to be totally and utterly shocked at our utilities bill...

[Twiglett]

we're in credit

lol we are with our gas bill- by about £400. is yours estimated by any chance? or has it been for a while? thats why we're in credit. sorry to potentially pee on your fire

YABU! How dare you, when they have put up their prices!!

(I'm in credit by nearly £200)

nope it's an h'actual reading

you can get it back, they put it in your bank

I was in credit by hundreds once, I got them to give it me all back, took them a MONTH to sort out a cheque, it really bugs me when companies want paying NOW but when it's the other way round they piss about.

I was in credit by £170, they sent me a cheque. Then they hoofed up my direct debits to £100 a month EACH because they said they shouldn't have sent me the cheque they should have left the balance there to pay the winter bill. Dummos.

British Gas have now told me our house uses twice the national average for electricity and I need to find ways to cut that obviously. I am doing a survey of close friends to see how much they use per day and to see if British Gas are correct about their national average figures or not! I can't see how I can cut down on electricity. obv now it's summer I won't be using the tumble dryer but everything else is switched off most of the time (unless it's this damn PC and Mumsnet to blame!!).

Where you're making the mistake Kbear is by taking British Gas seriously, I've never found a company to be so completely useless.

I am concerned that my bill is so high though, for my finances and the old environment.

This is extremely sad but I recently dreamt I won a bit of money on the Lottery and the 1st thing I did was bung a couple of thousand each at the gas & electricity accounts so we'd be in credit. (Unfortunately, I never got to discover what else I spent it on).

I hate british gas- thinking of taking them to the energy ombudsman. Thye've been taking the piss left right and centre for nearly a year and I have just had enough.

i dont rate Powergen either!!! we were with them for a year paid their reccomended amount by Direct Debit each month then all of a sudden they phoned and said we were £600 in debt and they needed it within 48hrs!! we didn't have it so the bar-stewards said we could only have a meter installed!! its working our cheaper though somehow, but a pain in the arse when its our own house but we need cards to buy gas and electric!!