Utilities Bills

[andyroo]

Just a bit of a moan really... Been in the new house for a month and a half now, and have already received bills that make no sense (going on from the previous house where our monthly direct debit went up despite usage going down, building up to a final credit of something in the region of £500).

Had a water bill for the first month with a payment due date marked before the post date on the letter by a good five days, and a gas bill with an actual end figure but an estimated start, for £90. For a months worth of gas. Bearing in mind we moved from an equal sized house (where we paid £25 a month), no longer have a gas cooker and the central heating has been off.

I assume these bills must be computer generated and never even pass under the nose of someone with a brain. Now I have to fanny about calling them up which will ultimately amount to nothing no doubt. *Sigh*

[nobodyknows]

They will probably be estimated based on either previous occupiers average usage or average usage for your type of house. I have a friend of mine in a similar situation at the moment, I'm guessing it will take 12-15 months to fully settle down when they will know your annual usage.

[andyroo]

nobodyknows said:

They will probably be estimated based on either previous occupiers average usage or average usage for your type of house. I have a friend of mine in a similar situation at the moment, I'm guessing it will take 12-15 months to fully settle down when they will know your annual usage.

I think I'd need to buy a mains powered flame thrower to get £90 usage of gas in one month! Any chance the gas co will reevaluate the initial estimate or am I wasting my time?

[eldar]

andyroo said:

I think I'd need to buy a mains powered flame thrower to get £90 usage of gas in one month! Any chance the gas co will reevaluate the initial estimate or am I wasting my time?

Send them the reading on the date you moved in. They normally ask for this when they set up the account. Likewise electricity and water, if its metered.

[dickymint]

Sign up for an online account/s. Just done this with SWALEC. No more estimated readings and shows you in real time your ballance. Just recieved a nice rebate of over a grand.

Edited to add: Also got an extra 1% discount for "paper-less" billing. As well as the free "smart meter" gizmo to monitor our usage.

PS. For all my climate "skeptic" friends on here - Yes I've sold out and claimed my bit of subsidised scammery!

Sorry.

Edited by dickymint on Saturday 16th July 09:40

[Simpo Two]

andyroo said:

our monthly direct debit went up despite usage going down, building up to a final credit of something in the region of £500).

The Financial Director thanks you for your loan; his needs are of course more important than yours. Om nomnom.

Re the other matter, you can devote your life to writing Mr Angry letters to a computer, or take it ont he chin and trust that it will shake out eventually. As long as it all tallies with the meter after a year a few wobbles along the way are probably not worth the hassle to sort out.

[andyroo]

We gave them the meter reading (again) for when we moved in and so they are revising the bill.

In other news, our previous gas supplier for our old house is still taking payments despite being informed of our account closure on the day we moved in. An hour on hold should have hopefully resolved that one too!