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Domestic Gas - Who is responsibe to set the amount that you pay per month


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Hi there,

 

I have just moved my gas from npower and received a huge bill from them.

 

When I have looked over the bill it seems that for the last 2 years I have been paying far less by direct debit than I should have.

 

However, I was told by npower that £49 per month was more than enough to cover cas useage on a 3 bedroomed semi with gas hob - not oven.

 

However, the shortfall is £420, and as Npower do, they expect me to pay this immediately in one lump.

 

Would i be correct in thinking that npower should have informed me, because they are the only ones with the information about my gas useage and their pricing structure, and any outstanding amounts on my account, that my monthly payment was not covering my useage?

 

Thanks

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Energy suppliers will monitor how much energy a customer uses against the customer’s

payment plan and check annually (as a minimum), that the monthly payments cover

how much energy is being used. If the payments are not enough to cover the energy

used then the supplier will notify the customer of the new payment amount and from

what date it will apply. If following the review, the customer owes the energy supplier

money then the supplier may suggest an increased monthly payment to pay off the

amount owed over an agreed period.

Alternatively, if the monthly payments are higher than necessary to cover the energy

supplied then they will be reduced to an appropriate level.

the supplier

must be able to demonstrate that it has taken all of the following actions:

. the customer has been correctly set up on their billing system by both taking

deductions from the customer’s bank account and sending statements to them

. within the last 24 months in the first year reducing to 15 months for year 2

onwards it has re-assessed the customer’s direct debit payment to ensure that

the payments are sufficient to meet (either the actual or a reasonable estimate

of) the customer’s energy usage.

the supplier

must be able to demonstrate that it has taken all of the following actions:

. the customer has been correctly set up on their billing system by both taking

deductions from the customer’s bank account and sending statements to them

. within the last 24 months in the first year reducing to 15 months for year 2

onwards it has re-assessed the customer’s direct debit payment to ensure that

the payments are sufficient to meet (either the actual or a reasonable estimate

of) the customer’s energy usage.

 

Sorry I am in a rush as only 5 mins left on comp so copied the info from Code of Practice for Accurate Bills produced by the Energy Retail Association

Under what circumstances can a customer apply to the Energy Supply

Ombudsman for an independent review of a complaint?

The Energy Supply Ombudsman is there to resolve complaints which have not been

resolved to the customer’s satisfaction through the supplier’s own complaint handling

procedures.

Four criteria have been identified which need to be met before a customer complaint is

considered to have reached “deadlock” and the customer will be given access to the

Energy Supply Ombudsman Scheme. This is when a customer complaints has got to

the position where:

.there is no new information to be gained on the complaint from either the

customer or the supplier;

. the complaint escalation processes have been followed;

. the customer and the supplier still cannot agree to a resolution within the

supplier’s complaint procedures; and

. having more time will not improve this position

 

 

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As OzzyW points out - its not as cut and dried as you might think. Paying by DDM is no alternative to checking your meter reading and discovering if they are going out of step. If the errors continued after a number of readings, then they have a responsibility too - and since there is a legal requirement for meters to be read at least twice in a year, it is their fault for not revising your DDM amount to take account of - NOT higher usage, but higher costs of consumption*. It shouldn;t need stating, but gas costs have gone through the roof. You might be able to argue the point and get some reduction, but they are right in requiring the gas consumed to be paid for!

 

 

*And since your DDM probably wasn't for a fixed amount, you can challenge them on why they didn't upscale the amount required and advise you accordingly.

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Hi there,

 

I have just moved my gas from npower and received a huge bill from them.

 

When I have looked over the bill it seems that for the last 2 years I have been paying far less by direct debit than I should have.

 

However, I was told by npower that £49 per month was more than enough to cover cas useage on a 3 bedroomed semi with gas hob - not oven.

 

However, the shortfall is £420, and as Npower do, they expect me to pay this immediately in one lump.

 

Would i be correct in thinking that npower should have informed me, because they are the only ones with the information about my gas useage and their pricing structure, and any outstanding amounts on my account, that my monthly payment was not covering my useage?

 

Thanks

 

Did your bills not say that you were getting further and further into the red? I pay for my gas by monthly DD. The last bill indicated that I was behind so I upped my DD to cover future use plus shortfall.

 

Jeremy

Jeremy

 

Computer Problems? Give me a shout...

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Ive spoke with them and this all looks a mess

 

Basically, they have told me that my estimated usage was £90 per month - surely this cant be possible! Anyway - they never informed me of this, they have had various readings

 

But on the plus side, they are trying to sort out a payment arrangement for me

 

Now i need to work with my new company to find out if a have a faulty meter or appliance somewhere.

 

Thanks for all your help

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Ive spoke with them and this all looks a mess

 

Basically, they have told me that my estimated usage was £90 per month - surely this cant be possible! Anyway - they never informed me of this, they have had various readings

 

But on the plus side, they are trying to sort out a payment arrangement for me

 

Now i need to work with my new company to find out if a have a faulty meter or appliance somewhere.

 

Thanks for all your help

 

 

£90/Month seems highly unlikely unless you live in a mansion! My bill from June to September was only £39, for a three-bedroom house, if that's any help as a guide.

 

Jeremy

Jeremy

 

Computer Problems? Give me a shout...

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I live in a 3 bed semi and have been paying £39 per month for a year (Gas heating and water). I overpaid by £114 over the year and received a refund but npower still wanted to increase the monthly DD payment to £44. I objected but was told I had to pay what their assessors said, even though they got it wrong last year.

 

Had enough of keeping my hard earned cash in their bank a/c so changed supplier for both gas & elec.

 

I have since had six letters from npower (3 gas & 3 elec) begging me to stay and even a regional manager call at the house.

PUTTING IT IN WRITING & KEEPING COPIES IS A MUST FOR SUCCESS

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Ive spoke with them and this all looks a mess

 

Basically, they have told me that my estimated usage was £90 per month - surely this cant be possible! Anyway - they never informed me of this, they have had various readings

 

But on the plus side, they are trying to sort out a payment arrangement for me

 

Now i need to work with my new company to find out if a have a faulty meter or appliance somewhere.

 

Thanks for all your help

This is a subject close to my heart...

I have been fighting powergen for the past year and a half over my fuel bills with them. I pay to them £93.00 a month for my electric and £77.00 a month for my gas, and i can assure you that i don't live in a mannsion has Jeremy surgests, i live in a four bed semi.

the best of it is, thats just for heating my hot water, i have a gas fire but never have it on, it's just decorative. i have gas central heating but it only whent on twice, the whole of last year cos since having cavity wall insulation, it gets too much, and we no longer have gas cooking appliances and haven't for the past two years. we have the boiler serviced every 12 months without fail and regularly maintained.

we have completed the 7 day meter reading test and they still inssist our meters are fine.

So £77.00 a month is correct? just for heating up the hot water then???.. I don't think so.

When i use to phone powergen and they looked at wot i was paying per month for each fuel, each different staff member i spoke with was totaly shocked at what i was paying, and joked, saying, good god mrs****** you are an high user arn't you, have you got a huge house...

I'm now 7 days into my new supplier, so will have to see how this goes.

 

Sorry for butting in but i think i know, just how you feel and we seem to be at their mercy without it seems no way of proving that their meters are faulty...

MLP...

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Blimey! I live in a 3 bed Terrace and I pay £15 per month to EDF. At the end of 12 months I was in credit by £50 (based on meter readings)! Didn't stop them trying to raise my payment to £19 per month thought

Lloyds TSB, Total Charges £900, Claim Filed for £1379 - Settled

 

Sainsbury's Bank Credit Card, Total Charges £90 - Settled.

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Cancel your d/d asap and set up a standing order instead, otherwise, their "payment arrangement" will mean they can up your payments to pay off your debt in 3 or 6 months, and they can help themselves as they like, and there'll f*** all you can do about it. Don't give them that power!!!

~*~ Please click the scales if you liked my post! ;-) ~*~

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Guest Battleaxe

I know this sounds silly by why do you pay by DD? we are with Southern Electric and my electricity bill for the last three months was £85.00 and my gas £47.00. we get a deduction if we pay pay the due date. After our fiasco with Powergen and the DD when we first came to England, we will never pay by by DD again. it took three years to get it sorted.

 

I will not let anyone dip into my bank again. Especially the power companies.

 

Powergen were impossible to deal with and I ended up having to get the media in to sort the problem out with them. They would not admit they were wrong, they blamed the meters, they blamed the bank, they blamed everyone but themselves.

 

Good luck, but I would cancelling the Direct Debit and I would be not be paying any money they are demanding.

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I know this sounds silly by why do you pay by DD? we are with Southern Electric and my electricity bill for the last three months was £85.00 and my gas £47.00. we get a deduction if we pay pay the due date. After our fiasco with Powergen and the DD when we first came to England, we will never pay by by DD again. it took three years to get it sorted.

 

I will not let anyone dip into my bank again. Especially the power companies.

 

Powergen were impossible to deal with and I ended up having to get the media in to sort the problem out with them. They would not admit they were wrong, they blamed the meters, they blamed the bank, they blamed everyone but themselves.

 

Good luck, but I would cancelling the Direct Debit and I would be not be paying any money they are demanding.

Hiya,

I think you maybe getting me mixed up with the post after mine, i never mentioned how i pay, "that is of course, if you are refereing to my post??" but forgive me if you are not, but for reference, i do pay by standing order and not DD...

MLP...

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Guest Battleaxe

BW thank you, I was referring Because we can. I think DD are the devils spawn, especially after I found a dd for £3400.00 on our account, which should have been £34.00, but goes to show how they much they can take out by a wrong key stroke.

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Blimey! I live in a 3 bed Terrace and I pay £15 per month to EDF. At the end of 12 months I was in credit by £50 (based on meter readings)! Didn't stop them trying to raise my payment to £19 per month thought

 

BT did this to me 6 years ago - sending me a repayment cheque at the end of the year, but still wanting to up the DDM payment. I pulled out of the scheme, as I prefered not to be bankrolling them and receiving no money for the privilege...

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  • 2 months later...

i live in a 3 bedroom, mid terrace house with no central heating just a gas cooker and a gas powered water heater.

both me and my partner work full time so the house is empty most of the day.

british gas have increased my gas payments to 90 pounds every 4 weeks which means im paying 1170 a year just for my gas.

i pay 780 a year for my electric also with british gas.

as i do paperless billing with BG i was unaware of the increase to my gas payments and received a phone call asking me to pay 142 as i hadnt increased my payemnts from 65 to 90 - apparently if you do paper billing the increase was on the back of the bill.

i asked the unhelpful person on the end of the phone how could i turn over a paperless bill to see the increases, should i maybe turn my monitor over or attempt to turn over the email, he didnt know cos he hadnt dealt with anyone who had done paperless billing before.

told him i didnt have the funds to pay 142 at that present time and was told that i had 7 days to pay the full amount or else my gas would be cut off and i would have baliffs coming to my house to take goods to the value of the debt.

its been 4 weeks now and still ive got gas, still no reply to my emails and still no return phone calls about my apparent gas consumption, ive had readings done and the figures are correct but i pay twice as much for my gas as a friend of mine does and shes got central heating which is on virtually all the time (shes also with BG)

somethings wrong somewhere but they dont seem to care or even be bothered.

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Is it possible your supply is being used by someone else? Go away for a few days and turn OFF all your appliuances, keeping the gas pipe live. Take a reading. Return, and check the reading, has it increased? If so, there's a problem. If not, it's time to switch suppliers. BG are the most expensive of all, so it makes sense to switch.

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The only way really is to check first it is billing you correctly by going through the settings and compare them to your statements and tarrif you are on. (prepay)

The next way is to switch all appliances off for gas and make sure your meter is not running up units. (like Buzby said)

The only other way is a check meter (which costs around 75.00 returnable fee if found to be faulty) and then

a DOTI (Department of Trade and Industry) test. This occurs when the you refuse to accept results of check meter test and will not sign disclaimer to accept meter is fine. The check meter is left on site (so you still have a supply) and your normal meter is taken away by a Meter Examiner for a series of tests. This is free but is lengthy and can take 8 weeks or more however the Meter Examiners decision is final and cannot be disputed. A Meter Examiner test can only be carried out following the installation and outcome of a check meter test. The only other test that can be done instead of a check meter is a Standard Load test. This is when engineers will call at property and turn all appliances on and a device attached to meter and appliances. This gives an instant report as to accuracy of meter (i.e. percentage fast/slow) HOWEVER these are no where near as reliable as a check meter especially with 10/11 mpans as Siemens have confirmed the equipment they have for this is not up to scratch.

 

 

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  • 4 months later...

I have just found out that I have a bill of £1400 from the last 18 months for Electric, I dont quite understand how that happened when we've been paying £70 a month since we moved in in 2004...

 

We're with Southern Electric and I was wondering if anyone else had encountered something similar or what they've done. They've offered to let us repay £155 a month for 24 months, but it's pretty steep.

 

Any comments would be appreciated.

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