"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 17 Mar 2006 19:52:35 -0000, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:


"Richard Faulkner" wrote in message
...
I think what he was getting at was that ripping off 10 million customers
for £1 is not a bad way of adding £10 million to your bottom line
profit.
Firstly, very few will notice, and even fewer will complain, and even
fewer will be able to argue the case well enough, (meter readings on the
day), to win.

If people can't be bothered to check their own readings and do something
about it that's their problem.

I've often had lower estimates than the meter suggests. Should I complain?

It's swings and roundabouts. BG - and (I believe) other utility
companiesdon't deliberately overestimate.

Mary

Are you sure, Mary?

Of course I'm not SURE. I said that I believed that. Nobody can be sure- not
even you.

I've experienced that with BG, Npower and Powergen, sometimes to the
tune of 20% overpayment over the billing year.

Serves you right for switching and not keeping a stable record!

I'm not in the business of lending money to utility companies -
especially not at zero interest.

I therefore have two simple rules

1) I don't allow them to set the direct debit amount or to change it.
There are a few who will do so as a matter of course. I won't do
business with them.

You have the choice.

2) I calculate the next year's usage as being the same as the past
year's usage, apply any price increases and work out a projected cost.
I then offer them no more than 85% of that spread over the year, thus
pretty much guaranteeing that I owe them money at the end of the year.
Finally, I carry forward the shortfall into the next year and factor
that into the cost and offer no more than 85% again.

That means that you're not paying what you owe. That's no fairer than paying
more.

I sometimes get squeaks from them and they have to go and get approval
from the supervisor. A couple of times I've had to discuss with the
supervisor. However, they are often on bonuses or targets for
customer retention. I only once met with a refusal to co-operate,
and that company lost the business.

I have never had that problem. But I suspect that my attitude isn't the same
as yours.