MONEY COMMENT
How To Resolve Billing Problems

By Cliff D'Arcy
July 23, 2003

A friend of mine has a thorny dilemma. His gas meter packed up about five years ago and, because his meter reading never changes, he hasn't paid a penny to British Gas ever since. You'd think that BG would investigate his 'magic meter' after twenty or so identical quarterly readings, but apparently not - d'oh!

However, my chum is planning on moving home in the near future and wants to sort out this problem before he goes. He uses very little gas and sensibly has put money away to settle his estimated bill when the big day finally arrives. In the meantime, he's enjoyed an interest-free loan from BG, in effect!

I suggest he contacts energywatch, the independent gas and electricity consumer watchdog, for advice. Energywatch receives 60,000 consumer billing and account queries a year and its research shows that:

• 1 in 5 of us believe that the estimated bills we receive are fairly or very inaccurate
• only 1 in 3 of us have our meters read each quarter
• 1 in 10 consumers say estimated bills have pushed them into debt
• fewer than half of us check the accuracy of our bills.

This explains why energywatch launched its 'Better Billing' campaign earlier this year, aimed at improving suppliers' billing performance. Its goal is to get energy companies to:

• increase the proportion of bills based on inspector or customer meter readings (instead of estimates)
• issue an annual statement of energy usage and cost
• highlight estimated bills with a warning message
• make bills clearer, more accurate and easier to understand and check.

The worst companies for billing and account complaints during March to May this year were Atlantic Electric & Gas, npower Group and ScottishPower (each received the maximum five 'unhappy faces'). The best were Scottish & Southern Group and London Electricity Group (one unhappy face apiece).

So, if you want to keep your energy suppliers in line, try following energywatch's ten tips:

1. If you have an estimated bill, read your meter and give the reading to your supplier.
2. If you think your bill is inaccurate, read your meter, give the reading to your supplier, and ask for an amended bill.
3. If you don't understand your bill, ask for an explanation.
4. If you haven't received a bill for over six months, ask for one and be prepared to pay for fuel you've used.
5. If your supplier messes up and hits you with a big bill for arrears, ask for the total to be reduced.
6. Ask for time to pay off big bills or arrears in instalments. If you haven't had a bill for six months, ask for six months to pay off your arrears.
7. Make sure any payments you agree are affordable - your supplier must take your ability to pay into account.
8. Always keep records of contact with your supplier - copies of letters, names and numbers of people you contacted, actions agreed, dates and times, and so on.
9. For safety reasons, your supplier must inspect your meter every two years.
10. If you are unhappy with your supplier's response to a billing problem, contact energywatch on 0845 906 0708.

Finally, learn how to switch your fuel for great savings - the average saving is around £140 a year. I've switched twice in recent years and pay around £12 a month less - gain without pain!

More: Switch with Fool partner uSwitch | Slash Your Household Bills | Energy regulator Ofgem.