Are you vigilant about supplying meter readings to your gas & electricity supplier?

Question

Or might you be one of the people landed with a massive bill due to inaccurate estimated billing?

(reported in the news today)

Answer 1

no -but I will be from now on---is this going to be like wartime austerity ?--powdered eggs and all that.

Answer 2

I am not that vigilant because the energy companies can't be bothered to employ people to read meters in the evenings and at weekends when it suits their customers.

I did receive a bill from Powergen once for £945, but i phoned them up and threatened them and they retracted it.

Answer 3

never change your supplier

Then you will be sick of reading meters !!

Answer 4

No, they come out and read them for themselves.

Answer 5

ALWAYS keep track of your meter readings. Whenever you receive an estimated bill I'd advise that you compare it to the current reading.

A couple years ago my supplier (British Gas) went through a process of re-allocating account numbers, but they messed up big time and incorrectly billed me for my neighbour's supply. I proved that they were at fault but the whole situation took nearly a year to resolve.

Lesson learned!

Answer 6

I never used to be but when thay informed me that thay were going to increase the monthly cost from £30.00 a month to £120.00 month I decided I had better looking to this when I contacted them thay said this was based on a 4 bedroom house I only live in a studio flat any way as it was thay owed me £235.00 and do you think I can get this back NO thay say we will just add it to your bill NOT HAPPY cos if it was the other way around thay would demand the cash

Answer 7

Well, I have just had a letter from Scottish Power telling me they owe me £27. Don't know how I have managed that sometimes my house is like a Lighthouse, but it was a nice surprise.

I pay by Direct Debit each month, so it is better then having a quarterly bill.

Answer 8

I check the meter reading with every bill. They do get them wrong sometimes so it's worth checking

Answer 9

I always read my own meter which oddly gives me as big a discount as DD.

edit: my supplier recommends DD as the biggest savings but "save and read" seems to be cheaper, but very little difference, about 50p pa. I don't think I can make use of both options, so I read my own.