What a nasty surprise from my gas provider last month. My fairly incomprehensible gas bill, for my flat, through a mild winter quarter, was £401.27. Yes, £401.27! And no, I have not been sweltering, running a blast furnace or bakery. I’ve had my thermostat very low, but my “gas usage ... based on an actual reading ... is up 95% [compared with] ... the same period last year”.
I plodded round the block with the dog, in shock, and bumped into a neighbour, at whom I moaned about my astronomical bill. Next day, I saw the neighbour again. He’d just got his bill: £500! But that was for a whole house. And there was I thinking that, with wholesale energy prices at a 10-year low, our bills would also be plummeting.
What is going on? I phoned the company to find out. Guess what? “All of our agents are busy.” For ages. I gave up. Yesterday, a red reminder bill arrived. I rang again. “All of our agents ...” Song: “Unforgettable, that’s what you are, la la la … We apologise ... Thank you for your patience ... Unforgettable, la la la ...”
I notice that I’m using an 0345 number. How much is that? It looks like 12p by landline, 40p by mobile. Ten minutes listening to an obnoxious crooner bumps my bill up to £402.47p.
I am furious. I ask Olivia how much her bill is. “I don’t know,” she says weedily, looking like a terrified dormouse. “I had this frozen deal thing for two years, and now I pay a huge amount every month.” But how much? “I daren’t look.” Pathetic. And Rosemary has hardly dared put her heating on. “I’ve had to wear my vest, two jerseys and winter cardigan in the kitchen,” says she.
Luckily, she’s still here, and we can manage. Thousands can not. “An estimated 9,000 people [the highest number for 15 years] died last winter [2014-15] in England and Wales,” says BBC news. They quote someone from University College London: “People dying from cold homes [is] a result of high fuel prices, low incomes and poor insulation.”
“Somebody’s making a lot of money, and it’s not us,” says Fielding. Absolutely. I shall pay my stink-pot suppliers and switch to a more trustworthy and straightforward one. Because there must be some. Mustn’t there?
