Published: 12/12/2009 00:00 -
Updated: 29/01/2010 12:45
FAR too much of my life these days is spent ringing around companies ensuring all our utilities are flowing freely, without us having to sell the rabbit for medical science to pay for them.
Today is a classic example of this. Waiting on my doorstep for me was a letter from British Gas warning me that, because my electricity consumption had gone up recently, they would start taking £67 out of the bank each month rather than the £30 we currently pay.
This, as you can imagine, didn't make me giddy with delight. How can they come to the conclusion we've doubled our energy consumption almost overnight?
You might remember, in my last blog, I went on for far too long about my new wireless energy monitor - and the way it's made me watch my electricity usage to the point where it's becoming a dangerous problem.
Anyway, the pay-off from all this energy saving should have been my delight at how much money I've saved on the bill - so you can imagine my horror when I opened the letter to hear British Gas were intending to punish me.
So I rang them. I must add at this point that British Gas is absolutely brilliant. Seriously, it's my favourite company by a mile at the moment. Ringing them is a pleasure as, at any time of day, you get straight through to a British human being and I only ever have to press one option on the switchboard.
They have an automated service, which I really can't be bothered with, but it's called Pam. I like that.
And the other day they rang me for no other reason than to ask if everything was OK. No hard sell, no new services I "might benefit from", just checking whether there was anything I wanted to ask them.
It was a bit like going for a meal at a posh pub or restaurant when the waiter gives you a few minutes to tuck in before checking all's well. Slightly inconvenient, but you don't mind because it shows they care. I've never known a company do that before.
But I digress. I rang British Gas ready to tear a strip off them for accusing me of doubling my energy usage but instead of a scripted speech about the time of year and rising fuel costs I got an apology.
They simply gave me an explanation. They blamed a careless computer that had got its maths wrong and, he assured me, would now be sent to bed without any supper for causing me alarm.
He promised to rectify it immediately and confirmed that my direct debit would stay normal. You don't get service like that these days. I know British Gas might be slightly more expensive than some companies but it's true what they say; you get what you pay for.
Saying that, I do have one big gripe. And this isn't just a gripe with British Gas, it's with all utility companies - including water. Why does the billing system have to be so complicated?
When I pay my phone bill I'm told exactly what I've used that month and I pay the full amount.
With the utilities, however, and for reasons I can't fathom, you pay a set amount which may be more or less than you're actually going to use (nobody seems to care) and you either over pay or under pay as a result.
This means that eventually you end up building a big debt with them or they end up owing you. Why? This seems so foolish and complicated when it would be much simpler to just bill me for what I've used.
I'll send them a meter reading every month if they like, it's not as if they have to trust me not to concoct figures. I send them meter readings whenever they ask me, but they still seem to send a man round a few days later to check I wasn't telling porkies.
Perhaps they can't understand why my electricity usage has doubled. Well, they know now that it's because a computer worked it out and not a man.
Then bill me for whatever I've used between the first day of last month and the first day of this month. No more of this silly nonsense about predicting how much I'll need to pay and then making me prat about to adjust it when they get it wrong.
Besides, how dare they predict what I'm going to use. I'm quite spontaneous really. In fact, this week I might leave the freezer door open to do my bit for global warming. They won't see that coming.
Today is a classic example of this. Waiting on my doorstep for me was a letter from British Gas warning me that, because my electricity consumption had gone up recently, they would start taking £67 out of the bank each month rather than the £30 we currently pay.
This, as you can imagine, didn't make me giddy with delight. How can they come to the conclusion we've doubled our energy consumption almost overnight?
You might remember, in my last blog, I went on for far too long about my new wireless energy monitor - and the way it's made me watch my electricity usage to the point where it's becoming a dangerous problem.
Anyway, the pay-off from all this energy saving should have been my delight at how much money I've saved on the bill - so you can imagine my horror when I opened the letter to hear British Gas were intending to punish me.
So I rang them. I must add at this point that British Gas is absolutely brilliant. Seriously, it's my favourite company by a mile at the moment. Ringing them is a pleasure as, at any time of day, you get straight through to a British human being and I only ever have to press one option on the switchboard.
They have an automated service, which I really can't be bothered with, but it's called Pam. I like that.
And the other day they rang me for no other reason than to ask if everything was OK. No hard sell, no new services I "might benefit from", just checking whether there was anything I wanted to ask them.
It was a bit like going for a meal at a posh pub or restaurant when the waiter gives you a few minutes to tuck in before checking all's well. Slightly inconvenient, but you don't mind because it shows they care. I've never known a company do that before.
But I digress. I rang British Gas ready to tear a strip off them for accusing me of doubling my energy usage but instead of a scripted speech about the time of year and rising fuel costs I got an apology.
They simply gave me an explanation. They blamed a careless computer that had got its maths wrong and, he assured me, would now be sent to bed without any supper for causing me alarm.
He promised to rectify it immediately and confirmed that my direct debit would stay normal. You don't get service like that these days. I know British Gas might be slightly more expensive than some companies but it's true what they say; you get what you pay for.
Saying that, I do have one big gripe. And this isn't just a gripe with British Gas, it's with all utility companies - including water. Why does the billing system have to be so complicated?
When I pay my phone bill I'm told exactly what I've used that month and I pay the full amount.
With the utilities, however, and for reasons I can't fathom, you pay a set amount which may be more or less than you're actually going to use (nobody seems to care) and you either over pay or under pay as a result.
This means that eventually you end up building a big debt with them or they end up owing you. Why? This seems so foolish and complicated when it would be much simpler to just bill me for what I've used.
I'll send them a meter reading every month if they like, it's not as if they have to trust me not to concoct figures. I send them meter readings whenever they ask me, but they still seem to send a man round a few days later to check I wasn't telling porkies.
Perhaps they can't understand why my electricity usage has doubled. Well, they know now that it's because a computer worked it out and not a man.
Then bill me for whatever I've used between the first day of last month and the first day of this month. No more of this silly nonsense about predicting how much I'll need to pay and then making me prat about to adjust it when they get it wrong.
Besides, how dare they predict what I'm going to use. I'm quite spontaneous really. In fact, this week I might leave the freezer door open to do my bit for global warming. They won't see that coming.
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