£305 budget plan reconciliation? utility warehouse

jomorey

Hi please could someone help me.
I just checked my bank and realised utility warehouse have taken a total of £379 of wich £305 are budget plan reconciliation.

What is this? I did not recieve any letter from them warning me about this
Any imput will be gratefully apreciated.

macman

Do you owe them £305? It indicates that your monthly DD's are not adequate for your consumption and that following a meter reading you have been hit with a huge catch-up bill. What does your bill/meter say?

Cardew

When you sign a Direct Debit mandate you authorise the Utility company to take a variable payment from your bank account.

The only stipulation is that they must inform you in advance of the sum they are going to take from your account. If they don't inform you then you can get the bank to refund you under the Direct Debit Guarantee.

However as you apparently know that £305 of the £379 is for Budget Plan reconciliation, that indicates you were told of their intent??

They don't have to send a letter, the monthly bill is sufficient.

Are you therefore sure that a bill, stating what amount was to be taken, wasn't received before the date of the transaction?

jomorey

What happend was I switch to first utility as utility warehouse bills got really high. How can I owe them money I have paid all my bills every month? And yes they send me a bill 2 days ago and took money out yesterday. Is there any way that you may know if they can refund this money and be paid to them slowly? I cant afford to pay all that straight away as I got a budget that would not permit me to do it?
thanks for your your help!

macman

You pay a DD each month presumably? But that is not a bill-that is normally issued quaterly.
If your DD does not cover your consumption then once your meter is read you get a big catch-up bill.
Which is why you need to check your meter readings and look at your last bill-estimated or actual readings?
Have you been supplying regular readings-at least quarterly?
You need to establish of you actually owed this money before you do anything else, and get a handle on your usage.
When did you switch to UW and how much is your monthly DD?

MillicentBystander

Almost uniquely in the industry, UW actually issue monthly bills. Opt to give them meter readings every month and you will be charged for your exact usage. Thereby avoiding messes like this.

macman

Presumably the OP has been receiving (inaccurate) estimated bills and not submitting regular readings then-more info needed.

MillicentBystander

Yes. Due to the fact they issue monthly bills I suppose it negates the need to write to their punters outlining a direct debit increase. Certainly my bill arrives approx 14 days before any DD that is showing on it is actually deducted from my bank.

Quentin

jomorey wrote: »

What happend was I switch to first utility as utility warehouse bills got really high. How can I owe them money I have paid all my bills every month? And yes they send me a bill 2 days ago and took money out yesterday. Is there any way that you may know if they can refund this money and be paid to them slowly? I cant afford to pay all that straight away as I got a budget that would not permit me to do it?
thanks for your your help!

I suspect they have broken the dd ts + cs by only giving you 2 days notice. If that is the case, then you can use the dd guarantee to get the money refunded. Contact your bank who should put the money directly back in your account.

You can then dispute the bill with uw.

But if it ends up as correct, then they will be able to come for it again as a lump sum, and if they don't get paid expect them to set their debt collecting procedure into full swing, as you have now left them and they cannot cut you off etc!

dude89

jomorey wrote: »

What happend was I switch to first utility as utility warehouse bills got really high. How can I owe them money I have paid all my bills every month? And yes they send me a bill 2 days ago and took money out yesterday. Is there any way that you may know if they can refund this money and be paid to them slowly? I cant afford to pay all that straight away as I got a budget that would not permit me to do it?
thanks for your your help!

I doubt this has much to do with underpayments or estimated bills, though these could of played a smaller part. More likely to do with the fact its a final bill at the end of the winter period. When most people (excluding eon customers) would expect there to be a debit balance.

MillicentBystander

By the way, on a side note, have you checked fully the T&Cs attached to your first:utility tariff? Genuine question....