Massive deficit to repay

nataliefindlay

We recently got an email from utility warehouse saying we were £3000 in debt to them after 12 months. We gave them an opening reading and another after about 3 months and then another at 12 months. So they had three readings in 12 months. I realise I should have given another around 9 months in.

They are now asking for £400 a month to repay them.
I looked back to my first bill from them and they set our projected usage at around £2000 a year. But they only charged us £90 a month for the last 12 months, even though they had said from the outset that we would owe approx £170 a month.

Obviously we now owe them a lot of money. However I think it’s unfair that they’ve undercharged us for so long even though they knew it wasn’t going to cover it? I do appreciate that I should have checked and I stupidly didn’t. I just assumed they’d be charging us correctly based on our usage.

I’ve complained to them three times now and have only had one response which didn’t address my concerns.

Just looking for some advice really on what I can do? They’ve said I can pay over 2 years instead but that means I’m tied to them for two more years and I can get a cheaper deal elsewhere. I can’t help but think they’ve done this on purpose so I can’t move away!

Thanks very much

bwff

Provide meter readings regularly (e.g. once a month) and check each and every bill/statement carefully as you recieve it.

But then I'm sure you know that as I see you have been around here since 2008 :cool:

If you cannot afford to pay their generous offer of a repayment plan, let alone the whole bill at once, and you want to switch, then look at the MSE advice on cheap loans to get you enough money to pay the supplier what you owe.

Think about cutting down on usage. Most people don't even spend £1 a year on thgeir energy. If you genuininly have accrued a £3k debt after 12 months (after whatever you have paid the supplier) then you certainly are using a lot of energy.

Also, as a memeber here of over 10 years, you would surely be aware that all discussion of the supplier you mention must go in this dedicated thread.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2473547/utility-warehouse-telecom-plus-discussion

I can’t help but think you've’ve done this on purpose :cool:

Thanks very much

PennineAcute

So they set your estimated usage at £2000, then set your direct debit at £90 (£1080 pa), but you did not feel the need to query this?

dogshome

So you were paying £90 a month and in12 months have accumulated a debt of £3,000 - So you consumed £4,080 worth of Gas & Elec in a year ?


This is roughly 4 times more than the average home, please give detail of the house size, number of occupants and the Gas & Elec meter readings

onomatopoeia99

dogshome wrote: »

So you were paying £90 a month and in12 months have accumulated a debt of £3,000 - So you consumed £4,080 worth of Gas & Elec in a year ?

This does sound unusual. For someone with gas CH, I am a heavy user of electricity at over 6,000 kWh / year as I leave a rackmount server running 24/7, but even so my electricity bills don't go above £100/month and my gas is much lower.

matelodave

Have you not been checking bills or consumption. We'd have real difficulty in getting through that amount of money unless we were on the most expensive tariff that's available and running a cannabis factory.

Perhaps you need to put a bit more effort into checking what you've used and making sure that any meter readings that you've given have been accurate (no mistaken readings etc)

It really does make a big difference if you make sure you send in readings regularly and CHECK your bills/on line statements at the same time as it will alert you to anything going awry.

You are not alone in having problems because you didn't keep an eye on your bills and consumption.

Robin9

Natalie - this is a very high consumption - 24,000 kwh - is this business/commercial rather than domestic ?

ToxicWomble

They said £170 a month, you paid £90 a month for a year without questioning it.
You now owe a lot of money.
Only one person at fault I’m afraid

RelievedSheff

I'm not sure why you seem so surprised that you have a huge deficit when the projected use and your monthly direct debit were so out of sync with each other!

Why did you not query it at the time?

Surely you must have known this was going to come around at some point?

As an aside your energy consumption is really very high. You would do well to find areas where that can be vastly reduced.

Talldave

Surely the other problem was being with utility warehouse?

nataliefindlay

Thanks for all the comments.

Sorry I didn’t realise there was a dedicated thread...I’ve been a member since 2008 but I don’t think I’ve actually ever posted before so I’m not a frequent user!

Yes I realise I should have checked my bills, I do know that was an error for those who have helpfully pointed that out 🙄

When my bills are ready to be paid they email me the amount due so I just pay it. The projected bill isn’t something I’d even noticed until I needed to check my bills so I didn’t know that I was underpaying. I assumed, obviously wrongly, that my bills would be calculated based on my actual usage from the readings I had given. And equally if they had calculated a projected bill I don’t really understand why they wouldn’t work out correct monthly payments?

I have no idea why the amount is so high, we live in a 4 bed detached, three people living here, careful with putting heating on, Dong leave lights etc... on or things on standby so I’m at a loss as to how I can have used so much!

Thanks