‘It’s astonishing’: energy bill blunders add to agony for customers

theguardian.com:

The debt collectors arrived when Laura Kennedy* was out. They left a letter to say they would be back to claim payments owed to Scottish Power.

Kennedy has never been a customer of Scottish Power and the bills were not in her name, but that hadn’t stopped the demands and threats pouring through her letterbox for 18 months. She is so terrified that bailiffs will enter her home and seize her goods that she is now moving out.

Utilities customers are already struggling with soaring bills after the regulator, Ofgem, raised the energy price cap by 54% in April. And now many are paying an additional price for technical and bureaucratic errors by suppliers. Faulty smart meters, incorrect billing and unpaid credit are leaving some households thousands of pounds out of pocket.

One reader who contacted the Observer was faced by a £1,300 bill after his smart meter stopped relaying readings last October. His supplier back-billed him for his energy consumption over the winter using new, inflated tariffs introduced in April.

Ofgem recently ordered five suppliers to take urgent action after a review found that misapplied direct debits were overcharging some customers and undercharging others, leaving them with large deficits. It also said it was concerned that half a million households had seen their direct debits double, and was requiring companies review their calculations.

Complaints website Resolver reports a rise in billing errors and in failure of customer services to address problems. Spokesperson Martyn James said: “I’m deeply concerned about the levels of customer service in the energy industry since the cost of living crisis began, with people reporting ridiculous bills that are clearly errors, firms too quick to call in the debt