Advice please - I think I might be being ripped off

gingergirl21

After years of paying £60 a month for gas and electric, we have suddenly been sent a letter telling us we owe £447 and our direct debit is going up to £208 a month.

Luckily I am in a position to pay off the debt (although it is a little annoying that they did not tell us we were underpaying sooner as they have had quarterly accurate readings over the last year) and I don't have any issues about paying for what I've used.

However - I asked how much I should actually be paying according to our usage and was told it would be £150 per month.

Firstly, I am not sure how it has gone up so much - apparently what we are using is not excessive, in fact she said it was average for a 3 bedroom mid terrace with 2 occupants. Does anyone out there think this amount is a little high or have prices really gone up that much in 12 months?

Secondly, I am a little confused as to how they have come up with £208 if we don't pay off the debt. Surely it would be worked out at £150 (what we should be paying), plus £37.25 (the debt of £447 divided by twelve). This is £187.25. Where has their figure come from? Do you pay interest on the debt?

Finally, can anyone recommend a good capped rate anywhere? I will say now that I will not under any circumstances change to NPower following numerous problems with them before we switched to Eon a few years ago (Powergen back then). I am taking all the advice on this site but it would be good to hear some recommendations.

Thanks

charleypink

gingergirl21 wrote: »

After years of paying £60 a month for gas and electric, we have suddenly been sent a letter telling us we owe £447 and our direct debit is going up to £208 a month.

Luckily I am in a position to pay off the debt (although it is a little annoying that they did not tell us we were underpaying sooner as they have had quarterly accurate readings over the last year) and I don't have any issues about paying for what I've used.

However - I asked how much I should actually be paying according to our usage and was told it would be £150 per month.

Firstly, I am not sure how it has gone up so much - apparently what we are using is not excessive, in fact she said it was average for a 3 bedroom mid terrace with 2 occupants. Does anyone out there think this amount is a little high or have prices really gone up that much in 12 months?

Secondly, I am a little confused as to how they have come up with £208 if we don't pay off the debt. Surely it would be worked out at £150 (what we should be paying), plus £37.25 (the debt of £447 divided by twelve). This is £187.25. Where has their figure come from? Do you pay interest on the debt?

Finally, can anyone recommend a good capped rate anywhere? I will say now that I will not under any circumstances change to NPower following numerous problems with them before we switched to Eon a few years ago (Powergen back then). I am taking all the advice on this site but it would be good to hear some recommendations.

Thanks

This sound very high to me!
I live in a 3 bed terrace and there are 5 of us living in it, and there's always someone at home. I'm with Scottish power and pay £61.00 per month DD ( I signed up through Quidco and got about £70 cash back).
We do try to conserve electricity as best we can, but gas is a different matter! we have an old back boiler which we are told wastes a lot of gas (hoping to replace that soon).
I would strongly advice you to take a look on a comparison site.
Good luck:o

gingergirl21

Thanks for that

The difficulty is knowing how to convince EON that we don't use this much. Their bills are so confusing anyway that I'm not sure I could work it out myself even if I wanted to. We will definately consider switching, but I will be scared of getting into this situation again. Perhaps it is easier to ask them for monthly bills and then at least you are only paying for what you are really using, but then of course you miss out on any so-called direct debit discounts.

I am preparing myself for a very long and frustrating phonecall!

Premier_2

gingergirl21 wrote: »

... We will definately consider switching, ...

They'll probably prevent you from leaving until you clear the debt.

charleypink

With Scottish power, you can enter your meter readings every quarter onto their web site, your account is then updated immediately and gives you an accurate bill. This really suits me, because like yourself, I don't want an unexpectedly high bill landing on my doorstep!:o

gingergirl21

Update - I spoke to EON this evening - I must say that compared to other customer services the staff I have spoken to do seem more helpful and better trained!

Anyway, I queried the total usage and am happy with the figure and am prepared to pay off the debt, however I have used just over £1,000 in 10 months. It doesn't take a PHD in maths to work out that this equates to £100 a month. I therefore asked them to set the new direct debit at £100 a month (after the debt has been paid) but no can do. I basically got "computer says no". The computer worked out that our usage is £157 a month. I don't get it. Part of their reasoning was that our tariff has gone up - but this is by over 50% and even she admitted that this was not the case. But - computer says no so it is £157 or nothing!

It looks like my only option is to pay off the debt and then switch. I could cancel the direct debit but then I loose the discount which is 9%!

I will research U Switch again and look into Scottish Power. Any other hints and tips would be appreciated.

waggys

We are also having a nightmare with our gas and electric at the mo; our gas is 56 per month and our electric (wait for it.....) has been raised to 86 per month (was 76 per month until meter reading a few weeks ago). We are with Npower (but looking to change) and have never paid more for our electric than our gas - don't understand how it is so much, we cook and heat with gas, all our lightbulbs are low energy - how can it possibly equate to this? We live in a 4 bed detached house with 2 adults and 3 little people - does this amount sound OTT?