Bills, Bills, Bills

The weather is set to turn icy cold again tomorrow, and I can't get more oil delivered until Friday. Brrr.

My flat is brand new so they've no idea what they would charge monthly. I have to pay quarterly, and really I shouldn't be paying these bills as I've only consumed a month of them, but I'm too lazy to fight it.

And my rent has gone up, supposedly to pay for the new kitchens and bathrooms the council have been due to fit since last year.

And the gas board are still threatening to cut off the gas I don't have. This has been an ongoing dispute for 3 years. They send me bills with crazy figures, followed by reminders followed by red telegrams telling me they will come to remove my gas supply and if I am not at home when they come, they will have the police force entry.

The only solution to this apparently, is to have the meter taken out, which the council forbid me to do (it would cost them to have it replaced when the next tenant comes along). Until then, say the gas board, I must call them everytime I get a bill and remind them I have no gas connected.

??? Where on earth have you lived before? The water bills suck, actually - they're much higher than gas or leccy. Are you able to have a water meter fitted? It helps if you know where your stopcock is, but if you do it, you'll probably save £hundreds a year.

God, Rumpie, that sounds like a nightmare. When I first moved to the UK, I had BT charging me rent for a phone I never received it, and I had to call them reguarly to tell them not to, until eventually they cut off my phone service so I could not call them. That's me taught then!

And in the US, I lived on a well so water was free. When there wasn't a drought and it didn't run out...

There are meters all over the external walls of the house, but they're all in locked cabinets. I would like to see how much water I consume as I have a hard time believing they actually read it on the day they said they did, as I WAS NOT THERE TO LET THEM IN.

xpost : new build houses in the UK have water meters fitted as standard now. If it's an older property, it probably won't have one. Places to look are under the kitchen sink, in the airing cupboard (if you have one), or behind the bath side panel.

it's all so confusing.

Wow, here you can just read it off the meter boxes. They arent closed. In fact they make you send the readings every year and sometimes they come and check themselves.

That was nice.

Mind you, if Thames Water are sending you a bill which is not a metered reading, I guess you won't have a meter anyway. If you want to change over to metered water, you have to pay to have this done I think. But you'll quickly recoup the money because they are probably basing their water rates on a family of 12 with a swimming pool and a jacuzzi, and you prob don't use as much as that.

two crossposts

Stick it to the man.

(I imagined before the x-posting. Put a brick in your cistern now!)

Now, I work in the electric industry, and we have ways of telling how much electric you've used. We can spot a dodgy read a mile off. If you like I can tell you how we know, but it's not very interesting. I also know how you can get an electric reader to come round on a day of your choosing, if that's what you're after.

Also, I'm bothered by the fact that they claim to have taken away EXACTLY AS MUCH water as I had used. Totally disregarding the fact that much of that water was served to my plants, evaporated, and otherwise disappeared from the system.

x-post get thee hence to an TOY SHOP and buy Monopoly, and you, too, can have one.

In fairness, I don't think electric reader is quite the techinical term - we call them "meter readers" round these parts. It may not be your electric company who come and do it either - it'll be either Accuread or your local Data Collector company, whoever your supplier has appointed.

Aaaaagh, I come on ILE to escape the electric industry horrors, what am I doing?!?

ELECTRIC INDUSTRY?!??! ELECTRIC INDUSTRY, A NONSENSE! BY CHRIST! THERE SHALL BE NONE OF THIS INFERNAL ELECTRICS AND STEAM UPON MY QUARTERDECK! ALL BLOCK AND TACKLE AND SAILCLOTH AND WIND! NOW HENCE BE GONE WITH THIS ELECTRIC CODSWOLLOP OR I'LL HAVE YOU FLOGGED IN IRONS, SIR!!!

haha this reminds me of when british gas had to come round and reset our meter one saturday, except when my flatmate popped out to the shop she found a card saying "we called at 11.50am but you weren't in &c &c" even though a) we had been in and b) it was still only 11.30am.

Wait, no sorry, I mean, no, like I said, I grew up with a well.

Is this a London thing, or an English thing? or a renter thing?

in New Yourke Citee, apartment dwellers do not pay for water, and neither do they pay for heat! the absence of these bills is one of the last widely-apparent vestiges of New York's great long-gone immigrant rights/tenant rights movements (i.e. of thousands freezing during cold winters and/or dying from drinking dirty water, erk)

OK, now let's hope the electric company is as easy...

Right, time for a meeting about the meeting we're going to have tomorrow. Oh dear.

Or combined, like here in the River Thames?

You and James Joyce both...

The first mortgage payment I had to make was an odd procedure. The building society demanded a double initial monthly payment, and I had to take the cheque along to them in person. I don't think they trusted me.

http://www.energywatch.org.uk/help_and_advice/saving_money/index.asp

Hrmmm, according to that site, my new supplier is the second most expensive. Damn. Ah well. Can I specify that they have to get the electrics from windmills? Sail power, Captain Anderson would be proud.

kate, consider paying all bills monthly as otherwise they tend to clump together meaning 3 months of nothing followed by one of everything in the same paycheck (especially painful twice a year when water rates arrives as well)

They also did readings so at the end of 2005, there was a £45 surplus which was applied to the 2006 bill so our direct debit has been lowered to £20!

I've never heard of being charged for having water taken away - eh? Is this a house thing?

There are virtually no flats in Manchester city centre with gas as (I guess) it must have been cheaper to do all the conversions and new builds with electricity only. So personally I find our leccy bill quite high as we have to use storage heaters. We've been paying £25 a month but still have a £300 backlog from last winter. Bah.

And yeah, I second koogs on paying bills monthly by direct debit rather than quarterly - much easier on your cash flow.

I rang up to pay by card (since I didn't realise I'd left it too late to pay by cheque) and went through the whole system - except at the end, they didn't ask me for the 3 letter code on the back of my card, and it just went to this voice saying "your account has been updated" and I got disconnected.

So I rang back, and asked the machine for my account balance - damn thing hasn't moved. So now what do I do? Have I paid my bill or not?

I know they make it this rubbish to try and make me go to direct debit, but I won't do it! I won't!

After hounding me late year for non-payment of council tax bills due to being unemployed, I have the fear of god in me about council tax bills. And despatched a cheque to them on Saturday - only to get a letter this morning saying that they owe *me* money because, having been unemployed, I didn't actually have to pay that money they were threatening to take me to court over, and gave me a refund.

I am utterly and thoroughly confused now.

Hardly unusual. Most councils simply insist on taking the money first and apportioning refunds later. Hey voila, free loan!

Don't like the way most utility companies try and push you onto fixed amount direct debits - so that you are constantly in credit - overpaying - and making them extra profit in interest

Hang on, they refunded you before you paid them? That's smart. Or odd. Or something.

The Peter Sellers approach usually works, i.e. put all your creditors' names in a hat, and whoever's name gets drawn gets paid that month, with overpersistent creditors warned that if they don't behave themselves they won't go in next month's draw.

No, the credit and the cheque crossed in the post.

I stand by my, err, stand, of never paying bills by direct debit. I was about to waver with the council tax bill, but then this happened. I shan't pay next month. When I will be unemployed again, and really needing the money.

I don't mind when the DD goes toward a fixed cost on a fixed day but it's the fuckers that reserve the right to withdraw silly-buggers money on a whim I tend to steer clear of. I arrange DDs to keep my budget under control, not to cede this to random cockfarmers.

I always really need money, but not paying bills is not usually a wise way to save it - it'll come back and bite you on the arse one day.

It's not as if I'm not paying it! I overpaid it due to this refund. They can use the overage to cover next month's payment. And the one after that, as well, in fact.

Gas and Electric have also come in, but I'm waiting until I actually get my next paycheck before paying those.

http://www.geekologie.com/2008/11/13/spider-2.jpg

aww damn thats too small

read about it here http://board.vivalavinyl.org/?func=topic&id=74394&r=14

So apparently we have to cough up a £166 gas bill to S0uthern 3l3ctric for gas we used LAST winter because Eon ostensibly took between July (when we moved in) to November to switch over to us. Looks like the birthday cheque from my mother will be put to great use :'-(

WTF is wrong with EDF? They simply DO NOT WANT my money. They keep sending me nasty letters, but I have been trying for OVER A MONTH to pay my damn bill, and they just won't take it.

Tried to pay online. Twice. Wouldn't go through. Sent a complaint email saying "why can't I pay online?" and they said it was working fine. Tried it again, STILL won't go through - telling my card was declined, even though in the same hour, I paid for a gig ticket, paid my water bill and bought a sandwich WITH THE SAME CARD. Tried to pay on their automated phone system. Said they would not take my card and tried to transfer me to an operator, and left me on hold for 20 minutes.

What do I have to do to pay this bill? Send them a fucking cheque? What bloody year is this?

Also, can someone please recommend me a new supplier as this is freaking ridiculous, I seem to go through this every 3 months with them.

I have to pay some hundreds of dollars towards a 3-min ambulance journey, about which I am ANGRY, and when I phoned them to find out how to pay online they said there is no such thing and I could send a cheque. Just to make me MOAR ANGRY! I refrained from mentioning that I'd paid every single bill of my adult life online and was just ".... but....! ...."

British Gas. I mean, really.

Please explain how I have turned the heating down from 20 to 18, got a draftdoger for the door, only bathe every other day to save hot water, don't even have the heating on during daylight hours (brrrr), wear a hat, scarf and 2 jumpers indoors at all time, and yet STILL, even though my gas consumption is significantly down from last quarter, my bill is still significantly up?

Renationalise the energy companies. This is just gross.

I know I shouldn't complain due to the ~convenience~ of being able to pay online and not send cheques they lose or have to deal with beleaguered call centre employees but honestly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGam9QQIua4

a fave, relevant King of the Hill gag ^.