Powergen Whinge!

Liney_2

Despite being £72.34 in CREDIT with Powergen, I received a letter saying they are putting up my monthly DD for my Gas & Electircity by £10 to £70.50! And surprise, surprise when I went to query this their systems are down so they cannot advise me on the situation and can I call back in a couple of hours!

They have the worst customer service of anyone I know (apart from Sky)

Also my latest bill doesn't show how many units of Gas or Elec I have used or whether the bill has been estimated or not - is this right?

anniecave

A bill not showing how many units you've used? Doesn't sound right to me! I would phone them up and ask for a proper bill! (unless it's just a statement not an actual bill) I'd also take a good look at what meter readings they're billing you for in relation to what your meter is actually reading - it may be way out and it's wise to know these things!

gkerr4

When they want to up your DD amount, they just send you a letter which details the amounts and a vague reason why.

I had the same last week (so did a lot by the sounds). Ok if you can be bothered to listen - here's my story.
Been with powergen since May 2003 - was paying £20.50 / per month for 9 months, then they realised I had a massive credit build up, changed the DD to just £4 / month which lasted until july this year when they estimated a reading, claimed we owed them £270 and raised the DD to £33. Fair enough I thought, knew I couldn't pay£4 for ever. Anyway - 15th sept, they did an actual meter reading and said that actually i only owed them £54. phew. 2 days later - letter in post to say, "you still owe us £54, we will raise your DD to £76 and you will pay your debt off in 9 months"

WHAT??

I called straight away - queried the amount, the operator kept saying she was going to calculate my usage - but actually she couldn't. The kept saying that it wasn't just to pay off my debt as there was my usage too. I explained that paying £54 off over 9 months means I am paying £70 a month for a small semi-detached house - i don't think so.

So I asked if I could pay off the £54, which I did there and then with my debit card. I then said "ok so I owe nothing now, so what is my newr monthly amount?"

well sir - what do you want it to be? shall I make it £76?

i don't think a word I said was acually listened too - so I am leaving them now.

whinge over

edda

I think that if you are in credit with a utility provider, you can request a repayment from them at any time.

If more people paying by DD did this regularly - at least once a year and when the credit reached a certain level - perhaps the companies wouldn't keep overestimating (and increasing) the monthly amount when we're in credit.

We get this more often with gas - but our electricity provider has started doing it recently as well.

I'd like to know what figure they aim at when calculating a monthly amount to pay by DD. I bet it leaves a positive sum in their bank account for everyone - lots of interest free loans by the back door.