Inaccurate bills common amongst energy suppliers
April 17, 2010 by Reno
Filed under News, News Utilities
Many households are used to getting bills that are inaccurate for one reason or another, and these bills can come from a variety of sources and companies. This can be very frustrating for the bill payer, as it can mean that it takes longer to sort out their budget, which is something that most people want to get done as quickly as possible in the current financial climate.
It has been revealed that some companies are worse than others when it comes to sending out bills that are no accurate, and the group of companies that have emerged as being the worst for this type of activity is energy suppliers, according to a recent report.
Research was carried out by uswitch.com and indicated that consumers found energy suppliers to be the worst when it came to sending out inaccurate bills. Moreover, this is the fourth year in a row that energy suppliers have been voted worst in this survey, showing that much improvement is still needed when it comes to billing.
The data showed that in the last two years around 30 percent of households had received incorrect bills from their energy suppliers for their gas and electricity usage. Data also showed that of 17 percent of these households had been incorrectly billed by their energy supplier more than once.
Whilst some of the inaccuracies on the bills were sorted out within a week or two, the average time taken to resolve the problem was just over two months. This has led to a greater number of consumers providing their own readings o energy suppliers.
Tags: billing, inaccurate, energy supplier, uswitch, energy billsUswitch stated: ‘Clearly there’s a long way to go before the energy industry lays the ghost of bad billing to rest, but there is some hope here. The fact that more households are providing suppliers with meter readings will play no small part in improving the accuracy of our energy bills.’
Council tax rises by 91% in 10 years
June 25, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Mortgages
Increasing council tax bills are putting the squeeze on mortgage holders throughout the UK.
According to research by Halifax, the average council tax bill has risen by 91 per cent in the past ten years.
This huge increase is clearly going to cause trouble for many homeowners, particularly first-time buyers who may be struggling to keep up with mortgage payments anyway.
Halifax points out that the average annual bill currently sits at £1,078, almost double the £564 that most people paid in 1997-98.
The largest percentage rise has been seen in Monmouthshire, where council tax has increased by 184 per cent in the last decade.
People living in Richmond-upon-Thames pay the most council tax in Britain, with a bill of £1,665.
Halifax points out that the 91 per cent average increase is well above percentage rises in other areas, with average earnings goring by 51 per cent and the Retail Price Index growing by 31 per cent in the same time period.
“Council tax bills have increased significantly faster than either average earnings or retail prices over the past ten years,” said Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax.
“Bills diverge across the country. Growth rates over the last decade differ by a wide margin between billing authorities too.”
People considering getting a mortgage are advised to ensure that they have calculated their finances properly before signing up to ensure that they will have enough cash to pay for things such as council tax and household bills on top of their mortgage payments.
