First Utility .. Am I paying twice?

Red_Imp

Something I can't get my head round ....is it me or am I being charged twice?.....:(
Looking at my February bill I notice that I was charged for an "estimated" usage from 16/02/14 to 21/02/14

I then looked at my March bill and lo and behold I was charged an "estimated" usage from 16/02/14 to 21/02/14 :eek:

Can someone else please check their bills and see if I am right or not.:T :A

macman

But a March bill does not cover 16/2 to 21/2, if you are on a monthly billing. Is this an actual bill, or just a monthly statement on a DD account?

Red_Imp

That's my point macman....February and March both have 16th - 21st Feb on them.

My bills used to be simple...... whatever date I read the meter that was the amount I was charged ...seems fine to me,if I was a day or two early or late I would be charged to that date and the next month it would catch up but they changed the system some months and stuck in this estimated usage charge which is not a problem if you only get charged once but I seem to have been charged two months running for the same days (16th to 21st)

I just hoped that someone else would look at their last couple of bills to see if it had happened to them. I have had 74 viewings so I have decided it must be just me ..........unless someone else knows else wise

matelodave

It shouldn't be all that difficult for you to check your bills and to get them put right - if they are estimating and your are actually giving them readings and they don't match then start a complaint and get a complaint reference, that will start the complaint process working and hopefully focus their minds on sorting it out - if they don't you can then refer it to the ombudsman.


I've been with them for nearly six months and haven't had a bill yet. My web account just isn't working it's still showing that I'm still in the switching process.
Somehow they are taking my monthly direct debit and it's showing up on my web account (they've had six so far) but they have been unable to show any meter readings, consumption or billing information.
I initiated a complaint, which I keep gently simmering by sending them a meter reading every month as they request using the complaint reference number and they do actually respond with an apology but I dunno what they are doing with the readings.
As far as I'm concerned I can keep my own records and providing they don't muck about with the dd I'll be happy until my contract comes up for renewal next April when I'm pretty confident that they'll owe me money and I'll then have to fight to get it back.

Red_Imp

Thanks matelodave, I am taking on board what you have said.

To be fair to First Utility, I was overpaying by about £30 a month so I asked to be refunded after after about 7 months. I just filled in the form to contact them which they replied to within a week ( I know they struggle to answer their emails quickly) and within a month I had received a cheque for the over payment.I have set up a variable D.D. to pay the monthly amount due and hopefully this will solve the over payment problem.

My point in the original post was that I was concerned that F. U. might have been charging a lot of people for fuel twice ( The amount is only £5 ish but...multiply this by thousands of customers and there would have been something to complain about )

However I have now had 236 views and no one has admitted to the same experience so I assume it is not a problem.........................unless someone else knows else wise

MorbidX

Does your march bill contain an actual reading as well say from 21st feb to 16th march?

It could be an actual reading has been obtained and the estimate has been reworked as it was too high or too low from the previous bill. hard to say without seeing it myself.

I work for one of the big six (we're not all bad ) so i'm more than happy to help if i can or if you can provide more info.

Red_Imp

MorbidX wrote: »

Does your march bill contain an actual reading as well say from 21st feb to 16th march?

It could be an actual reading has been obtained and the estimate has been reworked as it was too high or too low from the previous bill. hard to say without seeing it myself.

I work for one of the big six (we're not all bad ) so i'm more than happy to help if i can or if you can provide more info.

Here are my 2 electric bills, see if you can work it out

February bill
19/01/14 C 20303.000 21/01/14 E 20320.252 17.252
21/01/14 E 20320.252 16/02/14 C 20462.000 141.748
16/02/14 C 20462.000 21/02/14 E 20509.384 47.384
March Bill
16/02/14 C 20462.000 21/02/14 E 20524.063 62.063
21/02/14 E 20524.063 20/03/14 C 20781.000 256.937
so I was charged £5.72 in February and £7.50 in March (+ 5% I assume)...

MorbidX

For some reason (i would imagine due to the actual reading give 20/03/14) they have recalculated the estimate for 21/02/14 from orig being 20509 to being 20524

you shouldn't be double billed as if you have already paid the previous months bill it should show that you paid monetary wise upto 20509 and that on the latest bill they are billing through the old charges which you paid for so are null and void and then the additional 15 units which should appear on this bill.

Without seeing both bills in full it would be hard to check through this im afraid to be 100% sure

Also...

The fact they are estimating "mid bill" suggests the readings you are giving aren't aligned with their bill dates.

E.g... They are due to bill you say 28th of April but you provide a reading 19th April so they input that then estimate on the 28th anyway which is why your readings are sandwiched by estimates e.g Estimate Actual Estimate

courtney22

If you look on page two of your bill the most recent one you will see that you have had credits applied which is the usage you were charged on the previous bill .
They have reversed usage as I presume on your previous bill you were billed to a estimate your most recent bill will reflect your usage billing you to actual meter reads rather than estimate usage .hth