Utility bills - look out y'all!

Currently reading:
Utility bills - look out y'all!

Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Messages
913
Points
147
Location
Holmfirth
Hi,

Recently switched from Scottish Power and got lots of phone calls from them asking why (one of the reasons is you won't give me a minute's peace).
Anyway, they sent my final bills through. First was Electricity £130 for period from 01/11 to 01/01!

Seem incredibly steep so I checked the figures they had down for my useage. Unbeliveably both figures they had were estimates. Their start kwH was actually higher than my current kWh!!!
I called them and had them look into it and am now expecting something more like £30 for that period.

This morning I got my final gas bill - another whopping £130. Not bad since I had no heating from October through till December!
I checked the useage figures again and spotted that they reckoned I had used 6366 kWh! Absolutely no way that could be right. So I did some sums and looked at the values they were using and came to the following conclusion.

They had read my cubic feet 'gas meter' as being cubic metres! Thus implyihg I had used 2.83 times the actual amount. These were actual figures as read by a so called professional meter reading firm! A phone call to Scottish Power confirmed that this looked like being the case.

Moral of this story is look closely at your bills in the future. I was able to spot it but an elderly relative might not be so astute.

I trust no service companies these days. Vodaphone once overcharged my by £90 in two consequetive months. If an automated charge system like theirs can screw up then consider what happens when you add humans to the mix.

Eyes peeled kiddlies!

Moogs
 
KoArAnG said:
good detective work there Moogs (y)

I pay £115 per month for Gas and Electric :eek:

So your conected up on next door neighbour then KoA :p :D
 
fixitagaintomorrow said:
yike, I pay a total of £38 for gas, leccy and water!
:eek: You add my water to it and you're looking at £140 a month :eek:
You may be right Phil, I'll check the supply stays in my house only :idea:

I have to say though, my meter reading was none exsistant for a couple of years on Southern Electric for both gas and leccy and all bills were estimated on on a 2 bedroom house. I didn't bother telling them that I had actually built another 3 rooms :D So the last few months have been catch up time, it won't be so bad when it's sorted which should be soon, then my bills will be down to around £70 a month which is still high just for gas and electric.
 
Might be worth mentioning now that although British Gas are making a big noise about N powers recent increase in costs - that still leaves them charging less that British Gas are currently - and BG are looking at a 25% increase in charges soon.

This is from an NPower worker, but one who couldn't give a damn how the company does. She just doesn't like her family getting ripped off. This advice I now pass onto you.
 
Stuart DemonD said:
Not sure what I pay per month :chin:

Possibly £80 for gas, £50 for Elec and about £35 for water - then again, Jules does work from home...
Yeah we are both here most of the time too and Chrissy does talk a lot so I have the Stereo on quite high :D J/K :dead:
 
I have an electricity bill here (not my own) for £7700. This is for an electricity supply that powers 7 light bulbs. :rolleyes:
H
 
4 of them are (they light a car park), but British Gas have NEVER been able to successfully take a meter reading (in over a year), so they estimated the bill. There estimate is a long, long way off. Bills used to be about £50 a quarter... :rolleyes:
H
 
This is the reply I got from my Power company....

"Dear Electricity Customer,

Just a little note to let you know that we understand your anger in the recent price hike.
It should be noted that you have no choice.
We are a big company and you will pay whatever we tell you.
We have the power, you need the power.
So sad, too bad, get stuffed!

Have a nice day and keep those cheques coming.

We have enclosed a little picture to show you how much we care.
 

Attachments

  • index.gif
    index.gif
    144.5 KB · Views: 12
Back
Top