MSE News: Energy firms hit two million households with late bills 1 March 2016 at 2:55PM in Energy 12 replies 1.5K views

MSE_Luke

As many as 2.1 million households have been hit by large late bills in the last year because energy suppliers initially undercharged them...

Read the full story:
'Energy firms hit two million households with late bills'

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matelodave

This looks like another headline grabbing scare again.

Why always lay the blame at the energy companies. They usually try and make a best guess (they call it an estimate) at a customer's consumption and charge them accordingly until they get accurate readings.

This all falls down when customers don't take any responsibility for their bills, payments or readings. Most suppliers don't read meters more than once a year anymore, sometimes even less frequently, so it's not surprising that big bills occur when a meter reader comes.

It's not difficult to check your own meter against bills and make sure that any estimates are corrected. Likewise, why does it come as a surprise to some that their direct debits haven't been taken out for several months. Don't they ever check their bank accounts or even wonder why they've got more money in there than they should.

It's about time people took a bit more responsibility for themselves rather than always blaming someone else and then expecting to be bailed out or let off because they are too idle to sort themselves out.

Rant over

System

Agreed. The 'Headline' title to this thread is extremely misleading. If consumers cannot be bothered to read their meters and provide their supplier with actual meter readings then they cannot be surprised when they receive an adjusted bill. This a non story which just plays in to the Govt's hands when it comes to defending the roll out of £12Bn worth of smart meters.

[Deleted User]

Lets face it Hengus, its a hell of a defence if smart meters are going to speed up 2.1 million customers bills who have nt got the brains to know that the supplier has nt a magic wand in guessing what they use.Smart meters would the most sensible option for everyone, including you, because you would nt be subsidising all the thieves and thickos and professional renters helping themselves to free energy.

One-Eye

It's cheaper to borrow money interest free from your energy supplier than to borrow from a bank or credit card, but you will have to repay what you have borrowed at some point.

They could always increase everyone's direct debit by 25% which would definitely reduce the scale and frequency of this "problem".

The other day I had a lovely meal at a restaurant. When I had finished and was about to leave they presented me with a late bill which was much higher than I expected. Don't they realise people have got to eat. Apparently there is no restaurant ombudsman and the minister for food doesn't want to know about this very common problem.

jcontest

What I don't understand is how customers can get these low values to begin with. I think that customers sometimes "Expect" low usage but find the reality is a lot worse off than they think. Unless your in your 20's and buying electricity or gas for the first time then I think a lot of the blame here is down to consumers who have not yet learned to use their brain.

D_M_E

jcontest - a lot of the problems are caused by the energy regulator and comparison websites, as well as suppliers, only using 75% of your actual usage figures on which to base the "expected" direct debit payments.

Doing it like this is GUARRANTEED to make sure a large number of consumers automatically fall into debt, especially those who rely on the direct debit payments covering actual usage and don't bother supplying regular readings.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Interesting way to keep customers on the books, wonder how many are forced to stay with their present supplier due to the final bill being unmanageable.

geoffW

I'd rather be undercharged rather than overcharged, it can be hard work trying to get your money back from some of them when you leave.

[Deleted User]

geoffW wrote: »

I'd rather be undercharged rather than overcharged, it can be hard work trying to get your money back from some of them when you leave.

There is a way to be charged exactly what you ve used, not more or less, just like every other item you purchase in the world..smart meters..Yet another positive for a proper meter which does what it says on the tin.

geoffW

sacsquacco wrote: »

There is a way to be charged exactly what you ve used, not more or less, just like every other item you purchase in the world..smart meters..Yet another positive for a proper meter which does what it says on the tin.

The only problem with smart meters at the moment is that you have to change your meter every time you change company's, perhaps in years to come they will standardise them.