hotel which we've run as a small tea room

which incidently has been closed since end of sept 2015,

and 3 b&b rooms which we've only had let out around 6 times so far since opening.

We live in an apartment at the property.

This is not our main job by the way

 

After speaking to Tom we were told that they didn't have any actual readings and that they were guessing at the amount.

 

 

We were told that the usage for the bill went back to when we were with Scottish Power

and the estimated bills we were paying had been too low.

But the difference from the initial reading in 2013 to the one now showed a £7000 bill.

 

I asked why were we being asked for money by Opus for a bill that went back to when we were with Scottish Power.

He couldn't quite answer.

 

 

We've only been in the property since Sept 2013.

And with Opus since March 2015.

 

We've since spoken to Scottish power who have said that they are fully paid and we have no outstanding bills.

They are to send the readings and our bills from when we we with them.

 

It was also mentioned by Tom that he believed that the initial reading in 2013 when we moved in

could have been misread and that there's a possibility, from looking at the previous owners consumption it's out by 2500 units.

And it's a dial unit and not easy to read?

 

Tom also cancelled our direct debit on the day

as he said that it would complicate things

if we were paying additional money by DD.

Which we went with.

 

We've been down the road of turning everything off and reading the meter over the week taking photos of the dials etc.

But to be honest, I don't think they have a clue what they are looking at.

 

The account has now gone to collections, even though we in the process of trying to sort this out.

And they are now threatening to cut us off if we don't pay.

 

 

There is no way we could afford this bill.

Surely we can't be responsible for this bill, or in fact used £7000 of electricity. No way!

 

 

The collector contradicted Tom and said that the bill had been generated since March 2015,

when we changed over to Opus and is 15 months of extra consumption to what we pay.

 

They're starting to get a bit heavy now, so I'm in need of some advise.

I don't know whether to contact the ombudsman or ofgem.

 

Thank you so much.

Edited June 7, 2016 by honeybee13
Name removed.

[dx100uk]

go directly to the ombudsman and ofgem.

 

 

whatever stunt opus is trying to pull on you cant be correct.

 

 

sadly they are very well known for doing this.

 

 

stay off the phone too.

 

 

have you the reading when you signed up to opus?

and how did you sin up?

did you get done over then too by wonderful claims of tiny business bills?

 

 

dx

[BankFodder]

In terms of staying off the phone, it's a good idea – except that the conversations that you have had would be very useful.

 

I would suggest that you read our customer services guide and implement the advice there. Then telephone opus and ScottishPower and get them all to repeat the same information so that you have it recorded.

 

You have no idea how stories can change – and also you have no idea how these can get out of control.

 

You need to stay totally in control of this situation and that means you record all calls, get all records that you can

 

Although you are operating as a business, try and send them each an SAR and maybe they will still send you data that they are holding on you. A lot of this will depend on information.

 

Photograph your meters and make sure that the serial numbers of the meters are the same as the ones that they are claiming for. You need to be rigourous here about checking everything and doublechecking and collecting evidence and collecting information

 

Also, once you have got the information from any recordings et cetera, I would start refusing to talk to Opus about anything which involves ScottishPower. Tell them that they have no authority to do with you on any contract that you might have had with any other supplier. If they try to collect money on behalf of any other supplier then write to them very strictly and asked them on what basis they feel that they have the authority to act on behalf of ScottishPower or anybody else in respect of any alleged debt

[nottslad]

This sounds like a right nightmare for you.

 

First things first - have you received the bill yet? Do you know what type of meter you have ie is it a single rate, multiple rate or half hourly metered? Just thinking of what could go wrong with the billing.

 

Do you know when the last actual meter read was taken? Was the opening meter reading correct?

 

It really sounds as if Opus have completely messed up here.

 

Send a letter recorded or email the ceo stating the bill is disputed and any collections activity will be deemed as harassment whilst a genuine dispute us in place and ask them to explain their rebilling in writing.

[nottslad]

incidentally, Opus has a billing code for micro businesses not to bill back further than one year where they are at fault

[ericsbrother]

is this purely a business address or a combination of business and domestic? Do you have separate meters and/or receive separate council tax/rates demands?

It may well be that Opus dont actually have a customer legally speaking. Take meter readings now and again in about a fortnight. Work out your consumption and then extrapolate that over the last year and that is the max you should pay.