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Well, I've just been in the middle of a marvellously surrealistic conversation with my electricity supplier, London Energy, soon to be renamed EDF Energy after its foreign owner.
I pay a direct debit of £37 a month. This is, if anything, a fraction high, but I don't worry about it. Every so often, someone comes to read the meter, goes away, and a bill arrives to confirm that the reading was, more or less, in line with the estimate, and my bill would continue at the same level.
Until this week.
Two separate letters arrived, both dated May 23 (go figure...). One stated that:
"A meter reading called at your property recently and obtained a meter reading. However, after comparing it to previous meter readings thaken it appears to be incorrect. Due to this we have estimated your latest bill based on your previous electricity use."
Note that final phrase. Because the bill (which was in the other letter) went as follows.
Previous estimate, 9476. Current estimate, 14862. Bill, £448.92.
Accompanying this was the line "we need to ask your bank for an extra £279.80 to pay off your balance. We need to change your direct debit to £50."
Now, let's see if you can cope with London Energy's logic, because I know that I can't.
They send someone to read my meter. He takes a reading.
This reading doesn't seem right to London Energy, so they ignore it, and slap on a higher reading, which (they claim) is in line with my average electricity use.
But, because the estimated reading is so high (because they thought that the actual reading that they took was too low), they need to take nearly £280 out of my account on June 6 and they need to increase my direct debit by 30%. Which means, as far as I can see, that the estimate cannot possibly be "in line with my previous average usage".
Needless to say I was on the phone fairly promptly, only to be put through to an automated system. After giving all the details, the automated system disintegrated. "We are experiencing technical difficulties, please wait until we can transfer you", it said. Well, at least it was polite.
I gave all the details again to a real person, and the customer service woman said that "the reading we took in May was lower than the one we took in February".
"I see", I said, "so you automatically assumed that the recent reading was wrong, rather than the previous reading, even though the recent reading is more in line with my average usage. And, unless I had phoned you, you would have taken £280 out of my account on June 6. What if I had been on holiday?"
"Well, obviously, the money won't be taken out of the account, now", said she, (for whom I really did feel quite sorry, so I didn't enter normal bluster mode) sidestepping the actual question.
"And the direct debit?"
"Well, obviously, that will stay at £37".
Let's hope so.
But, I mean, really, it's a bit of a disgrace, isn't it? And it's one of the dangers of direct debits. I've had London Energy's assurance, but I'll still be checking my account carefully to make sure that the money hasn't been extracted anyway. And what if my current account was in a precarious state, and I had been on holiday? Bank charges could have ensued and everything could have got very messy indeed.
A cynic might think that this has more to do with cash flow at London Energy than with actual meter readings. I don't recall any comment in February that the reading was way out of kilter. Neither did my bill reflect this in March. Perhaps London Energy's line was: "Let's just bash out a few thousand of these bills and see who doesn't notice, eh?"
Scumbags.
I pay a direct debit of £37 a month. This is, if anything, a fraction high, but I don't worry about it. Every so often, someone comes to read the meter, goes away, and a bill arrives to confirm that the reading was, more or less, in line with the estimate, and my bill would continue at the same level.
Until this week.
Two separate letters arrived, both dated May 23 (go figure...). One stated that:
"A meter reading called at your property recently and obtained a meter reading. However, after comparing it to previous meter readings thaken it appears to be incorrect. Due to this we have estimated your latest bill based on your previous electricity use."
Note that final phrase. Because the bill (which was in the other letter) went as follows.
Previous estimate, 9476. Current estimate, 14862. Bill, £448.92.
Accompanying this was the line "we need to ask your bank for an extra £279.80 to pay off your balance. We need to change your direct debit to £50."
Now, let's see if you can cope with London Energy's logic, because I know that I can't.
They send someone to read my meter. He takes a reading.
This reading doesn't seem right to London Energy, so they ignore it, and slap on a higher reading, which (they claim) is in line with my average electricity use.
But, because the estimated reading is so high (because they thought that the actual reading that they took was too low), they need to take nearly £280 out of my account on June 6 and they need to increase my direct debit by 30%. Which means, as far as I can see, that the estimate cannot possibly be "in line with my previous average usage".
Needless to say I was on the phone fairly promptly, only to be put through to an automated system. After giving all the details, the automated system disintegrated. "We are experiencing technical difficulties, please wait until we can transfer you", it said. Well, at least it was polite.
I gave all the details again to a real person, and the customer service woman said that "the reading we took in May was lower than the one we took in February".
"I see", I said, "so you automatically assumed that the recent reading was wrong, rather than the previous reading, even though the recent reading is more in line with my average usage. And, unless I had phoned you, you would have taken £280 out of my account on June 6. What if I had been on holiday?"
"Well, obviously, the money won't be taken out of the account, now", said she, (for whom I really did feel quite sorry, so I didn't enter normal bluster mode) sidestepping the actual question.
"And the direct debit?"
"Well, obviously, that will stay at £37".
Let's hope so.
But, I mean, really, it's a bit of a disgrace, isn't it? And it's one of the dangers of direct debits. I've had London Energy's assurance, but I'll still be checking my account carefully to make sure that the money hasn't been extracted anyway. And what if my current account was in a precarious state, and I had been on holiday? Bank charges could have ensued and everything could have got very messy indeed.
A cynic might think that this has more to do with cash flow at London Energy than with actual meter readings. I don't recall any comment in February that the reading was way out of kilter. Neither did my bill reflect this in March. Perhaps London Energy's line was: "Let's just bash out a few thousand of these bills and see who doesn't notice, eh?"
Scumbags.
