Easy Money.

Today i made one of those phone calls that you don't get to make very often. A phone call that makes you a lot of money.
Okay, so the money was originally mine to start with. I just didn't realise that i was owed it.
Maybe i should just get on & tell the story?....

In the mail today, i received my latest electricity & gas bills. I get both utilities from the same company. I just happen to find it easier that way.

I have changed my provider on a number of occasions, as we can do in the UK & actually went over to this provider, a while ago, because a lot of their power comes from renewable sources.
Anyway, whilst studying the individual bills i noticed that the company actually owed me money, on both bills. Obviously i had overpaid them. Mainly due to the fact that i pay by direct debit. Once again, i just find it easier that way & you do generally get a small discount for paying that way.

On the electricity bill i was over £500 in credit & on the gas bill i was over £360 in credit! Yes, that amounts to over £850 that i had paid to this energy company, that i didn't need to.
I must admit that i had noticed on previous bills that i was in credit. But, i didn't realise it was by that much. Either that, or i just hadn't got around to ringing up the company & sorting out the over payment.

Well, this time i was straight on the phone to sort it all out. First off i checked that i had the correct meter readings, just in case of any error.
As it happens, the lady on the other end of the phone could not have been nicer & more accomodating. Well, i guess she should have been as it was my money i was asking for.
After checking that all the figures were correct & adjusting for the slight difference in the meter readings, i was still well in the black.

To cut a long story short(ish) I ended up getting the energy company to pay £700 (approx $1,000) back into my bank account. Money that i had overpaid & was therefore owed. I also got them to reduce my direct debit payments by over £60 per month.
I may still be overpaying slightly. But, i decided to keep it that way. For the moment at least. I can always adjust it again in the future & maybe get another bank payment as well.

As i mentioned in an earlier blog post. I have recently booked a return flight to the USA & this money will go a long way to ensuring that i have a really good time, whilst i'm there.

And all because i bothered to make a simple phone call.

I suppose the moral of this story is. Check those bills that come through the door, a little more closely in future.
Who knows. You may be owed some money as well.
If so, maybe i'll see you at Heathrow in April?