Martin Lewis has warned that energy companies are still billing customers despite Ofgem rules designed to protect consumers
Martin Lewis has expressed concerns over a practice he says energy companies in the UK employ far too frequently that he believes should not be taking place. The money expert says he continues to hear from people being affected despite regulations being in place to stop it happening.
The personal finance guru is troubled about backbilling when it comes to energy bills across the UK. He describes billing in the UK energy market as ‘incredibly complex’.
And he cautioned there are consumers being caught out regularly by energy suppliers when in reality they are actually eligible for protection. The issue was highlighted as Mr Lewis addressed MPs at the latest hearing of the public accounts committee.
He cautioned MPs: “We have a host of problems over billing. Billing is incredibly complex, especially in the energy world. We have the issue that you cannot be backbilled for more than 12 months. I think Ofgem [the UK energy regulator] has been cracking down on that, but I am still regularly contacted by people who have had two years of backbilling.”
Ofgem’s website states that its regulations mean both domestic energy consumers and microbusinesses do not have to pay for energy used more than 12 months ago if:
- your Direct Debit sum was earlier set too low to cover what you were required to pay
- you haven’t received an accurate bill for it beforehand
- you haven’t been informed about what you needed to pay through a statement of account previously.
Mr Lewis informed the hearing that despite these regulations, people are still regularly told to settle outstanding amounts. He stated: “If you do not know that you cannot be backbilled for over a year, you do not know that you can say, ‘I’m not paying for more than a year because it was your fault.
“There are technical rules – if you have behaved wrongly, it doesn’t apply – but, effectively, if they have not billed you for two years and it is their fault, they cannot bill you for longer than 12 months.
“But people do still get billed. One would surely think that in this modern digital world something is systemically going wrong in the companies in the way that we do this.”
Regulations on back billing beyond 12 months in the UK
According to Citizens Advice, your supplier “cannot usually send you a bill for energy you used more than 12 months ago”. Its website states: “The back billing rules don’t apply if the supplier sent you a bill before the year passed and you didn’t pay. In this case, the supplier can still charge you.”
It recommends people who are instructed to pay up in the manner Mr Lewis describes should write to their energy supplier. Citizens Advice advises: “Tell them that you’re protected by the back billing rules and should only be charged for 1 year’s energy use.”
The website states that if the company persists in attempting to charge you, you should lodge a complaint. This page on their website explains how to do that.
