Estimated bills and price rises

Cardew

bootman wrote:

I had a my gas bill from Atlantic last week. They estimated me at only using 40 units :mad:

I had in fact used 310 units. I have been with them for over a year so they surely should work on last years figures of 300 units.

A scam if you ask me!!! :cool:

From another thread it appears that Atlantic raised their price on 01 Jan 06. So if that applies to your tariff you will be eventually paying for 270 units* or so of gas(that should have been at the old price) at the new increased rate.

*Depending on the date of the estimated reading

wealthsaver

dandelion_wine wrote:

Needless to say I queried this and after considerable persistence, got them to revise the whole bill, saving about £7 on £160 usage. This is not a big saving, but if the practice of underestimating around price rises is common, it could be netting them a small fortune.

It is worth watching estimates around this time of price hikes as underestimates could be expensive.

Thanks Dandelion_wine. This kind of practice by large utility companies drives me nuts. Imagine the extra revenue the company gets on average for each and every customer if you saved £7 by your negotiation.

Problem as far as I can tell is that now an independant agency reads meters, the retail suppliers of electricity and gas do not get such frequent meter readings. I challenge anyone to say different. However, it is possible to ring up and leave an automated customer meter reading that will initate a new bill. I don't think this would get around the problem you describe when prices increase though.

espresso

wealthsaver wrote:

However, it is possible to ring up and leave an automated customer meter reading that will initate a new bill. I don't think this would get around the problem you describe when prices increase though.

I don't understand your logic on this. If the customer supplies a reading on the date of the notified price increase, the supplier can only charge the new price, for any units used after the supplied reading!

:cool: