DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 7

Loubylou2

Well we were just thinkig how we'd got our heads round it all. Our first payment has gone out and we were sent confirmation from Payplan how much had gone to each or our creditors. Also been so good with our spending this month.

THEN out of the blue we get a huge energy bill from Eon. We only went with them because they lowered our payments a bit to £107 a month. Now I know I should have checked our bills in detail but remember this was in our 'head in the sand' period of our lives. But we knew that our meter had actually been read 3 times since October when we switched and so asumed all was ok but it turns out we are £700 in arrears. I can't believe it as we paid up with our previous supplier last October (only a tiny amount) So how has this happened?

They said our DD would be going up to £327 next month which is out of the question!! They have agreed to just take the £107 and we are going to monitor our energy consumption. Beyond that I just don't know. OH spoke to Payplan as we are so early in our DMP and she has put a note on our account that this may need to be taken into account but tbh we really feel knocked back by this and unfortunately have no old bills to compare etc. (yes our own stupid fault)
Anyway I suppose theres not a lot we can do as should have checked our bill every time. We have questioned why we are only being told now and were told that no readings ever got through to them from the meter reading agency.
Anyway I just needed a rant. Sorry:o

ex-rayday

Loubylou I am not sure what to advise you really, is there a board on here that deals with household bills etc you could post the bit about the bill to them minus the payplan stuff and see what you can do. Eon did a similar thing to me when I moved from them but the move went ahead and I wrote and offered them £20 a month and for a year paid to two companies. Who in the right mind can afford £300 a month? Definiately try to get advice from someone re what Eon have done then maybe you can work the rest out when you have info.

Sorry can't help you

grantalien

Loubylou2 wrote: »

Well we were just thinkig how we'd got our heads round it all. Our first payment has gone out and we were sent confirmation from Payplan how much had gone to each or our creditors. Also been so good with our spending this month.

THEN out of the blue we get a huge energy bill from Eon. We only went with them because they lowered our payments a bit to £107 a month. Now I know I should have checked our bills in detail but remember this was in our 'head in the sand' period of our lives. But we knew that our meter had actually been read 3 times since October when we switched and so asumed all was ok but it turns out we are £700 in arrears. I can't believe it as we paid up with our previous supplier last October (only a tiny amount) So how has this happened?

They said our DD would be going up to £327 next month which is out of the question!! They have agreed to just take the £107 and we are going to monitor our energy consumption. Beyond that I just don't know. OH spoke to Payplan as we are so early in our DMP and she has put a note on our account that this may need to be taken into account but tbh we really feel knocked back by this and unfortunately have no old bills to compare etc. (yes our own stupid fault)
Anyway I suppose theres not a lot we can do as should have checked our bill every time. We have questioned why we are only being told now and were told that no readings ever got through to them from the meter reading agency.
Anyway I just needed a rant. Sorry:o

Can you signup online with Eon? - that way you can monitor your consumption (you can also get a free energy monitor) - you need to ask them to explain how you have gone from oweing nothing to £700! - You can ask them to pay a lower amount this month (at least gives you a chance to budget for next month!) - remember by DD they take what they like - often they have said to me they will up my DD by over 50% - I tell them that over the year it evens out at about £60 pcm so they can b*****r off! - you need to find out why your energy costs have suddenly jumped!

mamajojo

ianmak wrote: »

Hi guys and gals, hope you are all well.

Just a thought on those saving up for emergencies...

In the last couple of months my oven and fridge part of my fridge/freezer packed up. Bear in mind I'm always skint, I was a bit worried, and was pondering borrowing the money to replace them or get them repaired (In the bad days I would have ordered new ones on credit immediately).

When I came to my senses, I looked online for repairing the fridge, they suggested that defrost-free freezer sometimes needs defrosting as the vents at the back sometimes get blocked. So I defrosted, and two days later everything is working again.

With the oven I ended up looking online, as I guessed to element had burnt out, managed to get a replacement for £20 (and £1.60 back on Quidco!), simple to replace and I'm back up and running again for £20 rather than £400!

Now that all maybe obvious to most, but I'm the least practical person in the world (I work in IT...) and I was quite chuffed with myself. being in tonnes of debt does occasionally have some benefits.

:T:T:T Very Impressed:T:T:T

Loubylou2

Thank you. I have also posted on another thread.
We are now monitoring our consumption for two weeks then speaking to the customer support again. I thought £107 was quite a lot to start with but tbh I don't know what the average bill is. We live in an end of terrace 5 bed house. Anyway thanks for your support. Just got rid of the sick feeling in our stomachs and now its back again.
Just catching up on the thread while OH is out trying to buy our 15 year old (size 12 feet:eek:) a bargain pair of trainers. Really wanted to wait till pay day but his old ones are so bad they had to be put outside last night!!
Thanks again

pinkiepie68

Hi

We had a similar thing frm Scottish Hydro. Payments were £ 150 by dd per mth and they upped it to £ 207 per mth due to the bad winter etc, but they also reset the period that they monitor the comsumption over. Before it was December to November, which gave you a better chance to clear any arrears accrued over the winter during the low consumption period during the summer. But now they have changed it from June to May, which means you have to have any accrued arrears cleared and make up any credit before the winter period comes in (if you know what I mean). Our standard bill prior to the arrears being added was £ 150 per mont for a 3 bed end terrace. My mum (who stays with us) monitors our readings on weekly basis and has caught them out a couple of times with misreadings etc. We are on an economy 10 tarrif which is really only supplied by about 2 companies so we cannot compare and change as a lot of companies will not even give you a quote for this. We stay in a rural location which takes quite harsh weather when it comes due to our location. Our home is double glazed, has cavity wall insulation etc and our appliances are mostly all A class energey efficient. We do all our washing in economy times, do not have a tumble dryer and try to burn the heating as little as possible (not at all in the summer and autumn!). But I cannot see our electricty improving as we have someone in the house all day and I am due to have another baby in November, which will to an extent impact on our consumption. Most of the other people in the terrace we live in have the same size of bill - but we have very little option to reduce this as there is no gas in the village we stay in. I explained this to CCCS and they were fine with it so maybe it is better something like this happening just now when your plan is in it's early stages - it means that you are not opening a can of worms 6 months down the line when it is all running smoothly. Pinkie x

ianmak

Loubylou2 wrote: »

Well we were just thinkig how we'd got our heads round it all. Our first payment has gone out and we were sent confirmation from Payplan how much had gone to each or our creditors. Also been so good with our spending this month.

THEN out of the blue we get a huge energy bill from Eon. We only went with them because they lowered our payments a bit to £107 a month. Now I know I should have checked our bills in detail but remember this was in our 'head in the sand' period of our lives. But we knew that our meter had actually been read 3 times since October when we switched and so asumed all was ok but it turns out we are £700 in arrears. I can't believe it as we paid up with our previous supplier last October (only a tiny amount) So how has this happened?

They said our DD would be going up to £327 next month which is out of the question!! They have agreed to just take the £107 and we are going to monitor our energy consumption. Beyond that I just don't know. OH spoke to Payplan as we are so early in our DMP and she has put a note on our account that this may need to be taken into account but tbh we really feel knocked back by this and unfortunately have no old bills to compare etc. (yes our own stupid fault)
Anyway I suppose theres not a lot we can do as should have checked our bill every time. We have questioned why we are only being told now and were told that no readings ever got through to them from the meter reading agency.
Anyway I just needed a rant. Sorry:o

I don't suppose there's any chance that someone's syphening electric from you?

I live in a 1 bed flat, economy 7, and pay £46 a month for everything (I don't have gas). Admittedly again, I've become a bit of a miser (Sit in the dark, use energy efficient bulbs etc, and I don't have any teenagers living in the house, lol).

ianmak

CCCS article in today's Mirror...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/08/13/back-to-black-115875-22484209/

the_tooth_fairy

You could have blown me over with a default notice this morning!
OH got his RBS c/c bill and guess what, they've reduced interest to 0% as well!! What's happening, both doing this after all this time, and all the letters we sent, etc? I'm very pleased of course, but remain mystified about how they come to these decisions!
Have a great weekend, everyone

ttfx

Twit_Head

the_tooth_fairy wrote: »

You could have blown me over with a default notice this morning!
OH got his RBS c/c bill and guess what, they've reduced interest to 0% as well!! What's happening, both doing this after all this time, and all the letters we sent, etc? I'm very pleased of course, but remain mystified about how they come to these decisions!
Have a great weekend, everyone

ttfx

Brilliant news TF! So pleased for you.
It's always said God works in mysterious ways, but so do the creditors!
This should take some of the strain off your DMP and hopefully you'll get it repaid sooner now

'Twitty'