Advice please, Re: British Gas and arrears

Wkdwill

Hi

Im wondering if anyone could offer some advice please.

I have been paying my Gas and Electric via direct debit, at a rate which they set by me answering some questions, like how many people, appliances etc etc. I was paying this amount and I have to admit as I am on the paperless billing setting I never really checked my bill properly, then when the rates dropped they dropped my direct debits and this is where it all took a downwards turn, I never noticed until a few months later but we actually got into a lot of arears with the Gas, so a month ago BG rung me up demanding higher payments, approximately 4x what we were already paying, at the time my husband was about to lose his job so I set it as high as I could (still £74 less than what they wanted) but its all we could afford.

Im a little annoyed that they let you get into such high arrears before they start asking for an increase in direct debit, I do admit that I should have been keeping an eye on it though.

I asked them about fitting a pre pay meter, but they said that I would have to pay £25 a week to the arrears before any money I put on it would be available for use.

I am now contemplating changing suppliers, having a pre pay meter fitted and offering BG a set amount each month, im wondering if this would be possible, would I be looking at some charges for leaving them, my mum said she changed suppliers recently and was charged £70 or £80 just for leaving. Or would I be best just sticking with them?

Thanks for reading

beecher

You'd need to clear your arrears totally before moving. A prepay meter seems a drastic measure - just get into the habit of reading your meter once a month and take control of your usage. ALWAYS check an estimated bill and you'll get back on track.

Wkdwill

beecher wrote: »

You'd need to clear your arrears totally before moving. A prepay meter seems a drastic measure - just get into the habit of reading your meter once a month and take control of your usage. ALWAYS check an estimated bill and you'll get back on track.

We originally wanted pre pay meters when we first moved here anyway, but BG fitted new credit meters and then refused to fit pre pay ones.

It doesn't help that our new central heating had a faulty thermostat fitted and we didnt know till after a year, which ment that we were using more gas than we should have, the main problem with clearing the arrears is we cant pay it outright and the amount of our new DD is barely even touching it.

Vestra

By the sounds of it you have arrears of about £1300? Your company will set a direct debit that covers your usage and debt, if you do not want to do this you will need to have a prepayment meter fitted.

As I'm sure you've not realised it is your responsibility to check your bills and payments.

Wkdwill

Vestra wrote: »

By the sounds of it you have arrears of about £1300? Your company will set a direct debit that covers your usage and debt, if you do not want to do this you will need to have a prepayment meter fitted.

As I'm sure you've not realised it is your responsibility to check your bills and payments.

Nope my arrears is £650, they had my payments set at £32 a month, then the rates changed and they reduced it to £27, they then contacted me last month and said that I need to increase my direct debit to £134 a month to clear the arrears and pay my monthly amount, due to our own problems I couldn't raise it to no more than £50 a month until things improved. I asked about having a prepayment meter fitted and they said that I would have to pay at least £25 a week into it to go straight to my arrears before any money I paid into it would go to my usage.

And yes as I said before I should have taken more notice to the bills, but then theres also the question as to why BG would let you get into arrears that far before asking for a higher payment.

Vestra

Wkdwill wrote: »

Nope my arrears is £650, they had my payments set at £32 a month, then the rates changed and they reduced it to £27, they then contacted me last month and said that I need to increase my direct debit to £134 a month to clear the arrears and pay my monthly amount, due to our own problems I couldn't raise it to no more than £50 a month until things improved. I asked about having a prepayment meter fitted and they said that I would have to pay at least £25 a week into it to go straight to my arrears before any money I paid into it would go to my usage.

And yes as I said before I should have taken more notice to the bills, but then theres also the question as to why BG would let you get into arrears that far before asking for a higher payment.

If your arrears are only £650 you would only be paying back the debt at £12.50 a week as the debt is usually spread over 12 months on the meter. You could ask them to spread the debt longer if they can.