Why all the threads for "do i need to pay my bill?"

Katie-Kat-Kins

I don't think it is surprising, or that most people are actually saying that they don't want to pay for what they have used.

The majority are genuinely shocked by a high bill and worried about how they will pay. Often they are worried that there has been an error and worried about how they will pay.

I think most of the problems are down to lack of understanding about how energy billing works and lack of transparency from energy companies.

If you are sold a new tarriff on the basis that you pay £50 a month and you pay £50 a month as requested and two years down the line get told that your £50 a month wasn't enough and you should have been paying £100 a month you are bound to be shocked.

Gas and electricity are the only services billed in this way, people are used to monthly direct debits covering their actual usage as with phones, mobile phones, council tax, water, etc.

Bills can be very difficult to understand and customer services staff often aren't particularly knowledgeable. People expect (wrongly) that the utility companies will deal with them in an honest and open fashion and do not expect for example to have their direct debit set artificially low.

taxi97w

There are instances where the consumer is not always responsible for certain 'errors'. Such as the time when I had a leccy pre-payment meter that was not updated for two years to reflect the current tariffs. They tried to bill me 250 pounds for the difference.

I got Energy Watch got involved and it was revealed that the onus is on the energy provider to change the meter to suit the tarrif- if not, it's their error and therefore they suffer the loss.
But most people just pay these types of bills thinking there is nothing they can do.

spinningsheep

Sorry maybe I should have elaborated in my original post, I absolutely agree that someone hit with a catch up bill down to an imperial/metric mix up cannot be held soley responsible for the error in billing of course, so the utility company needs to allow a period of time to catch up with payments that will cause minimum disruption to the customer. If it's a case of someone simply not bothering to read their meter and seeing estimated bills as being accurate, sorry, ignorance is no defence, its like in shops, signs that say "please check your change, as mistakes cannot be rectified later", there is joint responsibilty to the customer to make sure their bills reflect their real readings, and if your meter is not accessable eg in flats, you need to badger whoever does have access to allow you to see the meter. It is not hard. I work full time, and a part time job too, run a house and live a life and I still manage to find 2 mins to note down a reading and then submit it online, or call the utility company to let them know. If you take your eye off the ball, bad things happen and you lose out. If you don't receive a bill, put some money aside, that way when you do get "found out" if you like, or any disputes over who supplies who are sorted out, you can just pay the bill in full, of a fair old chunk of it at least, and you have no headaches over where the money comes from!

Katie-Kat-Kins

You are right of course, but people have to actually know that they need to check a meter, and know that they need to put money aside.

They only know this if "someone" tells them.

The majority of the posts you are talking about seem to me to be from younger people in their first house/flat and it is often the first time they have had sole control of their bills. Nobody tells them this stuff, often their parents either aren't savvy enough to know themselves, or don't have the financial pressures that mean checking the meter weekly is seen as worth doing.

It is just the sort of thing that a PSHE lesson could usefully teach instead of the endless focus on sex and drugs.....

KimYeovil

dogshome wrote: »

Sorry troops. I don't agree
Yes there are indeed a few posts on a 'Can I get away with this' theme, but the majority are from people in serious trouble because of::
A Lack of education in just how important it is to check each and every Utility bill to the
last full stop. But the question is - Where do they get this education other than this site?
B The massive holes in the 2002 Utilities Act - Can you imagine what it does to a working
family who carefully budget, when they get a bill demanding a further 200% on all the
money they have paid for Gas in the last 5 years due to a Metric/Imperial meter mix up,
likewise an unexpected demand because thier meter readings have been estimated time
after time after time.

From the posting times, it's apparent that many posters to this thread are retiree's as I am, and we have the time to really look at our bills.
But think back to when you had the job and a couple of kid's to worry about and if you are honest, you will remember that checking the leccy bill wasn't your highest priority

Don't agree. Even if your bills are confusing you should still know what your readings were, what they are now, approximately how much that would cost, and how much you have paid. Although even an 'expert' can get confused trying to parse an individual bill everyone except the most arithmetically challenged can work out over the long term where they stand.

JennyR68

KimYeovil wrote: »

Don't agree. Even if your bills are confusing you should still know what your readings were, what they are now, approximately how much that would cost, and how much you have paid. Although even an 'expert' can get confused trying to parse an individual bill everyone except the most arithmetically challenged can work out over the long term where they stand.

You don't need any arithmetic skills whatsoever other than the ability to recognise numbers to work out your estimated bills using a tool like

http://smartmeter.ukpower.co.uk/

spinningsheep

What ever happened to the public information films like in the 1970's and 1980's, bring em back! How to read your meter, how to save energy etc etc. The nanny state tries to control most other aspects of our day to day lives, why not that? At least it would be something of use. Wouldn't even need to be a film! Just an animation. They could use Charlie the cat like the one from the 70's. "Wrooweoaowow" " Charlie says read your meter!":rotfl:

KimYeovil

Hmm. I think on one occassion spending fifteen minutes getting your head round how two-tier tariffs and a calculator work and then subsequently only spending thirty seconds estimating a bill would be a lot less bother than trawling through all those smart meter inputs . But your mileage may vary.

JennyR68

KimYeovil wrote: »

Hmm. I think on one occassion spending fifteen minutes getting your head round how two-tier tariffs and a calculator work and then subsequently only spending thirty seconds estimating a bill would be a lot less bother than trawling through all those smart meter inputs . But your mileage may vary.

I meant for your mathematically challenged folks kim. If the 15 mins getting heads around tiers is too 'painfully exploding' for them they might be less challenged entering a few numbers and their tariff.

janninew

KimYeovil wrote: »

Hmm. I think on one occassion spending fifteen minutes getting your head round how two-tier tariffs and a calculator work and then subsequently only spending thirty seconds estimating a bill would be a lot less bother than trawling through all those smart meter inputs . But your mileage may vary.

Have you ever used this web-site? It literally takes 30 secs as long as you have you meter readings to hand and its very accurate too. Why bother with a calculator and waste 15 mins of your time? Plus you may find it easy to get your head around different tier's and standing charges etc. but I'm pretty sure alot of people would struggle.

I used this web-site for the first time very recently and the estimated bill amount was only a few pence out from my real bill that I received a couple of weeks ago. A really good web-site, very useful for keeping your eye on your energy useage!