For advisers, charities & helpers

Helping someone with an energy bill?

If you support people through a CIC, a charity or an advice service, or you’re a support worker or a family member, you can bring them to Bill Lens. Here’s how that works, and exactly what we check.

We always deal with the customer.They stay in the loop and in control, and we never act without them.

Part 1

Working with intermediaries

Two ways to introduce someone

The customer is always at the centre

• We work for the customer and talk to them directly. They are part of every conversation.
• Nothing goes to their energy company, and nothing is agreed, without their say-so.
• You can stay as involved as the customer wants you to be.

A signed letter of authority comes first

No letter of authority, no action.Before we act on a customer’s behalf, or share anything about their case with you, we need a letter of authority signed by the customer.

It sets out who may act (us, and you too if the customer wants), which energy company and account it covers, and what for, such as requesting their account and meter data, querying bills and raising a complaint. The customer can withdraw it at any time.

Their data

We use the customer’s information only for their case. We don’t share it with anyone, you included, without the customer’s consent. We never ask for passwords. How we manage your data.

Part 2

What we check and match up

1. The customer’s own documents

• Bills and statements
• The annual statement
• Tariff and contract confirmations
• Payment and Direct Debit history for the account
• Their own dated meter photos and readings
• Letters from the energy company, and any complaint correspondence

2. Industry and meter data

Requested through the energy company or a SAR.

• The meter reading history, showing how each reading was taken: an actual read (by a meter reader or a smart meter), the customer’s own read, or an estimate.
• Meter exchange records: which meter was removed, which was fitted, and the readings at the swap.

For electricity, that means these industry data flows:

D0010 “the D10” · meter readings

The industry’s record of readings taken from the meter: the date, the reading on each register, and how it was taken.

D0019 “the D19” · EAC and AA

The industry’s estimate of how much the meter uses in a year (Estimated Annual Consumption), and the usage worked out between two real readings (Annualised Advance). This shows whether estimated bills were reasonable.

D0150 and D0149 · meter technical details

Which meter is fitted (serial number and registers), when it was installed or removed, and how each register is mapped to the tariff, for example day and night.

• For gas: the equivalent gas meter exchange and reading records.
• The supply numbers (the MPAN for electricity, the MPRN for gas) and the meter serial numbers.
• Where relevant, the local network operator’s records, for example whether an export MPAN exists for solar panels.

3. What we match

• Readings on the billsagainst the meter reading history
• The meter serial number on the billagainst the meter on the wall and the meter records
• Estimated readingsagainst actual readings: how many, and how long between real reads
• Unit rates and standing chargesagainst the tariff and contract the customer agreed
• Day and night registersbilled at the right rates, and not swapped
• Gas calorific valuesthe figure used to turn gas units into kWh, against the published values for the period
• Back-billingOfgem’s back-billing rule: an energy company generally can’t bill for energy used more than 12 months before the bill, if the customer wasn’t billed correctly and it wasn’t their fault
• Direct Debit amountsagainst actual usage and the account balance
• Fees and chargessuch as late payment, debt or exit fees, and whether they should have been applied

4. Solar, battery and export

For homes with solar panels or a battery, we also look at:

• Installation papers: the MCS certificate and commissioning pack, and the network operator’s notification or acceptance for the system (G98 or G99 today; G83 or G59 for older installs).
• Feed-in Tariff (FiT) statements and generation meter readings, where the customer has FiT.
• Export: the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) or export tariff contract, and export statements and payments.
• Battery and inverter data, such as app downloads of import, export and generation, where the customer can provide it.
• Industry records (via the energy company, the network operator or a SAR): whether an export MPAN is registered and energised, and the export meter’s readings and meter details where available.

And we match:

• Export paidagainst the export metered or recorded
• The export rateagainst the export contract
• FiT generation paymentsagainst the generation meter readings
• The export MPANthat it actually exists and is linked to the right supply
• Import billsnot inflated by a wrongly registered meter, or by export readings being treated as import

Part 3

Keeping you updated

With the customer’s consent, you get a one-page status summary of how the case is progressing: what we’ve received, what we’ve asked the energy company for, what we’re checking, and the next step with an expected date.