united-kingdom
How to handle a mistake from my electric company that might mean a large bill?
<p>Me and my partner moved into our rented home about a year ago. My partner called the electric company to change the pre-payment meter that was installed for a monthly-billed meter and move everything over to our name.</p>

<p>The engineer came and changed the meter and everything was sorted.</p>

<p>Then, a few days ago, I received a letter from the electric company telling us "you haven't topped up your pre-payment meter in a while". Sure enough, when I checked my bank account, I couldn't find any payments taken by them.</p>

<p>It appears the electric company didn't register the property as a monthly payment property properly.</p>

<p>Do I have any argument legally to stop myself being hit with a year's bill all at once?</p>

<p>From a financial perspective, the electric company's error has worked to your benefit - you have had the use of money that you should have paid to them many months ago. This would make it hard to take common law legal action.</p>

<p>I suggest that <em>before</em> you resort to the law you talk to the electric company and make an arrangement to pay the year's bill by instalments. You might also try to pursue a discount if the amount of electricity consumption seems high - you can argue that you would have changed your usage if you had seen the monthly bills.</p>

<p>If you are unsuccessful in this there is probably an ombudsman or equivalent that you can go thru before going to court (I am unfamiliar with UK consumer law).</p>
