PLEASE HELP £1500 Gas Bill!!

kerinsoph

Just to say - We are both under 25 and do not have children, so do not get working tax credits or any other benefits for that matter.

allan673

let us know how you get on. good luck with it.
its a lot of money to find

pepzo

You could try applying for a grant from a utilities charity. Unfortunately, I don't think Atlantic have one themselves, but it is possible that your water company has one which might help. If you are a Severn Trent Water customer (which I think you probably are), then try the Servern Trent Trust Fund at www.sttf.org.uk - they offer grants to customers in hardship/unable to pay utility debts. Obviously, most grants are for water debts but they will consider applications for assistance with other priority debts.

You will need to supply a breakdown of your income & expenditure, an explanation of how the debt accrued in the first place and show that you will be able to meet ongoing costs if they award you the grant. I would suggest stressing the fact that it is your first home and in your inexperience had not realised how inaccurate the bills were or that you should check the estimates/did not even know how to read your meter, and the fact that your bills were based on estimates for 2 years.

Work out what you can realistically afford to pay towards the debt and factor this into the amount you ask for. You could try your luck & ask for the full lot, but I'd say you're more likely to be successful if you show that you are willing to pay as much as you can yourself, especially as it's not a water debt. I'd also recommend seeing what reduction you can get from Atlantic before applying for any assistance (obviously).

@ KimYeovil -
Hardly the most constuctive response, and fairly inaccurate too. Even if they were over 25 & eligible to claim WTC, on a joint income of £22k with no dependent children they would not qualify for anything anyway. (I'm assuming no disabilities as both work full time & are not in receipt of any benefits such as DLA.)

Also, being particularly pedantic, if they were entitled to anything they would only get one lot of WTC, as it would be a joint claim.

Joyful

People should be aware that if a computer system sends an estimated bill out and it is not corrected by the Customer then it assumes it got it's sums right. Therefore the next and consecutive bills will continue to under/over bill as it has no other info until the meter is read.

I think when people move into houses they should be advised of their responsibilities. The Companies only have to read a meter every 2 years so take control.

SwanJon

Cardew wrote: »

When you call them back, ask to speak to a supervisor and see if they will make a reduction in your outstanding amount to account for this factor.
If they don't agree, say you will take your case to the Regulator and get their opinion.
Assuming that they haven't adjusted prices back over the last 2 years I would hope for a 30% reduction.

Agree with pretty much all of the posts above, just wanting to clarify this.
You wouldn't be asking for a reduction, just to be billed at the price when the gas was consumed. Ask them to cancel back all the bills to when you moved in and recreate a new one to the accurate read. (Then maybe try for a reduction).
You could try mentioning the ombudsman (not regulator - Ofgem don't deal with individual cases) .Not sure what you'd want them to do, but if you mention them it shows that you have been doing your research and won't be fobbed off.

PasturesNew

KimYeovil wrote: »

(plus two lots of working tax credit)

They probably wouldn't qualify for working tax credit.

Even one single person living alone earning £12k is touch and go whether they qualify or not. Two people, sharing, combined income of £22k, wouldn't get a bean. Although £22k is quite a bit, I was just pointing out that WTC isn't available for everybody.

Fire_Fox

kerinsoph wrote: »

KimYeovil - It may seem like a trivial amount of money to others but is an awful lot extra for us, amongst the car, rent, electric, council tax, petrol money, insurance etc and we do not spend too much on everything else, in fact we dont have ANY spare cash to treat ourselves to anything.

Why don't you head over to the Debt-free Wannabe board (you don't have to be in debt!) and complete a Statement of Affairs? This is basically a budget planner, which the lovely peeps will look over and let you know where you could cut back. There are entire families living on £4k a year plus mortgage and council tax, so £22k for two all in should leave you with a surplus.