From: bluecalx
Newsgroups: uk.people.consumers,alt.consumers.experiences,alt.consumers,misc.consumers
Subject: (UK) Powergen - Electricity bill suddeny shoots up by 200 quid?! Help!
Date: 24 Jul 2003 10:56:07 -0500
Message-ID: <3ouvhv0jfngcj2j28fael24fvt5oaikmqp@4ax.com>
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.91/32.564
First off, I must admit some ignorance about the way utilities work in
the UK. We moved here from the States as a student about a year ago,
so I'm still adjusting to how things are done here. Here's the
situation:
I'm billed every three months for electricity. For the past 3 billing
cycles (with TXUEnergy), we've paid anywhere between 50-90quid. A
couple days ago, I received a bill from PowerGen (which took over TXU)
for 260 quid! The bill shows that we paid the bills for the past
three 3-month billing cycles.. but it seems to be charging us AGAIN
for that same period of time.
I called Powergen today to ask what happened and the woman I spoke to
said something about the estimated figure differing from the actual
figures. She wasn't particularly clear about it, though, and it seems
really strange that this newest bill was such an enormous increase. I
think she was more interested in getting me off the phone than
actually explaining the bill.
Additionally, this is a small flat and we really don't have many
high-draw electronics. 14" tv, an iMac, a laptop, etc. The
water-heater in the closet is only on at night. We don't really use
the washing machine more than once a week or so. So it's not like
we're powering heavy industrial machinery in here.
My big question is:
Is it standard electric company procedure to suddenly revise 9 months
worth of bills and demand like this? Any advice would be greatly
appreciated!
-danny
bluecalx@yahoo.com