Electricity Arrears/Bill

chris1973

my monthly charge is circa £120 per month

Is this payment based on energy usage and the arrears, or just your Energy usage?

FF.STOLTZ

sorry for hijacking this thread but i just had a call from british gas saying we have arrears of £7000 !!! i dont know what to do !! im really worried ... ive gave them meter readings etc every year and they said there is a problem on there system and will give me a call back in a few hrs .. I contacted them reference putting up my direct debits last year about our payments of £36 per month as i know it isn't enough and they said that its fine and its covering our usage !!! i wasnt sure and phoned them a few weeks ago again and now they have just contacted me as a courtesy call as i will be recieiving a letter in the next few days .. we only got electricity (no gas) ..night storage ... any advice would be apprcieated .. i simply cant afford £7000. .

macman

If you have night storage heaters, then presumably you are on an E7 tariff, so this sounds like a classic case of transposed meter readings for night and day rate.
What is your annual usage in kWh for each rate, and have you been receiving accurate bills based on your meter readings?
An all electric property cannot possibly be powered for £432pa unless you hardly use the heating.

Premier_2

FF.STOLTZ wrote: »

sorry for hijacking this thread but i just had a call from british gas saying we have arrears of £7000 !!! i dont know what to do !! im really worried ... ive gave them meter readings etc every year and they said there is a problem on there system and will give me a call back in a few hrs .. I contacted them reference putting up my direct debits last year about our payments of £36 per month as i know it isn't enough and they said that its fine and its covering our usage !!! i wasnt sure and phoned them a few weeks ago again and now they have just contacted me as a courtesy call as i will be recieiving a letter in the next few days .. we only got electricity (no gas) ..night storage ... any advice would be apprcieated .. i simply cant afford £7000. .

As you are aware, you are hijacking someone elses thread.

Please start your own thread if you need help and advice on your own issue.

mattcanary

Electricy suppliers can threaten all they like by saying things like the customer must make a large lump sum payment upfront before they will accept regular tinstalments towards a debt. They can even take the customer to court over the arrears if they want to.

However, if the customer actually attends the court case, outlying what they can realistically afford (an income and expenses statement would help immeasurably in this respect) then the judge is likely to rule in the customer's favour as long as the proposal is sensible. That is, if the utility company doesn;t withdraw the customer's case from the list of arrears cases being presented on the day in the court anyway.

It is only because so few customers actually bother to go to court on the day that the warrants are granted and the customer has a prepayment meter fitted under warrant.

I would never want a prepayment meter. For the simple reason that you are relying on the efficiency of your utility provider for things to run smoothly. If the meter breaks, how quickly will the utility company come out to repair/replace it? (leaving you without power in the meantime).

It is not al att unknown, in addition for utility companies to erroneously set the wrong debt or debt repayment level on the prepayment meter? Will this be amended quickly or will the customer be left struggling to get by because the debt repayments have been set at something silly like £20.00 per wekk in error?

ArseandElbow

chris1973 wrote: »

Is this payment based on energy usage and the arrears, or just your Energy usage?

This was based on usuage, our gas was tiny compared, it's a 4 bedroom house and as we work different hours/shifts between the family there is heating/electricity cosntantly in use, add in the kitchen is all electric too..

I know I should be able to get a better rate and now with one daughter in Uni should be less usuage, once arrears clear I'll look at it all again, when i spoke about charge a few months back they said it was right for my usage, but now I've got a correct reading i'll come back to them next quarter see how it goes.

hecate20

I agree...the warrant charges are expensive so I would recommend voluntarily requesting a PPM to be put in now. You can then dispute charges after. Once they are in, and you get the revised bill with the correct outstanding, you can make lump payments off of it once you are in a better position, and then switch supplier and get a credit meter put back in if you wish.

The agent will be on commission. Different agents will have different policies, but generally they will get more commission if they settle without going to court. But either way they will be paid, and if the warrant is granted (which they usually are) you could have around £200 - £300 per meter added to your debt.