Elec from B/Gas, problem help please

poco*senora

Hi everyone, I'm new here only just found this site and am a bit anxious to get results so not taken the time to trawl through the pages of posts, I hope you can help me.

I have just returned from living in Spain and found my mother very distressed.

She has both her Electricity & gas billed to her by British Gas.
It seems that the gas bills are always fine, but even though she pays her Electricity bills on time, they seem to get it wrong and are always sending her threatening letters about *non-payment*.

She's at her wits end with all this, and I'm not a great deal of help having been out of the country for 20 years and not au fait with how things work here now!

My mother feels that she would like to change supplier but very afraid of jumping from the frying pan into the fryer.

Could anyone suggest a good supplier for my mother, and what is the procedure for switching to someone else?

Thankyou in advance for your help.

Plushchris

You might want to check to see if Staywarm from E-on is an option for you, its not always the cheapest tariff so you would need to work it out but at least with that she would pay a set amount each month regardless of what she uses, Check it first though as it can be expensive.

As far as customer service goes, Southern Electric have the lowest levels of complaints (their doorstep salesmen leave a lot to be desired though)

E-on also have an age concern tariff that has some extra bits and bobs for the over 60s although again thats not always the cheapest.

Billing wise, my mum swears by Scottish power, they read her meter every quarter without fail and in the 8 or 9 years she has been with them she has only had 1 or 2 estimated bills.

How does she pay at the moment? I take it its Quarterly? I know some older people refuse to pay by direct debit but it is almost always the cheapest way to pay and at least you are paying for it as you use it and she shouldnt get any demanding letters.

Also, if she has internet then paperless billing tariffs are an even cheaper way, maybe you could help her with that? Online accounts mean you can enter meter readings online and manage your accounts that way.

I would also say avoid Npower if billing problems are a concern, in fact avoid Npower anyway.

My suggestion would be to look through your mums bills, find out her usage for the past year (in Kwh) and go to one of the comaprison sites to see what would be cheapest, then look at service ratings etc. and do a little research about the company before switching. Its not always worth going for the cheapest if customer service is an issue for you.

poco*senora

Thank you so much for replying Chris.

I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a rush so just stopped by to say that ..yes indeed my mother pays by quarterly payments, (and she asks this...if she were to pay by DD how would that prevent the electricity supplier taking her payment twice?..which is what the Gas Board have been attempting to do by billing her twice for the same reading)...and just so my mother doesn't beat me up I have to point out that my mother is not a pensioner and so not entiteld to any ''benefits'' that may come with being an OAP.

Thanks very much again. Must rush, late for collecting hubs from airport!

spiro

What is exactly the problem with electricity? You say they bill her twice it not the case of a reminder being confused with a 2nd bill?

poco*senora

No , she's paying her bill then getting a letter threatening to either disconnect her supply and or take her to court for non payment, even though she has a payment plan with them. This is everytime she receives her bill, and then she calls them explains that she's paid and then a few days later she gets another threatening letter. It's very upsetting for her and not something she ever suffered from when she was being billed by the Electricity board, only in the last year since she's switched to having both her gas & electricity with British Gas!

She really would like to know how to switch to a better supplier, and thanks you all for your help.

spiro

Working in IS I can only guess they may be a problem with the account in that the bills are coming from one place and the payments are going somewhere else. Trying comparing the bill and the threatening letter to ensure all the details (name, address, postcode, account number) are all identical. Suggest you get the last bill, proof of payment and threatening letter together and phone them and ask for the complaints department.