Unpaid British Gas/Electric Bill

whipped

In early Jan 09 I received my gas & elect bill from British Gas. I was unable to pay all of this in one go so applied for the direct fuel scheme through the DWP. BG wanted to deduct about £40 a week and I wrote back and said this was too much and rang them. I was advised that they would contact BG and sort something more affordable out.

KimYeovil

If you owe £1200 and do not want to pay £40 per week then your only option is a prepayment meter. Other options will require the debt to paid off over twelve months.

A prepayment meter will not be any more expensive than the standard tariff you are on - the only problem is that you have to pay for winter's heating as you go along. And you will not have the flexibility to move to significantly cheaper tariffs.

The horror stories about arrears and prepayment meters are misleading - the weekly arrears repayment is fixed and can be fixed at a lower sum than other repayment options. The horror stories are only triggered when you stop making regular payments (eg in this weather) and missed arrears have to be recouped from subsequent top-ups.

Why not contact British Gas and ask them what they can accept as a weekly arrears payment if you switch to a prepayment meter?

whipped

Oh thank you so much for your advice, very much appreciated and relieved to find a way out of this mess. If I move to a prepayment meter and wanted to switch back to paying quarterly would it possible? Also I really don't know how much to offer towards the arrears. For instance if I pay £10 on a prepayment card then how much would they deduct from this. My other option could be if it was possible I arrange with them about 50-70 a month towards my debt could I still stay on what I am at the moment?

I don't know nothing about tariffs, and if standard tariff more expensive?

Vestra

By the sounds of it, I am guessing you haven't actually made a payment on the account in quite a while? If this is the case I think your supplier is really only going to accept full payment or a prepayment meter to be fitted.

Cardew

whipped wrote: »

Oh thank you so much for your advice, very much appreciated and relieved to find a way out of this mess. If I move to a prepayment meter and wanted to switch back to paying quarterly would it possible? Also I really don't know how much to offer towards the arrears. For instance if I pay £10 on a prepayment card then how much would they deduct from this. My other option could be if it was possible I arrange with them about 50-70 a month towards my debt could I still stay on what I am at the moment?

I don't know nothing about tariffs, and if standard tariff more expensive?

As Kim above states, there are far too many horror stories abour pre-pay meter tariffs.

The tariff is the same as standard tariff with BG(not with all companies). HOWEVER the difficulty - apart from the inconvenience - will be that you will have the meter set to pay back your debt.

It costs quite a bit to change the meters to pre-pay and it is extremely doubtful if they will change them back to credit meters for a long while.

If you can pay £70 a month back I would try to negotiate with BG to see if they will accept that payment plan and keep your credit meter.

With a credit meter you should be able to switch to BG's cheaper Websaver tariff.

whipped

Vestra wrote: »

By the sounds of it, I am guessing you haven't actually made a payment on the account in quite a while? If this is the case I think your supplier is really only going to accept full payment or a prepayment meter to be fitted.

Thanks, vestra I have only found out that BG have not been deducting payments from DWP. I will contact them today to offer a payment proposal.

thanks to all for advice

chnelomi

Dont be scared of the prepayment meters they are not that bad, after the first couple of weeks you will work out how much you need in each week to cover debt and supply the gas elec needed for use.

When we moved into our flat both meters were pre pay and i was not happy i had no debt to pay and wanted them out, but after a couple of weeks i calmed down and got used to taking the cards out with me when i shopped each week i put a set amount on the cards then once a month when i have extra money i stick a little bit extra on to cover emergency weeks that i may have allot to pay. In months like this (2 birthdays and car tax/insurance all within 11 days) i know i can delay the purchase of the credit for a couple of days without being in the dark.

If i was paying by DD i would need to cancel it or find even more money to pay it. Also you have an emergency of £5 on it if you are ever caught short but when you credtit the meter you pay it back aswell as any charges due.
HTH

Fran

whipped wrote: »

My water bill is deducted from my benefits and also my t.v licence.

Why not have a look at Martin's debt info, if you have water & TV licence already deducted from benefits and now gas as well (plus other debts not mentioned?) it would be advisable to contact one of the free debt advice organisations to find the best way to deal with this.

whipped

Well I phoned up BG yesterday and explained that what had happened. I have switched to websaver thanks to cardew's advice.

I offered to pay 70 a mth but they said it was not enough and I needed to pay at least 140. I told them that I was on benefits, but he they didn't seem to care. They also said if I wanted to have a meter put in and I said no, because hopefully I am getting my finances sorted out. I only have two instalmets left on another debt to pay, after that I hopefully will be able to pay BG some more.
They said they were going to write to me and I think I will put it in writing and see what they say

KimYeovil

Why not write to your other creditor and instead of paying them two large instalments ask them to extend your repayments interest free for twelve months? That will give you more money to spare to pay British Gas.

Note that if you mess around with British Gas too much they will eventually give up being flexible and just get a warrant to install the prepayment meter. You will be charged at least £300 for this. If you are just going to dilly-dally around and not offer a realistic repayment then you ought to agree to a change of meter for free before you end up having to pay for warrants and locksmiths.

markharding557

utilitly bills should always come before unsecured debt so if you have to fall behind let it be unsecured debt