What can you do if two suppliers bill you for the same energy use?

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Money Box listener Rebecca found herself caught between two of the UK’s biggest energy firms. After moving to a new home in the summer she changed the supplier from British Gas to EDF. Then a few weeks ago she received bills from both companies, meaning she'd have to pay twice for the gas she’d used once. Rebecca tried to resolve the situation in between her long shifts on an A&E ward but both firms insisted she owed the money and she received a legal threat. Then Money Box stepped in…… This week interest rates rose for the first time in more than three years. What might the increase from 0.1% to 0.25% mean for those savers getting much less than that from their accounts?

If you’re planning on buying gift cards for Christmas - spare us a minute of your time first.

The Bank of England says it wants to scrap a mortgage affordability rule that aims to prevent people getting into financial difficulty. It’s the one where applicants need to prove they could still make monthly payments if their mortgage interest rate rose to 3% above the lenders’ standard variable rate. A consultation on the change is due to start early next year.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Producer: Charmaine Cozier Production Coordinator: Janet Staples Editor: Emma Rippon

Transcript

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0:00.0	On a winter's night in 1974, a crime took place that would obsess the nation.
0:07.0	It was an extraordinary news story.
0:09.0	The story of an aristocrat, Lord Lucan, who's said to have killed the family Nanny,
0:14.0	mistaking her for his wife, then somehow just disappeared.
0:18.0	One of the great mysteries in English criminal history. We're still looking for
0:21.7	Lucan. It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime. I'm Alex Fontunzelman. This is
0:27.8	the Lucan Obsession. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast.
0:39.3	The bank rate has gone up.
0:40.6	Will the interest on our savings follow?
0:43.2	What's the best gift card to give, if any?
0:46.4	And the Bank of England wants to make it easier to borrow more to buy a house
0:50.1	by scrapping a key test of affordability.
0:53.7	But first, energy suppliers, EDF and British gas have around 17 million customers between them.
1:00.0	But one Moneybox listener has been counted twice.
1:03.0	She's been told she owes them both money for the same gas.
1:07.0	Rebecca Parsons is busy enough as a sister on an A&E ward without coming home at the end of
1:12.8	her 13-hour shifts to sort out her energy supplier's mistakes. And she recently spent her one day off
1:19.0	trying to get to the bottom of it. But both firms blamed the other insisting she should pay them
1:24.0	or else. Well, in desperation, she contacted Moneybox and Dan Whitworth opened her email, Dan.
1:30.3	Okay, Paul, so Rebecca moved into her new home back in July. Now, British gas had been supplying the property with energy,
1:37.5	but Rebecca closed that account and asked to set up a dual fuel deal with EDF. So far, so simple, until a couple of weeks ago.
1:46.8	So I've been paying EDF. 63 pounds a month for my gas and electric, which my gas totaled 169 pounds to date.
	...

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