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[jereboam]

I had a couple of letters from British Gas sitting unopened on my desk for a couple of weeks.  I thought they were bills, which I don't have to do anything about, as I pay by Direct Debit.  When I enevtually opened them, the were letters informing me that the amount of my Direct Debit payment had been raised.  Gas went up from £52 to £80 - okay, prices have gone up, I know.  

The other letter was for the electricity.  My DD amount rose from £39 to £79.  The red mist descended.  I mean, they announced that prices would go up by 25%, but this was over 100%.

So I got on the phone.  I got through fairly quickly, and the lady I spoke to was helpful and efficient.  She checked up on why the amount had doubled, and it turned out it was a "mistake" - she adjusted it to a new value of £45.  While talking to her, I was idly looking at the gas bill.  It showed that my account was £128 in credit - i.e. I had been overpaying them.  Yet still they wanted to increase the DD amount.  So I queried that, and they adjusted the amount - it went down to £46.  Another "mistake", it seems.

I wonder how many other people were victims of this "mistake"?  British Gas must have a cash mountain earning interest on other people's money.  Not a happy bunny

[Entwood]

They've been doing this for years .. one of the reasons I left them.

I check these 2 sites about every 6 months ....

http://www.uswitch.com/energy/ppc/energy-bills.cmsx?ref=ppcgoogle~en~energy+comparisons&gclid=CIX77bDQ4JUCFQ9KQgodlhpxYw

and

http://www.energywatch.org.uk/help_and_advice/saving_money/index.asp

just to keep an eye on things ...

[sir moanalot]

every day, every bl00dy day......

[jereboam]

They've been doing this for years .. one of the reasons I left them.

I check these 2 sites about every 6 months ....

http://www.uswitch.com/energy/ppc/energy-bills.cmsx?ref=ppcgoogle~en~energy+comparisons&gclid=CIX77bDQ4JUCFQ9KQgodlhpxYw

and

http://www.energywatch.org.uk/help_and_advice/saving_money/index.asp

just to keep an eye on things ...

We switched several times - ended up back at BG as they had the best package at one point.  Then we gave up switching because the only people gaining out of it seemed to be Uswitch.  Whichever utility company we switched to, it inevitably became more expensive that the one we had left within a few months.  OK, I know it's not that difficult to switch, but in the end, I really couldn't be bothered.

And I know BG have been inflating the DD amount for years, because I've complained to them before.  I only bothered to moan about it here because of the jaw-droppingly huge percentages involved this time round.  

[albitz]

i will never sign up to monthly DD for that very reason.

[Omegadoha, Desert Member]

I'm not even in the country and I do not pay by direct debit. I have quarterly bills emailed to me and keep a close eye on the meter reading when I am in the UK.

I had a dispute with British Gas many years ago. The matter was referred to the Gas Consumer Council and it turned out some t*at had entered imperial readings into a metric bill which was the result of an extorniate bill.

So if you think you have a case fight for it.

[bertiecbx550]

i`m worried about my parents they struggle enough now to make ends meet without the utilites putting their prices up to satisfy share holders there are gonna be a lot of people making damn hard decisions this winter.....

[willyboy]

Left em years ago after trying to take me to court over unpaid bill "was with another supplier" :-? at the time went on for like 5 yrs (probably when they did an audit) Finally penny dropped when i agreed to go to court they suddenly corrected the mistake Doh!

[Vamps]

I thought that Gas and Elec had gone up cos Oil had, but oil is falling, yet we do not hear of any cuts, some of them were very quick to put them up.