British Gas Rip Off

Butterfly_Brain

I am fuming!
I had yet another estimated bill today (underestimated as usual)
So I have read my meter and sent them the details so they can wait for their money.
They are so crafty because the estimated bills are invariably sent out in the summer months. I am sure this is because they know that they are going to give us another extortionate hike in bills in the next quarter, so if the bill is underestimated now you will be paying the difference at the higher price in the Autumn.
I would advise anyone who gets an estimated bill to read their meter and even if it is a couple of weeks behind their billing date you don't pay until you get an accurate bill!
It is scandalous to think that a lot of people get stung by this trick and it is about time it was compulsory for the energy suppliers to read the meters every time a bill is due. I would't expect to pay an estimated bill for my water rates or council tax so why should I accept this legalised fraud just to keep the share holders in luxury :mad:

epsilondraconis

If the energy companies were forced to read the meters before sending each bill, you can be assured that they will increase your bill to take into account this additional overhead.
I'd prefer to just read my meter every couple of months and send it over the web. It takes me less than 5 minutes to do this.

If you believe British Gas are ripping you off, you could change suppliers; however you may find other companies are worse than British Gas. Take NPower for example, their gas sculpting tactics have been well documented on this and other sites.

Cardew

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

I am fuming!
I had yet another estimated bill today (underestimated as usual)
So I have read my meter and sent them the details so they can wait for their money.
They are so crafty because the estimated bills are invariably sent out in the summer months. I am sure this is because they know that they are going to give us another extortionate hike in bills in the next quarter, so if the bill is underestimated now you will be paying the difference at the higher price in the Autumn.
:mad:

If that were a deliberate policy it would be conspiracy to defraud! People go to jail for that sort of offence.

As this estimating all done by a computer, the person who writes the program would be the fall guy - and the program would still be there for the fraud squad to read.

On the other hand, read through this forum and you will find lots of people claiming that BG and other Utility companies deliberately over-estimate their meter readings so they pay more(or so the company can increase their DD) so they 'can make loads of interest on my money'

So which is it?

Deliberate fraud by over-estimating or deliberate fraud by under-estimating?