Challenging Your Energy Bills

Ten suppliers — including EDF, E.ON and Octopus — are paying out £7 million after overcharging customers with a certain type of setup known as Restricted Meter Infrastructure.

That's when a property has more than one electricity meter point recording energy use.

Energy suppliers are allowed to charge multiple standing charges in those cases — but the total amount some customers were charged ended up going over the price cap, which isn't allowed.

They're now paying out £5.6 million in refunds and £1.4 million in goodwill payments, and the refunds are automatic — so if you're owed money, you should get it back without doing anything at all - win!

If you've switched supplier since January 2019 (when this issue started), your old supplier should you to arrange a refund.

If you don't have a smart meter - or have it in smart mode - you need to send regular readings to your supplier. If you don't, you get estimated bills, which could be too high. For example, if you skip summer readings, your bill might be based on higher winter usage. So keep an eye on your usage according to previous bills and send monthly readings!

Often when your energy bill jumps sharply it's because of a broken appliance in your house that's using more energy than it's supposed to be: for instance a broken heat pump or a whasher/drier that's running 24 hours per day.

So always make sure you check your appliances.

This is more common than you'd think, especially in flats. You might actually be paying for your neighbour's usage or communal lighting without realising.

There's a quick step-by-step guide to check if your meter matches your address:

If your gas or electricity supplier believes you have not been accurately billed for energy you've used, they may send you a back bill.

These bills are sometimes called 'catch up' bills, and are intended to cover a period where you've used energy but have not been charged for it – usually due to a billing error.

So if you're a bit suspicious about a lack of bills it's probably worth reaching out because it is still your legal responsibility to pay for the energy you're using.

Energy firms are banned from back-billing you for energy used more than 12 months before the error was detected, if it's found that it's the energy supplier's fault for not sending you your bills.

Importantly, the ban doesn't apply to customers who actively prevent suppliers from taking readings. If you were at fault, they can back-bill you for up to six years.

The exception is people who are on a heat network, who can be backbilled for up to 18 months.

Although your supplier is responsible for making sure your meter works properly, meter faults are rare, and if your bill is higher than expected, it's usually caused by something else.

It might be worth looking into getting a smart meter - it reduces mistakes, it means you don't have estimated bills, the energy companies are eager to install them.

If you call out engineers and the meter is faulty, they'll replace it and refund you.

But if it's not faulty, they could charge you up to £200, so only request a test if you're confident something's wrong.

There are different ways to test different meters: find out some more information here., external

the customer service team of you energy supplier by phone, email or letter. You can find details on its website.

Make sure you keep everything laid out clearly in writing — loads of evidence helps. That means bills, photos of your meter, and any correspondence with your supplier.

Harry's go-to method for keeping everything is using a WhatsApp chat with myself. That was you can add to your collection any time, it's all backed up and you can organise it further from there.

Energy disputes can take up to 8 weeks to resolve, so it's worth keeping everything organised.

There's plenty of available from Citizens Advice, external (or the consumer council, external if you're in Northern Ireland) for making these complaints.

We also recommend ing the Priority Services , external if you are eligible. They can help with your bills, but also if you're about to make a complaint it's worth checking your eligibility and ing ahead of time as it can make the complaints process a little bit smoother - for instance you could nominate person that can take care of correspondence for you.

If your complaint hasn't been resolved 8 weeks after it was submitted, or you recieve a letter from your energy supplier that says you've reached a deadlock, it's time to the Energy Ombudsmn.

You have 12 months from the time you reach deadlock or get a final response to make your complaint. You can them by phone, email, post or their website here, external.

This is a completely free service, so don't give your money away to people who say they'll do it for you. If you require assistance, sign up to the Priority Service mentioned earlier and say that you'd like to nominate someone to take care of communications for you.