Do you
pay for Gas or Electricity Quarterly by Cheque or Credit Card or Pre-Payment Meter?
If so,
you could be one of 10 million customers overcharged by your utility company
The 10m customers who pay by
cash or cheque every quarter are being charged £699m more than is justifiable, according to a report from a committee of MPs
last week. Pre-payment meter customers, including those with second homes, are paying up to £400m more.
The excess is in breach of
an EU directive which states that any difference between payment methods should reflect the cost to the supplier. This is
only £20 even though suppliers charge up to £69 more.
Customers who pay by cash or cheque every quarter,
also known as standard credit customers, are charged an average of 11% more for their energy — or £89 a year extra a
year, and are on average overcharging pre-payment customers by £59 a year, and those on standard credit by £69.
Energy firms are in breach of their
duties
Consumers would be able to claim back for four years of overpayments. With 3.64m pre-payment
and 10.14m standard credit customers in Britain, the potential cost to energy firms could be more than £3 billion.
