ActewAGL 'even pay' gas bill issue

I assisted a friend with this issue. AGL clearly state in the agreement that they will review the arrangement every 6 months. After speaking to the ombudsman it became clear that a large number of accounts had not been looked at and AGL were sending out letters saying pay up or we will cut you off.

We negotiated a suitable arrangement that took into account the failing by AGL to uphold their end of the deal. We did not however have to pay back the whole amount owing.

Genie said :

arb said :

milkman said :

We just pay the bill when it arrives. It’s not that hard…

+1

Not everyone can afford to pay out hundreds of dollars when the bill arrives.. Esp since ACTEW are so kind to send you the Gas, Electricity and Water bills in the one week.

I’ve always had up to $50 a fortnight be paid against the Gas and Electricity, then over Summer I usually am in credit so nothing to pay and over winter I may only receive a bill of $200, which can easily fit into the budget.

Problem and solution.

arb said :

milkman said :

We just pay the bill when it arrives. It’s not that hard…

+1

Not everyone can afford to pay out hundreds of dollars when the bill arrives.. Esp since ACTEW are so kind to send you the Gas, Electricity and Water bills in the one week.

I’ve always had up to $50 a fortnight be paid against the Gas and Electricity, then over Summer I usually am in credit so nothing to pay and over winter I may only receive a bill of $200, which can easily fit into the budget.

Instead of this, just b-pay. I figured out what my annual usuage was after the winter quarter, added a couple of % for price increase and divided the total amount by 26 fortnights (and rounded up by at least $5). Then on payday, I have set up an electronic B-Pay to cover rates, water, electricity and gas all in one hit. With the rates, i was spot on and even when the bill came in, showing i still had some $$$ left, it worked out it was due exactly on the 2nd pay day (4 weeks), and i’d have $1 to spare after 2 lots of b-pays went through. If a top is needed over winter, its never too bad.

goggles13 said :

agree there is something wrong with the gas unit of Actew.

We found the gas arm of ACTEW so difficult to deal with that we had the gas disconnected outright. No more idiocy out of them now.

I have my accounts registered with ActewAGL’s epayplus – I can tell that my even pay arrangement is ok from the account balance & can easily see if my usage is different compared to previous years without having to dig up old bills (which was useful when our hot water system had an undetected leak!)

milkman said :

We just pay the bill when it arrives. It’s not that hard…

+1

We just pay the bill when it arrives. It’s not that hard…

Same story here. Set up even pay some years ago. Then noticed earlier this year that there was a shirt load of arrears. I did wonder why the amount had not increased for at least six years. On the plus side, the consultant that I dealt with could not have been more helpful. I suspect that by the time my name came up ( I am fairly late in the alphabet) they had refined their procedures. We agreed on a fortnightly amount to clear the arrears over a twelve month period.

I don’t blame them at all. If I can’t be arsed to check the printed account that I get EVERY 3 months, then I probably deserve some pain in dealing with arrears.

But they could have been more attentive. May be next time.

Yep, I got caught by it. In December last year they told me that they had failed to adjust the payments since I think late 2008, and that we owed them upwards of $3000. When I actually looked back at the old accounts, it was quite clear that the amount owing had been gradually creeping up, but I didn’t notice it – after all the whole idea of even pay is that they take the right amount of money each fortnight so you don’t have to worry about them. And, it had been working for us for quite a long time before that – as others have said, some odd increases and decreases but it always worked out in the end.
Anyway, we ended up with a hefty increase plus another $80 per fortnight to catch up. I got the impression from the credit officer I spoke to that quite a few people had been caught up in this problem. I’ll be keeping a closer eye on those accounts in future 🙂