Advice please ?

cdr

A few months ago i changed gas & electric suppliers from british gas to Powergen after researching on Uswitch.com. Up until now my prices have been pretty much half of what i was paying British Gas.
I gave them an electric meter reading last week and today, i have received a letter saying my monthly electric payments from this month are going to be £20 more than what im paying now. I live in a 2 bedroomed flat on my own, surely that cant be right ? Would having a meter work out better for someone like me ? Advice ?

Oh and i work 10 hours a day 5 days a week!

Thanks in advance
CDR

Cardew

I am not clear what you mean by having a meter when you gave a meter reading.

I am afraid it is standard practice when you change suppliers for them to fix your direct debit artificially low to 'encourage' you to change suppliers - and hence the comparison website gets their commission; that of course is their only concern.

There is no way Powergen prices were half that of BG. Cheaper perhaps, but not 50%.

Invitably if you are paying an insufficient amount on your Direct Debit you will build up a debit balance. After a while they re-assess you DD and you have to pay the increased sum to cover new prices and 'pay off' your debt.

This could well be the explanation in your case.

cdr

Sorry im not fully conversant in this area, i meant something like a token meter.. Looks like i was 'had' then, i was paying around £30 a month with BG and with Powergen i was paying £22 now £43. Hhmm that wasnt a smart move was it. Oh well, you live and learn.

Cardew

cdr wrote:

Sorry im not fully conversant in this area, i meant something like a token meter.. Looks like i was 'had' then, i was paying around £30 a month with BG and with Powergen i was paying £22 now £43. Hhmm that wasnt a smart move was it. Oh well, you live and learn.

I don't think 'had' is the right word. You probably were better off with Powergen when you switched but they nearly always exagerate the savings to encourage you to switch.

For example if £30 was the actual BG cost the 'true' cost was probably, say, more like £27 with Powergen. So paying £22 you were building up a debt of £5 a month(look upon it as interest free loan!)

Bear in mind that every utility company has had huge rises over the past few months. So your £27 true cost will have gone up a lot and on top of that you are being required to clear your debt.

Lastly the method you are on is by far the best - never ever get a token meter.

bargainbetty

Have a look at your bills. If your monthly payment has not covered your usage then it is going to go up - even more so when you allow for price increases and higher winter bills coming up. However, if you can prove that you are not using enough to justify the level of increase they have imposed, call them and demand a lower rise.

I just had a letter from EDF raising my monthly DD from £36 to £50. I called them and pointed out that my account was in credit, and when applied over a year, my monthly payment was covering the average. I told them that when price have gone up by 15%, I wouldn't accept paying an extra 40%. We eventually agreed on £40 per month to allow for higher prices.

Ignore that 'you don't have to do anything, we will just make the change to your DD' letter - just refuse to accept the dd increase, and they have to reach an agreement with you.