Electricity Bill Don't Get Done Get Dom

I've been battling for consumer rights for years,

but it seems that some companies are still not getting the message.

The customers are technically paying your wages

and keeping your company afloat.

Day in, day out, thousands of you are being taken for a ride,

and it's always the same old things -

shoddy products, the small print and bad customer service.

Customer service is really important. If the company is good,

-I'll go back to it.

-Too right!

But some firms are driving you barmy,

causing you sleepless nights and making you feel

like you're the one to blame.

But don't despair,

because I'll take them on to make sure you don't get done.

Let's be honest.

Our energy bills are going through the roof,

and most of us are doing what we can to keep them down.

We're unplugging TVs, we're switching off the lights.

We're even turning the heating down.

And doing all that should mean

that we don't get any nasty shocks through the post.

But as Tracey Dillon found out,

that's not always the case.

In March 2009,

Atlantic Electric sent her an eye-watering £2,000 electricity bill -

almost ten times her previous one.

It felt like it was a bizarre bill,

because it was totally out of proportion to what you would expect.

You can say that again!

Tracey had only been in the property a couple of months.

Her electricity needs were minimal.

My house is quite an old-fashioned farmhouse,

which has three bedrooms.

And I live in the farm on my own.

The heating is from oil,

and there are log burners and log fires everywhere,

so all the heat and the hot water is done from solid fuels.

There's no electricity involved in that at all.

Tracey was sure she couldn't have used that much power,

so what could explain the bill?

Well, Tracey had an idea.

A couple of months earlier,

there had been a power surge so severe, it had burned out the cables

leading into her electricity meter.

The meter didn't appear to have been damaged,

but Tracey asked Atlantic Electric if the power surge could have affected the bill.

I explained that we'd had a power surge

and we'd had the engineers out and that they knew all about that

and had been informed about it when it had happened.

And they said, "Oh, that seems to make a lot of sense. We'll...

"look into it and get back to you."

Atlantic did send someone out to visit the property,

and they came up with a different explanation for Tracey's huge bill.

They've tried to compare my electricity usage currently

with 2009, before there was the development at the farm.

So now there's...

heated areas for the horses,

but they didn't exist at that time, so I wasn't using that electricity.

Tracey's passion is horses,

and she's even represented Great Britain as an event rider.

But in 2011, she began suffering from the debilitating condition fibromyalgia

and decided to concentrate on setting up her own equestrian training centre.

It is absolutely my dream set-up and my dream home

for the rest of my life, hopefully.

Over the last few years,

Tracey has developed the farm, with new stables

and specialist equipment,

but at the time of her disputed £2,000 bill with Atlantic Electric,

the business wasn't up and running.

All the development at the farm was only finished by the end of 2009,

so there was no electricity being used for that until that time.

Tracey kept telling Atlantic that the bill was nothing to do with her business

and kept telling them about the power surge.

After eight months, they eventually installed a checking device to test her meter,

and actually found it was running a little slowly.

So, Atlantic maintained that the power surge wasn't to blame.

But power surge or not,

Tracey is adamant she didn't use the electricity.

And around three-and-a-half years later,

she and Atlantic Electric are still battling.

I don't see or understand

how one person living in a three-bedroomed house

with solid fuel heating

could have racked up a £2,000 bill.

I don't think that's possible.

I think it's time I stepped in

to see if I can help Tracey in her dispute with Atlantic Electric.

By the sounds of it, Atlantic Electricity

have been giving poor old Tracey Dillon a bit of a rough ride.

You see, they're claiming she's used enormous amounts of electricity,

resulting in a whopping bill,

and she's not having any of it.

So I need to get to the bottom of exactly what's happened.

-Tracey, hello. Lovely to meet you.

-Hello, Dominic.

-How are you doing?

-Very well, thank you.

What do you think caused this large bill?

I don't think it was any coincidence that when the large bill came through,

we'd had a power surge.

A power surge - something that was powerful enough to melt cables at a meter...

Now, I'm not an electrician,

but I do know enough about electrics to know that that was one huge power surge,

-because those cables are as thick as your finger, practically.

-Yeah.

-What happened?

-There was a lot of smoke and damage.

And there was so much electricity running through the house

that an electrician who came and tested on the walls

said that it was dangerous to be in the house,

and we had to take myself and the dog outside.

So you'd think things would get sorted out quite quickly. There's been a power surge,

wires have melted... Sort it out, cancel the bill,

-and get back to normal.

-That's what I thought would happen.

Initially, Tracey put paying her bills on hold

while the disputed amount was being investigated.

But as the bills kept mounting up

and no resolution was in sight,

she did pay £1,000 towards her outstanding normal bills.

Right. Now, in the meantime, what's happening to this £2,000?

It's still sitting there owed, as far as they're concerned,

and not owed as far as you're concerned,

but are they demanding that money?

Yes, they kept demanding it. I actually had the debt collector round once.

-That's not a nice experience.

-No.

We had a nice cup of tea and I showed him all the information,

and he went away again,

because he realised there was a problem.

The problem remained unsolved, and in 2012, Atlantic Electric took Tracey to court,

where they were granted a warrant to disconnect,

but only after a thorough investigation.

So I actually contacted my MP, Kenneth Clarke,

who acted very quickly

and spoke to the Chief Executive at Atlantic Electric,

but he wasn't able to make any progress with them.

Even though her MP couldn't help her,

good on you, Tracey, for pursuing every avenue open.

I did try quite hard to resolve it.

I was setting up a new business, so I wanted everything

to be in order and to function.

Has that had any effect on this electricity bill -

and it's a double-barrelled question here -

one, as far as you're concerned,

and secondly, as far as Atlantic Electric are concerned?

Well, as far as I'm concerned,

there should have been no effect on the disputed bill,

because the business hadn't been set up.

The planning permission

to start the building work and all the new development

didn't come through until a month after the problem.

-They can't be connected, then, can they?

-They can't be connected.

Atlantic Electric know about this new farm, the stables and everything else?

Yes. Atlantic have said that the reason my electricity bill

jumped from £250 to £2,000

was because I'd developed a new business

and I was heating all the stables for the horses.

But as we know, and as Tracey has told Atlantic Electric repeatedly,

none of the buildings for Tracey's business were built at the time of the huge bill.

Tracey's main frustration

is that she doesn't think that Atlantic Electric have properly investigated.

She says she kept asking them if the power surge could be to blame,

and although they discounted that theory, after testing the meter,

they couldn't offer an explanation she was happy with.

What would you like me to do?

If you can sort out the disputed amount,

and then I can pay them what I owe.

Tracey currently owes £3,900,

which is made up of £1,900 of accumulated outstanding bills,

plus the disputed two grand.

OK. I'll get to work, see what I can sort out for you.

Cheers, Tracey. Bye-bye.

I can't help feeling a little bit sorry for Tracey.

She's not too well at the moment, and she's had an ongoing battle with Atlantic Electric

for nearly four years now,

and she feels they're not listening to her.

Well, let's see whether they're prepared to listen to me.

Now, as I'm always telling you,

before I get stuck into this case,

it's important to find out just who I'm up against.

Atlantic Electric is part of the Scottish and Southern Electricity group,

otherwise known as the SSE group,

which is one of the largest energy suppliers in the UK,

with over ten million customers.

And according to their website,

the group has won an award for best customer service

seven times in a row.

Crikey! With customer service credentials like those,

it's even more surprising that Tracey's dispute has gone on for so long.

Tell you what, Tracey's situation has got way out of control.

She started off with a two-grand bill that she didn't agree with,

then she made payments, than she stopped making payments,

and now, £3,900, plus she's on the verge of being cut off.

This wants sorted out ASAP.

Right, let's see if their customer service gets a gold star from me.

RECORDED MESSAGE ON PHONE

Not a good start, as I'm kept on hold.

But finally, after three minutes...

Good afternoon. You're speaking to Rees. Can I take your name, please?

Hi, Rees. My name is Dominic Littlewood.

I'm calling from the BBC.

Just to put you in the picture here,

we're making a programme about a lady who's got a bit of a dispute at the moment.

I need to speak to somebody about that.

'After listening to the reason for my call,

'Rees directs me to a press office manager.'

Superb. Thanks for your help, Rees.

That's great. Thanks, Dom.

No problem. Bye-bye.

I had a funny feeling that was going to happen.

I've been diverted on to a specialist department who can deal with me.

But I got the manager's name and her extension number.

'And I get straight through.'

Crikey, that's lucky for me. Hi, Sharron.

'Sharron doesn't want her voice used,

'but after introductions,

'I explain Tracey's predicament.'

To give you a very brief synopsis of the situation,

in 2009...

'I then tell Sharron about the first two perfectly normal electricity bills

'that Tracey had received from Atlantic Electric,

'which together came to a total of just over £300.'

And then she received a bill for £2,001.

Now, she had a power surge on her home prior to this.

She's adamant that she thinks this huge bill that came through

is as a result of that power surge.

'Sharron says that she feels that it's unlikely,

'and that they need to do a thorough investigation.

'Crucially, she wants to make sure

'that nothing's happening on Tracey's case that they don't want to happen.

'Hopefully, that means they won't cut her off whilst we dispute this.

'It's a very promising start.'

Do you know what, Sharron, I wish everyone was like you.

But saying that, I'd be out of a job next week.

'She then reassures me that they'll get it sorted one way or another.'

Thanks, Sharron. Bye-bye.

Now, I tell you what, the way that call went,

you'd think this problem is going to be over and done with in the blink of an eye.

That lady was perfect. I couldn't have asked for someone to be nicer

and more professional, but somehow I've got a funny feeling

it's not going to go as smoothly as that call did.

Now, I've taken a look at Tracey's bill from Atlantic Electric,

and they say she's used over 15,000 units of electricity

in just over three months.

Now, trust me, that is an awful lot of electricity, by anyone's standards.

In fact, I've done a bit of research,

and it's the equivalent to...

boiling enough water to make

850,000 cups of tea...

..making half a million pieces of toast.

..or having 113 light bulbs on

24 hours a day.

Shocking!

I've already spoken to the press office manager,

who said that she'd get on the case and get it sorted.

But that was two weeks ago,

and I'm keen to know if there's been any progress.

Time to call again and find out.

Hello, Sharron. It's Dominic from the BBC.

'Sharron quickly brings me up to speed,

'saying they've been right through it with Tracey

'and brings up the fact that Tracey is running a business on her property.

'But as Tracey has explained to Atlantic Electric time and time again...'

The business wasn't up and running when this large bill came in.

They didn't even have planning permission to build the business,

because it's basically an equestrian centre she's got there,

and the planning permission didn't even get granted

until the 8th of April 2009.

Now, that large bill came in for the period December '08 to March '09.

The business wasn't even up and running then.

'Sharron's response to this information

'is to say only that the business was up and running subsequently.

'Sharron then tells me that Tracey has paid nothing to her account.'

You say she's never paid... Other than that £1,000 she told us about,

she's never made any other payments?

'She then says that she doesn't have the figures in front of her,

'but she can get back to me and send me full details.'

That'd be brilliant if you could.

'Now, Tracey has told me that she did make regular payments to her account,

'only until February 2012,

'when she stopped paying completely

'in the hope it would encourage Atlantic Electric to investigate her complaint thoroughly.

'However, stopping payments was a breach of contract

'that landed Tracey in court, and the judge gave Atlantic Electric a warrant

'to disconnect Tracey's electricity,

'although the judge did say that the company had to investigate before any action was taken.'

Thank you, Sharron. Speak to you again soon. And you. Bye-bye.

We've got a real deadlock here.

Tracey says she didn't use the electricity.

Atlantic Electric say she did.

And there's no way of proving it either way,

especially as Tracey's original meter

has since been replaced and destroyed.

But apart from the sheer volume of units that were used during that quarter,

it's clear something unusual has happened

and unless Atlantic can explain what,

I think they should give Tracey the benefit of the doubt.

This whole story has got me thinking.

You see, when it comes to utility bills,

we believe what we're told and we trust our meters to get it right.

So, what can you do when you think your utility company has made a mistake

and got their wires crossed?

Well, one man who can shed a bit of light on this

is Jonathan Elliott, who works in the energy industry.

So if you think there's something wrong with your bill -

if your bill's really high -

probably before you call the supplier to challenge it,

I'd advise you just to take a look at what you're using

on your meter on a daily basis, over a couple of days.

And just see if that sort of matches

with the consumption the supplier is saying you've used on your bill.

But if you feel the problem is with your meter,

there is still something you can do.

Contact your supplier,

and they're obliged to send someone out who's independent

from the National Measurement Office.

And that independent electrical contractor will come and check your meter

and assess whether it's correct or incorrect.

But what if your dispute with your energy supplier

remains unresolved?

There are organisations you can go to.

There's Consumer Direct or the Energy Ombudsman,

both of whom are online, and you can raise your complaint and your issue with them

and they will pursue it with the supplier on your behalf.

The other thing we can all do to help ourselves when it comes to knowing our energy consumption

is to install an energy monitor.

They're very easy to fit. They sit on your kitchen worktop.

And they'll tell you exactly how much energy

you're using at any moment in time in your house.

Sounds good, but possibly the best news for us consumers

is what the energy industry is cooking up for the future.

By 2020, every household and every business will have one,

and smart meters will provide electronically

meter readings to the relevant supplier.

So that means no more estimated bills.

Now, considering that estimated bills are the source of most energy customers' complaints,

the arrival of smart meters can only be a good thing.

But remember this -

if you've got a problem, don't bury your head in the sand.

There is help out there, so find it...and sort it.

Back now to Tracey's case.

And there's been a dramatic turn of events

that has got me fuming. You wouldn't believe it,

but they've only gone and sent round a disconnection team.

What I'm really shocked about here, Sharron... I'm going to put my cards on the table.

You and I are trying to sort things out, we're very amicable, you're getting me the information,

although I've asked three times for something that hasn't arrived yet.

Your guys turned up to cut her off. And then, she said, "I believe I owe this amount," and he's taken it

and she's bought a stay of execution.

I can't believe you sent them round there while you and me are in the middle of a discussion.

'Sharron agrees that we are in the middle of a discussion

'and just said that this wasn't the first time they had a warrant and had put off using it.

'She then asks me to remember that

'this is a business contract between themselves and the business.'

Sharron, I think we've got to agree something -

that this amount is not her business account. This is her personal account

and the business hadn't even been built when the dispute was in effect.

'To be fair to Sharron, she's in the middle here,

'and is relying on information she's been given,

'which she agrees to email over to me.

'But she has already sent me information about Tracey's payment history

'which confirms that Tracey was paying up until February 2012.'

You said to me that since this account's been up and running,

she's only paid you a one-off payment of £1,000.

I looked into that.

£5,732 she paid you, and that's before the £1,900 she gave you the other day.

That's over £7,000 now.

'Sharron says that she's answering questions based on the information she's got at the time,

'and states that this point is irrelevant.'

Sharron, if you know exactly what she's paid,

how can you possibly say to me that when you said she's only paid £1,000,

and she's actually paid nearly £6,000,

how can that be irrelevant?

'Sharron then gives me her word

'that nothing else will happen with Tracey until she and I have resolved this,

'and her pledge to me is to sort it out.'

Thanks, Sharron. Bye-bye.

Can't get anywhere near. I'm sitting in the car.

I'll read her email - it's coming through tonight and I'll call her back in the morning.

I think it's high time Tracey had some support from a specialist.

So I've arranged for Tracey to meet Dr Robert Brown,

a chartered electrical engineer

who spends his life unravelling the secrets behind burnt-out wires.

Does he think the power surge could have anything to do with the meltdown in Tracey's meter?

What could have been done to get to the bottom of the problem,

and could her energy use explain the excessive bill?

He's having a look around the property to get a feel for the kind of system that's installed,

and Tracey's keen to hear his thoughts.

What do you feel could have happened

to make the bill run up to just over £2,000?

In my opinion,

there was a fault on the system,

and that fault was on the system for a long period of time.

And in that time period,

excessive electrical current has been drawn into your system.

The current has caused heating of the wires

around the electricity meter,

which probably culminated in the burning-out of the wires

at the end of the quarter in March 2009.

And when you say it's been going on for a long time,

do you mean weeks or months or days?

It's difficult to say,

but I would suggest, given the energy consumption

of the quarter before and the quarter in question,

that it could have been going on for probably a few weeks.

It would have been a good indication to me

that given the energy consumption in the quarter of the incident

was three, four, five times more

than the energy consumption after the incident,

when you had additional electrical equipment installed,

that would have been an indication to me

that there was something seriously wrong.

So even with all the extra electricity consumption used by Tracey's new equestrian centre,

her bills are not as high as that one £2,000 shocker she received

before the business had even been built.

Thank you very much, Robert. You're the first person who's really showed me any support

or made me understand what's happened.

For Tracey, Robert has been the first person to acknowledge

that the power surge could possibly explain the £2,000 bill.

And even if it wasn't the power surge,

he thinks Atlantic could have done more to investigate.

I thought Robert was excellent.

He was, um...

much more positive in his views than I was expecting.

And he gave me a lot of confidence that there was a real problem,

so I'm very hopeful that it might get resolved.

And that I won't be without any lights!

Whether or not it WAS the power surge,

the point here is that Atlantic could have done more

to get to the bottom of why Tracey had this sudden £2,000 bill.

It's time to get back on the blower,

to see if I can push this just a little bit further

without the sparks flying.

Atlantic Electric!

I'm sure they're getting fed up with my voice.

As I am with theirs.

Hi. Is Sharron there, please?

It's Dominic at the BBC.

'I get put straight through, and in reply to Sharron's question about how things are going...'

It does seem that we are not getting anywhere.

What's your stance on it at the moment?

'Sharron then tells me that she thinks she's done all she can

'in terms of answering my questions,

'and she'd like to think they've gone some way

'in putting my mind at rest in the way they've treated Tracey.'

As you were saying there, you're not particularly happy

to be dealing with this yourself, because you don't think you can go any further.

It's probably a case of I'm going to need to speak to the CEO at Atlantic.

Would that be Ian Marchant?

'Now, I've done my research,

'and I know that Ian Marchant is the CEO of the SSE group.

'But Sharron just states that

'they've escalated this as far as they're going to escalate it.'

As far as you're concerned, you've escalated it as far as you're happy with,

not as far as I'm happy with.

'Time to lay my cards on the table.'

I think you guys haven't done a particularly good job

of proving she owes this money,

and the resolution for me is you wipe the £2,000 and we start again from scratch.

'Sharron then assures me that either she or her colleagues

'will get back in touch with me, all being well, by the end of the week.'

Sharron, it's been lovely talking to you again.

Thank you, Sharron, Bye-bye.

Now, what's very interesting... We're just banging our heads together.

I'm asking questions, she's giving me answers. We're not really getting anywhere.

On two or three occasions, I've said, "What's the CEO's details?" and she didn't give them to me.

Not a problem. I can easily find them if I need to.

It's Wednesday today. She said, "Give me till Friday and I'll let you know."

I'm feeling lucky.

And do you know what? It might be with good reason,

because, eight days later,

a colleague of Sharron's in the press office calls

to say they've been able to escalate the case after all

to their Head of Customer Services.

I'm off to meet Tracey, because I've got some news.

Tracey has had a dispute ongoing now for nearly four years

for over £2,000.

Well, let's see if I can put a smile on her face.

-Tracey, good to see you again. How are you?

-Dominic.

I can tell you, with all the conversations I've had,

they started up there.

I was getting on really well with everybody, everyone was very polite, very nice,

and they promised me they would sort things out. And they have been very thorough in what they did.

I can say things slowly went down.

-Did they listen to you at all?

-They did, but believe me,

the emails went backwards, forwards, phone calls, backwards, forwards...

So what I've got here for you

is your up-to-date bill.

Now, this is the bill they say you owe for electricity.

It's £496.

I think you're more than happy with that, are you?

That's great that it hasn't got the £2,000 in front of it!

Right. You're back to square one now. That's your bill.

That's your up-to-date usage only for the electricity -

no disputed amount on there at all.

-Are you happy?

-I'm absolutely delighted, Dom.

Thank you very much.

-What are you going to do now?

-Well, I shall pay this bill and I shall leave them as soon as possible.

I had a funny feeling you'd say that.

Well, I think if you have a problem and they won't deal with it,

-you don't want to stay with a company like that.

-OK. That's your prerogative.

Tracey, all the best for the future. You take care.

Thank you.

-See, two kisses - it's very horsy, isn't it?

-It is!

The SSE group, who own Atlantic Electric,

had the following to say about Tracey's case...

Well, there you go. One very happy lady

and one very content TV presenter.

Job done.

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