Energy News

Energy companies are worst culprits for incorrect billing

Thursday 7 April, 2011

By Martin Fagan - news@consumerchoices.co.uk

10.4 million households have unexpectedly owed money to their energy supplier following a discrepancy between an estimated bill and “real” bill.

When it comes to getting your bills wrong, energy companies are some of the worst culprits, according to new research from comparison site uSwitch.com.

In the last two years, 27% of Brits have been billed incorrectly by their energy company and, for 14% of householders, this has happened more than once.

“Inaccurate bills mean consumers end up out of pocket and wasting time and effort trying to resolve billing blunders,” said Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com.

On average, each inaccuracy took over two months to resolve, although 40% were sorted out within a week, a 4% improvement on last year, says uSwitch.com.

The survey also found:

• Over 10 million households (40%) have unexpectedly ended up owing money to their energy supplier, due to an incorrect bill
• 14% of households have found themselves owing sums ranging from £200 to £400
• 8% have ended up owing over £400.

“The fact a growing number of households are providing suppliers with meter readings mean fewer inaccurate bills, less money being owed as a result, and less time being taken to resolve mistakes,” added uSwitch’s Ann Robinson.

“This is extremely welcome, but is certainly no reason for the energy companies to become complacent.”