Gas bill - threatened with cut off

AndyJay

Hi all....
Having spoken with our Gas supplier on the telephone over a partly outstanding bill, were feeling very worried about being cut off.
We receiveda gas bill in April which was way over what we had budgeted for. This turned out to be because we had received previous bill that were estimated and were way off the actual bill.
We should have checked ourselves, but have never really had a problem with the estimates before.
This bill was for over £400 where we normally budget for a winter bill of around £250.
We telephoned the Gas company and expalined the situation and paid £250. We explained we would pay the rest of the bill split between the folowwing summner bils as these would be cheaper. The gentleman agreed but explained that we would still recieve reminderd for the remaining money owed.
We have now received our next gas bill which is £60 but the gas company are demanding that we pay £214 immediately or we will go through their automatic court procedings process and incure an extra £50 costs.
We have telephoned them again but they will not budge from this threat.
How can they change their minds on our agreement and where do we stand with regards to sticking with our original agreement?
Can they cut us off or/and charge us the £50 court procedings?
We simply can't pay the amount they are asking.
We fee we are being reasonable with our offer, but they simply don't want to know.
We are posting this in the hope that someone can advise.
Sorry for being so long winded in explaing.
Thank you in advance
Worried Couple

jamespir

ok my advice is contact you local citerzens advice bureau they may beable to speak to them im pretty sure the gas company wont take u to court its just a threat to get you to pay they will most likely repalce your meter with a token one thats what they did with us when iwas in your situation


but as a i said contact cab they can help

Doodles22

AndyJay wrote: »

Hi all....
Having spoken with our Gas supplier on the telephone over a partly outstanding bill, were feeling very worried about being cut off.
We receiveda gas bill in April which was way over what we had budgeted for. This turned out to be because we had received previous bill that were estimated and were way off the actual bill.
We should have checked ourselves, but have never really had a problem with the estimates before.
This bill was for over £400 where we normally budget for a winter bill of around £250.
We telephoned the Gas company and expalined the situation and paid £250. We explained we would pay the rest of the bill split between the folowwing summner bils as these would be cheaper. The gentleman agreed but explained that we would still recieve reminderd for the remaining money owed.
We have now received our next gas bill which is £60 but the gas company are demanding that we pay £214 immediately or we will go through their automatic court procedings process and incure an extra £50 costs.
We have telephoned them again but they will not budge from this threat.
How can they change their minds on our agreement and where do we stand with regards to sticking with our original agreement?
Can they cut us off or/and charge us the £50 court procedings?
We simply can't pay the amount they are asking.
We fee we are being reasonable with our offer, but they simply don't want to know.
We are posting this in the hope that someone can advise.
Sorry for being so long winded in explaing.
Thank you in advance
Worried Couple

I am in arrears with my gas/electricity/phone bill. What should I do?

If you are in arrears with your gas, electricity or phone bill you can be disconnected, although you should be notified in writing before this happens. You should contact the company and try to come to an arrangement to repay the arrears. Gas and electricity companies must take notice of customers in need and should allow you to pay back what you owe at a rate you can afford. If you require further help and advice you can contact us on 0800 138 1111.






You should look at this website http://www.cccs.co.uk/


They will be able to draft a letter with you to send them.
Free service and there very, very good


Goodluck mate, hope you get it sorted

Joyful

The only way a company would normally allow this would be to set you up on an official payment plan. It may now be too late as your next bill has arrived. Try to see if they will do this for you and escalate with the info you gave here if they will not.

spiro

As they are asking for £214 I am guessing you original bill was £404. You paid £250 leaving £154 outstanding which you said you would pay in 2 installments with you next 2 bills i.e. additional £78 per bill. As they have now billed you for £60 I suggest you make a payment straight away of £138 (£60+£78), this will show you are willing to stick to your arrangement. This will give you more breathing room to argue about the other £78.

Vestra

You need to set up an agreed payment plan where they will take weekly/fortnightly/monthly payments to cover your debt and usage or you will face getting a prepayment meter fitted.

OriginalDisco

AndyJay wrote: »

How can they change their minds on our agreement...

It seems to heavily depend on who you speak to.

I had an agreement with our supplier to pay an outstanding electricity bill, I was to make a couple of ad-hoc payments and then set up a Direct Debit that took the remaining outstanding amount into account.

Once I'd made the payments I got a call-back from them and was halfway through setting up a new DD when my phone cut out.

I called them straight back and bloke I'd been speaking to had moved onto another call, so I was put onto someone else.

And even though I'd been in the process of setting up a DD with the previous bloke the new lad I was talking to refused to set up a payment plan unless I made another ad-hoc payment.

It's a disgrace that each person in the callcentre can decide on the spot what you have to pay, regardless of what you've agreed with someone previously.

I'd go to Citizen's Advice, but it'll probably benefit you to call the supplier back again and offer an amount you can afford right now, and a promise of further payment, which might placate them a little.

KimYeovil

You can't find an extra £24? (You did say you could budget for £250.)

Premier_2

Doodles22 wrote: »

I am in arrears with my gas/electricity/phone bill. What should I do?

If you are in arrears with your gas, electricity or phone bill you can be disconnected, ...

Disconnection will only be as a very last resort.

Where a debt has arisen for any reason other than infrequent payments, then the supplier should first offer a repayment plan. Typically this repayment plan could be up to a period equal to that period the debt accrued.

If no repayment plan can be agreed, or an agreed plan is broken by the customer, then the supplier should consider the fitment of a prepayment meter to recover the debt rather than disconnect. The fitment of a PPM is normally only considered not appropriate when the supplier has good reason to believe the fitment of such meter will not allow recovery of the debt (e.g. the customer has moved away)

DVardysShadow

OriginalDisco wrote: »

... I had an agreement with our supplier to pay an outstanding electricity bill, I was to make a couple of ad-hoc payments and then set up a Direct Debit that took the remaining outstanding amount into account.

Once I'd made the payments I got a call-back from them and was halfway through setting up a new DD when my phone cut out.

I called them straight back and bloke I'd been speaking to had moved onto another call, so I was put onto someone else.

And even though I'd been in the process of setting up a DD with the previous bloke the new lad I was talking to refused to set up a payment plan unless I made another ad-hoc payment.

It's a disgrace that each person in the callcentre can decide on the spot what you have to pay, regardless of what you've agreed with someone previously.

Strikes me as a very good dirty trick. Of course if people come to believe that call centres are lacking in integrity, then they will only deal with the companies in writing....