Page 2 | What happens if I don't pay G&E?

saltwater1985 · 2023-04-14T07:15:52+00:00

Just looked at bank account and we have £80 to last til payday (last working day of month) I thought right that's a challenge but will be ok. Then realised I've not entered the gas and electric readings so I've just done that and I'm £285 in debit [confused] There's me, 2 DC, 2 Ddogs and a DCat for reference

LatteOneShotplease · 14/04/2023 11:16

@liveforsummer What is your internet bill (that it needs to be delayed/used for something else)? Mine was £30, just negotiated down to £20 - plus £10 for mobile with 10Gb.
(EE/BT)

Icedlatteplease · 14/04/2023 11:17

LatteOneShotplease · 14/04/2023 11:13

This is true - but, as I have experienced and calculated, the D/Debit can be set stupid-high and a refusal to adjust by them can result in where I am (even though I kept on top of the payments). It's incompetent and greedy.

Meantime, "experts" are on the radio, saying "Oh yes, the bills will be coming down now" - Duh! Yes, in the summer the usage is lower - correct D/Debits should not be changing unless they were too high in the first place.

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The time to judge is about May. I've rarely hit a may when I wasn't roughly even Stevens. When I have had sla surprisingly high DD it's corrected naturally within 3 months. But it's made budgeting so much easier

liveforsummer · 14/04/2023 11:26

LatteOneShotplease · 14/04/2023 11:16

@liveforsummer What is your internet bill (that it needs to be delayed/used for something else)? Mine was £30, just negotiated down to £20 - plus £10 for mobile with 10Gb.
(EE/BT)

Mine is more because I pay for the freeview tv option too as don't have a tv aerial. The cost is irrelevant though, it's still money that can go towards a priority bill.

LatteOneShotplease · 14/04/2023 11:36

liveforsummer · 14/04/2023 11:26

Mine is more because I pay for the freeview tv option too as don't have a tv aerial. The cost is irrelevant though, it's still money that can go towards a priority bill.

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Ah right - I am wrong to assume it is something that the payment for can be delayed, just because I don't.... I had never thought of it as moveable, or costing enough to be significantly helpful if delayed. Sorry; limited viewpoint. on my part.

liveforsummer · 14/04/2023 11:43

@LatteOneShotplease it's because this bill (for me) has a long window. I tend to pay it straight away but the due date is quite a bit after the bill arrives, and then they give you a weeks grace after that before they add a late fee - unlike Eon who want it within days so it's one that can wait from its normal pay time.

LatteOneShotplease · 14/04/2023 11:57

liveforsummer · 14/04/2023 11:43

@LatteOneShotplease it's because this bill (for me) has a long window. I tend to pay it straight away but the due date is quite a bit after the bill arrives, and then they give you a weeks grace after that before they add a late fee - unlike Eon who want it within days so it's one that can wait from its normal pay time.

Right🙂 I just thought all internet/phone/TV-type bills were paid directly rather than receiving an actual bill.
Mine also is paid for the line/connection in advance, so I would fall foul of paying on a bill, I know it....

liveforsummer · 14/04/2023 12:02

You absolutely can pay by direct debit, as with the utilities though I chose not to to give the flexibility. I get paid monthly but also get my tax credits weekly and my second job money fortnightly so it works for me that way to be able to juggle dates around too.

Itsnotpacific · 14/04/2023 12:11

LatteOneShotplease · 14/04/2023 11:08

When I say "changed their behaviour", I mean that all of a sudden , people are not using 3 x the electricity - and yet it costs 3x and more with the doubled standing charge.

I didn't really need the lecture, but good on your son,; maybe that's something he would have done anyway, as a young man - depending on accessibility etc. I cycle everywhere too - but it doesn't reduce utility bills. I have always done it.

When they wanted to increase my Direct Debit to over £350 a month, that meant that I would be "using" over 12,000 kWh/year, by their calculations (which are backward). Because their computer used only one quarter to extrapolate the figures. So I stopped the Direct Debit as they wouldn't adjust it, but it was a bad time of year to do it. And here I am - a previously prefect customer with threatening letters, emails, calls and text messages - when the balance I owe is less than I used to sometimes carry forward.

I am sure that some people were having a hard time before everything increased - there are only so many adjustments that it is possible or healthy to make.

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Everyone knows prices have risen x 3
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean you shouldn't have to pay it.
I don't really understand your logic.

I was pointing out my DS cycled so he could access the cycle commuter perks at his work -access to free showers!

LatteOneShotplease · 14/04/2023 12:33

@Itsnotpacific

To me, it is mainly a mathematical exercise, but I don't see why you wouldn't see that it IS unfair that charges have trebled, and more. Where would it end if each time here was some "reason" for prices to increase threefold, people had to lower their standard of living, which may be already low? I find it shocking and disgusting in this day and age.
I don't understand the logic in defending it.
I think with the cycling - taking it up for access to the showers is an unusual reason that would not have been "necessary" a while ago.
But I'm sure he enjoys it and reaps other benefits.

Itsnotpacific · 14/04/2023 12:57

LatteOneShotplease · 14/04/2023 12:33

@Itsnotpacific

To me, it is mainly a mathematical exercise, but I don't see why you wouldn't see that it IS unfair that charges have trebled, and more. Where would it end if each time here was some "reason" for prices to increase threefold, people had to lower their standard of living, which may be already low? I find it shocking and disgusting in this day and age.
I don't understand the logic in defending it.
I think with the cycling - taking it up for access to the showers is an unusual reason that would not have been "necessary" a while ago.
But I'm sure he enjoys it and reaps other benefits.

I'm not defending it at all .
But it's happening so the bills need to be paid.
The cycle commute benefits have been around for ages as initiatives to encourage cycling, this was thinking out of the box a bit!

I don't get the endless " we are all going to freeze and die" threads.
Just get on with it, find a way through.
It's called resilience.

Not paying your bills is going to hurt you, no one else.

LatteOneShotplease · 14/04/2023 13:13

Itsnotpacific · 14/04/2023 12:57

I'm not defending it at all .
But it's happening so the bills need to be paid.
The cycle commute benefits have been around for ages as initiatives to encourage cycling, this was thinking out of the box a bit!

I don't get the endless " we are all going to freeze and die" threads.
Just get on with it, find a way through.
It's called resilience.

Not paying your bills is going to hurt you, no one else.

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There may be more "freeze and die" threads than I have seen - and besides, is this one? Or is my post of that nature (it's not intended that way)?

To be one of "those" people, I grew up in an unmodernised, single-glazed lodge cottage with people who were retired just as I hit my teens. We put 10p coins in a meter and had a gas poker to light the fire in the kitchen. I was always cold, and to me a washing machine still is a luxury - as is/was central heating. That is my mentality, and it has stuck with me. I am plenty resilient, thank you.
I can and could afford the bills - but my point remains that the amount of the bills (treble, no matter what) is criminal when people have not suddenly started a weed factory in their loft, or had an indoor pool put in. Usually, there HAS been some upward change in behaviour - not no change at all, for bills to increase to that extent and the downward changes are forced onto people.
No-one is getting anything better for >three times the cost, in fact, most services are worse!

However, as you well must know, the price increases (for almost everything) are disproportionate and resilience has very little to do with it actually.
Again - good for your son - but not everyone can literally Get On a Bike.
(And it should be a choice, not a way to get a free shower, save on bus fares or fuel etc etc.)

Itsnotpacific · 14/04/2023 13:16

LatteOneShotplease · 14/04/2023 13:13

There may be more "freeze and die" threads than I have seen - and besides, is this one? Or is my post of that nature (it's not intended that way)?

To be one of "those" people, I grew up in an unmodernised, single-glazed lodge cottage with people who were retired just as I hit my teens. We put 10p coins in a meter and had a gas poker to light the fire in the kitchen. I was always cold, and to me a washing machine still is a luxury - as is/was central heating. That is my mentality, and it has stuck with me. I am plenty resilient, thank you.
I can and could afford the bills - but my point remains that the amount of the bills (treble, no matter what) is criminal when people have not suddenly started a weed factory in their loft, or had an indoor pool put in. Usually, there HAS been some upward change in behaviour - not no change at all, for bills to increase to that extent and the downward changes are forced onto people.
No-one is getting anything better for >three times the cost, in fact, most services are worse!

However, as you well must know, the price increases (for almost everything) are disproportionate and resilience has very little to do with it actually.
Again - good for your son - but not everyone can literally Get On a Bike.
(And it should be a choice, not a way to get a free shower, save on bus fares or fuel etc etc.)

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Pay your bill or don't?
idc

LatteOneShotplease · 14/04/2023 13:19

Itsnotpacific · 14/04/2023 13:16

Pay your bill or don't?
idc

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Oh, honestly..... Why bother?
That wasn't really the point, and I am sorry to have engaged with you.

Really sorry.