To think an estimated energy bill should not be 15 times your average monthly useage

[Boldclams]

Spark Energy thought it perfectly reasonable to suddenly hoik my electricity bill from 20 to 317 quid a month. Apparently they were working to an "industry standard" when estimating the bill. I called them and they agreed 20 was still adequate but were super rude and condescending when I attempted to question them on where they got their figure from!

I've had £100 compensation and £50 goodwill gesture from Npower.

Then they STILL couldn't produce an accurate final bill, so I emailed the CEO and I'm finally getting the £113 I'm owed any day now.

It's only taken a year!

I've been with First Utility for almost 2 years and have had no problems with them at all. They prompt me via email to provide meter readings, I provide them online - job done. They hiked my debit after winter '11-'12 because I owed them - that was fine - then they dropped it substantially after winter '13-'14 when I was considerably in credit - one phone call sorted it and I had no trouble getting through at all.

Pointy - I provided meter readings but they just ignored them and put fictional ones on my bill instead.

Another vote for First Utility...two years trouble free electric at a very competitive price.

First Futility? Don't get me started. Threatening letters for fictional readings despite having given them the (enormously lower) correct ones.

Futility? arrrggghhhh...... they are muppets of the highest order. cancelled them as they were more expensive and it never took me less than 45 mins to get through to them. then they spoke jargon filled nonsense.

Can you change from a monthly estimated direct debit to paying by quarter? As think then you only pay for what you've used.

I used to pay by quarter, that's what my estimated monthly DD was based on what I switched to paying monthly.

Recently my supplier (in my region I only have a choice of 2, so not much competition ) decided my bill should rise substantially as they hadn't physically read my meter in a while. This is because they only call daytime hours when I'm at work and I've always had to phone in my reading.
I then suggested moving back to quarterly bills and they were to keep the DD as it was originally.

My elec provider just charges me at the end of each month for the elec I have used. Dead easy.

There seems to be problems with all of them - these are multi million pound businesses and they need to work for us!
We shouldn't be fearful of them.
They're making huge profits from us.

A coffee shop read is a false read made up by the meter reader, when they are too lazy to get a reading.

As if they were in a cafe all day !

So a 'think is what we think you'll use over the next 12 months based on a guess, so we're going to charge you this'?

Don't change to British Gas!!!

I'm with Ovo Energy. They are consistently the cheapest when I check whether I should switch and the customer service is great. They have the best customer satisfaction ratings and are prepared to break away from the big four and pass on savings to consumers when the cost of oil falls.

Am very happy with OVo too :) within a sensible boundary we get to choose how much we pay, get 3% on any credit we have and can claim back our credit with the click of a button. However, watch the standing charge, ours is 23p a day (£7/month) for electricity and I think it's £8/month for our gas.

Definitely going to ditch Spark. Apart from the estimated bill nonsense almost half of my October direct debit has magically disappeared between leaving my bank account and reaching them. Someone was having a real fuckupathon on my bill this month. Going to have to do battle with them tomorrow.

npower made a cock up several months ago with some customers and didn't take direct debit payments for 3 months.We had a letter from them to sort it out,and I had to ring them to restart the direct debit etc.
I was on the phone for an hour and a half! npowers 'system' had actually estimated that our annual electricity income would be about £17,000!!!! I was actually asked if I lived on a farm!!!
Got it sorted in the end to a more realistic amount of £120 per month!

This thread reminded me to give EDF a meter reading. This made them recalculate our predicted usage and they've reduced our monthly direct debit by £10. Just like that, without me doing anything but give them a meter reading.

I was with Npower until they sent me an estimated bill, I read the meter and realised that I had used much less gas than estimated, I sent them the reading - and they sent me a bill for £28 MORE...!!
After emailing, phoning and complaining, I decided that life wasn't worth such hassle, and left them for EDF - who have been great for the last 5 years...

I'm another happy Ovo customer. I've been with them for a little over three years without problem now. I choose my supplier purely on price but none have ever been cheaper when I'm looking to switch. Their customer service is great and I really like getting interest on any credit I have with them. They email me each month for meter readings, and then send me a monthly statement. It couldn't be easier.