I recently switched energy supplier from SSE to Octopus as it offers an attractive tariff for homes like mine that use heat pumps. I am worried as I received conflicting closing bills from SSE – one showing that I owe nothing, and another chasing me for more than £23,000. I live in a farmhouse with a few outbuildings. That sum would be enough to power the whole village. I am 78 years old and cannot take this pressure. Please help.
B.G., Buckinghamshire
Sally Hamilton replies: Although SSE told you it was investigating this astronomic bill you weren’t confident things were being resolved. You asked for my help as you said the situation had left you shaking with worry.
After I intervened, SSE customer services contacted you again, agreeing your bill was inflated and confirmed the demand for payment would be put on hold until the numbers had been crunched again.
It seems the readings used by Octopus when you opened your account differed from those submitted to SSE when you left it.
When customers switch supplier, the new company needs to receive opening meter readings, which are then sent to the old supplier so that both are working from the same number for the closing invoice and future bills.
SSE said it needed Octopus to agree with its meter readings before it could move on.
You then forwarded photos of readings taken at the time the account was switched in November last year. One picture showed a modern white smart meter and the other an older black box. Both showed kWh usage.
It seems the readings for both your night and day usage should have come from the white meter only, and that the information from the black meter had thrown a spanner in the works.
‘I received conflicting closing bills from SSE – one showing that I owe nothing, and another chasing me for more than £23,000,’ writes a reader
After discussions between the two suppliers, new opening and closing readings were agreed, resulting in a still hefty £14,140 bill.
Fortunately, this isn’t what you owe. SSE also carried out a back-bill review. Under rules laid down by regulator Ofgem, customers are only liable for the past 12 months of energy consumption if they haven’t been billed correctly before this. This is to protect them from shock bills like the one you were landed with.
It turns out your invoice was based on a series of inaccurate estimates that underestimated your consumption.
Once this was ironed out and the sums checked a credit of £12,153 was added, cutting the charges by £10,847 leaving you to pay just £1,987. You were mightily relieved and grateful for my help.
An SSE spokesperson said: ‘We sincerely apologise for the distress and inconvenience caused.’
A spokesman for Octopus said: ‘As soon as we were able to review meter photographs and confirm what had happened, we raised a formal dispute with SSE, proposing corrected readings that better reflect actual usage.’
Your smart meter should now be sending the correct data so you should receive accurate bills in future.
Anyone who receives a back bill that doesn’t look right – or discovers they are being charged for the first time for energy used more than 12 months before – should dispute it in writing, demand a breakdown of the charges, and make a formal complaint to the supplier.
Since August last year, I have been trying to retrieve money belonging to a small club from an account that has been made dormant by NatWest. The bank keeps changing the requirements for me to unlock the account. Please help.
W.C., Frinton-on-Sea, Essex
Sally Hamilton replies: You explained that you are a member and past president of Maldon Cavaliers & Ladies Luncheon Club, founded in the 1970s to facilitate networking for local businesspeople. Over the years the club organised weekends away, as well as Christmas meals for members and guests.
The account was useful for collecting money and paying bills for these activities. For a long time, the club had a treasurer and several signatories to the account.
But over the years club membership declined, mainly due to member deaths and the effect of Covid. Recently just four members have been meeting for lunch once a month. When the treasurer died recently, you were the only signatory left on the account.
The account hadn’t been used for many years and when you came to close it, problems arose as two signatories were required.
You have been trying to resolve this since last summer, asking the bank to transfer the £1,040 balance to you, or raise a cheque to be made out to Farleigh Hospice, a charity chosen by the remaining the club members.
You went to your local NatWest branch, completed the relevant form, and showed your driving licence. These were turned down.
When you tried again, the branch called head office to query the rejection but got nowhere. You raised a formal complaint.
Sally Hamilton helps a reader who has been trying to retrieve money belonging to a small club from an account that has been made dormant by NatWest
The complaints staff then sent the details to the bank’s dormant account recovery department. Staff again rejected your ID and rejected letters written by a previous president to the club’s members from 2017, the only evidence you were able to provide.
The bank repeated it wanted other signatories to agree the closure. You felt you were banging your head against a brick wall.
Accounts become dormant if there has been no activity for as little as 12 months for a current account or up to 15 years for a savings account.
Banks freeze them for security reasons, especially if there is a risk statements will be sent to old addresses and then used to commit identity fraud.
The best way to stop accounts being closed is to keep payments going in an out, though this isn’t always practicable, especially in cases such as your club’s account, where transactions had stopped.
But it shouldn’t be this difficult to reawaken a dormant account. Usually, a customer needs to give just the account number, name and some ID. It didn’t quite work that way for you, largely because of your signatory conundrum.
I asked NatWest to work out a way of paying you pronto, as six months is an unacceptable delay.
The bank quickly apologised and a few days later arranged for the payment to be made, adding a goodwill gesture of £250 for the hassle you faced.
You are now arranging a cheque for the full £1,287 to be paid to the hospice. You thanked the Daily Mail for working ‘its magic’.
Straight to the point
I bought a divan bed in late December and we paid the first instalment of £119.46 via buy-now-pay-later lender Klarna. Since then the retailer has ceased trading and said our order has been cancelled, so we won’t receive the bed. Klarna still says I have to pay the full amount. Please help.
J.C., via email.
Klarna apologises for the delay in sorting this and says it has issued you a refund for the amount you paid.
In October I bought a cottage and set up an electricity account in my name, but it seems to be linked to a meter at a neighbouring home, not mine. In December I was asked to pay a bill for a different account – it seems another gas account has been set up in my name, which I know nothing about, with a balance of £1,073.14. I’m really confused.
P.M., Chichester.
Scottish Power apologises and says the electricity account has been operating correctly. However, the gas account had been linked to a neighbouring property, and further incorrect accounts were also linked to the same home. These have been cancelled and billing is on hold while it sorts the issue.
I have received subpar service from my breakdown cover provider, the RAC, for two recent breakdowns. The first time I was on the phone to the RAC for two hours waiting for someone to even answer the phone. I gave up and took a taxi home and my car wasn’t recovered until a day after the breakdown.
The second time the RAC gave me times for a recovery, which were continually pushed back. I had to book a taxi home and get a local recovery company to retrieve my car at a cost of £150. I am around £300 down in total.
D.E., via email.
The RAC apologises. It says that it is refunding your costs and making an additional payment to you.
- Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, 9 Derry Street, London, W8 5HY or email sally@dailymail.co.uk — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.