Shock, My Gas/elect Bill £6,732.81...

[trt]

Had an e-mail Friday from my energy supplier First Utility, to inform me that my D/D will have to be increased to £170.00 a month, from, £44.00, in March.
They said that during their 6 monthly random checks on customers accounts, they discovered my high usage.

I dont have paper bills, and just give them meter readings now and again, and when I talked to them, they have asked for the latest gas meter reading, which they will have tomorrow.

Below is the e-mail copy of bill I asked for yesterday.


Mr T####, Your Electricity and Gas Statement
Previous balance £6,701.86
Payments received
£44.00
Previous balance
£6,657.86
Total charges this bill £74.95
Electricity £41.48
Gas £33.47
ACCOUNT BALANCE £6,732.81

[hereIam]

Bloody 'ell trt, that's high !

[ummmm]

You were paying £44 per month for both gas and electricity?

[New Judge]

You need to ask them how you have accrued £6,700 when your latest usage (for what is probably the highest period of the year) is less than seventy five quid.

[AB Editor]

wasn't Npower was it TRT? Ours went from £50p/m to £144 - without telling us!

[chrissa1]

I'm with First Utility and I give them my meter readings every month. My last month's bill was for £101.00 and I'll expect the same, this month. However, during the summer months my bills are about, £33.
I much prefer to pay for what I actually use each month.

They must want you to clear your large previous balance but £170 x 12 comes to, £2,040. I think they're being quite accommodating in the circumstances.

[AB Editor]

I also used to prefer paying quarterly Chrissa - more cash for summer jollies :)

[Tilly2]

I don't understand why they have let you run up such a huge bill, Trt. They haven't managed your account well, have they?

[chrissa1]

Ha ha ha, Ed.

[pastafreak]

Surely you didn't use over £6,000 worth of gas and electric in the 6 months since their last check?
Decimal misplaced possibly?

[ladybirder]

Good luck with sorting that out TRT and I hope you do better than I did. I have written on here before of having more or less the same thing happen to me and I was in CREDIT. All my meter readings were accepted as correct and the meter itself was checked after they narrowed it down to the amount of gas I was using rather than electricity. I was using less than you, think it was £32/month and in credit when I was told by my supplier (not FU) I needed to increase my payments to £125 - £135 - £145/month depending on who I spoke to. Even after escalating my problem to complaints department and management I got nowhere. I was told there was a blip in the system as nobody could understand why this was happening as the usage they claimed was that expected of a 6 bed house not a small flat. They seemed unable to solve the 'blip' so I solved it myself by moving to another supplier.

[AB Editor]

It was odd in our case, as we were a few hundred quid in credit with them...

... We'll be moving to the more civilised E.On shortly.

[trt]

I have been slowly going through my bill on-line, and up to now the high amount on the gas, has gone back 18 months, so back to the investigation.

[trt]

Oops, it wasn't an increase d/d to £170.00 in march, its £720.00!!!!

[ladybirder]

Good luck with that Ed. E.on was the supplier when I had my problems.

[Tilly2]

Blimey!

[Zacs-Master]

There's obviously an error here. Speak to them tomorrow.

[mikey4444]

I can't work out why First Utility has allowed you too get so deeply in the red !...........your out standing bill is several times what an average annual bill would be.

[chrissa1]

Wow!!!!!! That would put you into credit by £2000 within a year. There must be a huge discrepancy. Good luck in sorting it out, trt

[mikey4444]

It seems that I may have misinterpreted your post trt !

Is this a credit balance or a debit balance ?