check your powergen bill

shepwood

Just had my latest bill on powergen online following Sept 6th price rise, very confusing how they had come to the bill amount but I was convinced it was not right. Found that they had charged too many primary units on both gas & electric (Quarterly thresholds 225KWh elec/1473 Kwh gas). Very helpfull at Pgen and credited my account with a refund but could not explain how this had happened. If their billing system is flawed then i might not be the only one to be overcharged.

Gal

How much were you charged exactly?

Primary unit thresholds per qtr change on the amount of days in the qtr -

91 Days = 225kWh (Electric) and 1143kWh (Gas)

Anything less / more would be dependant on the days in your qtr - More equals more units.

benbenandme

I had a letter from Powergen today telling me they have increased my direct debit from £45 a month to £60 as "my account is in arrears and to cover their price increases". I sent back a not-very-polite letter telling them that actually my acocunt is £86 in credit and I do not wish to be "told" they have increased the amount taken from my account, rather I would appreciate being "asked", and as it was I did not wish to increase it anyway!! I thought it was illegal for them to change the direct debit amount without your permission??

Gal

If they change the amount they have to notify you at least 7 working days beforehand. As outlined in the DD guarantee when you first set up the account.

It would be to cover price increases and is based on your previous years consumption. As far as I know the letter actually stated that the increases are for increases in price and any outstanding arrears. Not that your account is in arrears.

fairenoughclough

benbenandme wrote:

I had a letter from Powergen today telling me they have increased my direct debit from £45 a month to £60 as "my account is in arrears and to cover their price increases". I sent back a not-very-polite letter telling them that actually my acocunt is £86 in credit and I do not wish to be "told" they have increased the amount taken from my account, rather I would appreciate being "asked", and as it was I did not wish to increase it anyway!! I thought it was illegal for them to change the direct debit amount without your permission??

Definitely not very polite !:p

I rang them up and was told as my account was in arrears, there was no way they could reduce the monthly direct debit.

At the time the account was over £200 in credit and so I asked to speak to someone in management who quote"understood these highly complex financial terms a little better".

The very helpful gentleman (same surname, no relation) carried out an annual charge forecast based on previous years usage and latest rip-off prices and agreed to a £15.00 reduction in monthly direct debit.

shepwood

I had taken into account the number of days in the billing period but was able to demonstrate that they had overcharged. It was clearly wrong as Pgen owned up

Cardew

benbenandme wrote:

I had a letter from Powergen today telling me they have increased my direct debit from £45 a month to £60 as "my account is in arrears and to cover their price increases". I sent back a not-very-polite letter telling them that actually my acocunt is £86 in credit and I do not wish to be "told" they have increased the amount taken from my account, rather I would appreciate being "asked", and as it was I did not wish to increase it anyway!! I thought it was illegal for them to change the direct debit amount without your permission??

All they are required to do is notify you if they intend to increase or decrease your Direct Debit, they do not need your permission.

Direct Debit payment is not mandatory, you sign the DD mandate agreeing to the conditions of the scheme - which is backed by all the major banks and building societies..

You are not 'asked' if you agree to an increase. The notice given enables you to dispute the increase if you feel it is not justified. If you cannot agree the correct DD amount you can stop payment by DD and revert to paying quarterly, which often means an increased tariff.

lemontart

they never informed me when they increased mine, I only found out when checking bank statement

Beth
xx

quickstepqueen

This morning I get a letter (not a bill/statement) saying that we are in debt by £66 and in 7 days time they will change our meter settings so that £5 a week is taken out. Like others, I too am in credit so am furious. Just rang Powergen and was told their system is being updated so they can't access my account! Humphh. Apparently someone will call me back today (though not holding my breath.) My hand was shaking when I rang Powergen and it's shaking now just writing all this down. I mean, the letter just states the £66, it doesn't even show any calculations. (We're on a prepayment meter so shouldn't be able to get in debt though I know there's been a slight increase from 6th Sept but surely I can't have run up £66 debt!). Will be very hard to keep my patience with them when they call back. Just hope they can ring me before the OH gets back because if he gets involved fireworks will start!

Thanks to OP for highlighting this. I will check how many units of elec I have used so I can compare over the phone. Will keep you posted.

lemontart

big thanks to op, have just called them, gave them readings and after much persuasion and advising the to look at usage they will see that I am highly unlikely to use up the £125 credit on my acount up in next few weeks before next bill so got them to reduce it by £5 as they were unwilling to reduce the full £13 that their very own systems says it should be........next stop change of supplier via quidco to get the cash back too.

They claim they sent me letter in may!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!have gas supply with them too so digging out bills to check that too.

Beth
xx

Gal

quickstepqueen wrote:

This morning I get a letter (not a bill/statement) saying that we are in debt by £66 and in 7 days time they will change our meter settings so that £5 a week is taken out. Like others, I too am in credit so am furious. Just rang Powergen and was told their system is being updated so they can't access my account! Humphh. Apparently someone will call me back today (though not holding my breath.) My hand was shaking when I rang Powergen and it's shaking now just writing all this down. I mean, the letter just states the £66, it doesn't even show any calculations. (We're on a prepayment meter so shouldn't be able to get in debt though I know there's been a slight increase from 6th Sept but surely I can't have run up £66 debt!). Will be very hard to keep my patience with them when they call back. Just hope they can ring me before the OH gets back because if he gets involved fireworks will start!

Thanks to OP for highlighting this. I will check how many units of elec I have used so I can compare over the phone. Will keep you posted.

Are you on a token meter - Change of prices twice this year would mean you have been underpaying. This is common on PP meters.

I love it when people put that there shaking and furious - if you look at it in theory by shouting the odds and kicking up a fuss your just going to make the person on the other end of the phone less likely to want to go out there way to help you. If your polite then they are 10 times more likely to resolve the problem quicker.