The exploitation of the less well off and the vulnerable seems to be enshrined within the utilities' attitudes to its customers. My father, an infirm pensioner in his 80s suffering from dementia, was forced by the council to sell off our family home of fifty years in order to pay his care home costs. E-on allowed him to go into credit by well over £1,000. The house has been empty for much of the past two years since my father moved into a home as the house has been on the market, so very little gas or electricity has been consumed. E-on refuse to return the money , citing "differences in meter readings" between our reading and theirs, despite clear evidence re patterns of use and a credit due of £700 a year ago when a new meter was fitted. They claim they cannot get into the property to verify or explain the differences and wont pay until they can. No interest is earned on the money in credit by my father. E-on also claims not to earn any - who profits here - the Banks, the Chancellor?

JC, Nottingham, UK

The fact is, EW Thompson, that people have paid in for years and should expect to get an across-the-board benefit, and if this means that some ex pat pensioners in Malta get the payout then so be it. The problem appears to be with low income people who cannot manage a direct debit or internet system. I have an internet account but do not see why I should have to pay less per unit than the more vulnerable in our society.

Alan, Midlands,

Competition is not always good - hence other Euro countries have not privatised everything - that's where social democracy rather than ' greed is good' comes in. People don't seem to understand about pre-payment meters - the companies don't have to go out and collect the money - the poorest people have to go out and about to try to find somewhere (usually a garage) which accepts cash to charge their meter key. I had to do this for a few years as a single parent - it cost me valuable bus fares and time with a child in tow, it was humiliating and expensive and very hard to budget.
You can't penalise everyone who is not in a Scandinavian style insulated house - many Euro homes have very expensive and sophisticated heating systems - underfloor heating etc and they expect warmth in every house. I was in rubbish rented accommodation with no proper heating - expensive portable heaters etc. and that is typical for those on low income. Get helping them not criticising and have some charity

L, london,

Somehow I don't think shaming the Companies into action will do anything, will it 'Darling'?

So just hit them with the windfall tax first - then they might do something and it will at least start to claw back the Northern Rock billions.

Bry Barnes, Somerset, Uk

Peter Hertfordshire,
No one has to go and collect this money from people anymore. A pre-paid meter operates( normally), by going to the pOst Office and buying a card for a set ammount. The post office then sends the money electronically off course, to the Energy companies.
The only solution to this is re-nationalistion, or to be more honest a Europe wide single utility company so everyone in the EU gets charged the same!

John, London,

Rip off Britain.First the banks are in court for over charging customers.Then the energy suppliers followed by council tax over charging,When will the goverment wake up.

Bill Hodkinson, oldham,

As the Bank of England are now unable to do more to limit inflation,the Government must step in with some price controls in these key sectors of the economy.

Tony, Henley/Thames, uk

I pay for electricity before I use it. I am therefore a better credit risk than someone else who could do a moonlit flit owing several hunfdred pounds for a quarter's electricity. I should pay less than them, not more. I used to get letters informing me I had overpaid by £10-£12. "This letter is for information purposes only". No cheque to repay what they owe me. Not even a key top-up. Now they don't even tell me if they owe me money.
The gas is paid by monthly DD. I am always in Credit. I get no interest on the money I overpay. Ocassionally they fiddle about with the monthly payment. They once reduced it by £5 a month because they thought they had too much of my money, only to increase it by £6.50 the following month due to price increases. I lose both ways. I am told it would be better to pay both bills by Internet every quarter, but if I had a suddenly heavy bill, my pension wouldn't cover it. Would you want to choose between heating and eating?

Beryl, Windsor, England

Well, New Labour isn't for the small man, no matter what they say.

RB, Aberdeen,

The Government needs to revise its winter fuel allowance for the over 60s. Firstly they should stop paying the subsidy to those folks who have choosen to live in temperate climates overseas. Why is a winter fuel subsidy paid to someone residing in Malta, for example? Secondly the subsidy should be paid only to those with an income less than a reasonable amount. Why are those with incomes of say £30k/year being subsidized? The additional funds by making rational economies can be used to increase the allowance to those that really need it,

E. W. Thompson, Arnold, UK

This is a direct result of Thatcherism. I remember the ex Prime Minister MacMillan saying that she was selling the family silver and he has been proved right. The Blair government and the Brown government can aptly be described as Thatcherite governments with heart, but not much. These utilities which used to belong to the people of this country are mainly owned by foreigners only interesred in profit and they are really screwing the people of this country. This shower of hypocrites called New Labour ( a better title would be New Tories) voted solidly against every privatisation by Mrs. Thatcher and then when in government proceeded to do exactly the same.

Thomas Ralphs, Leigh, England

The phrase "Rip off Britain" rings a bell. No wonder so many are leaving.

B J Deller, Marbella, Spain

Peter Land "These supplies are now competitive". Sorry, I must have missed this bit. All of the power companies charge about the same amount, all of the power companies raise and lower their prices at about the same time. I'm not sure where the competition bit comes in.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

Government should renationalise british gas and use it to set competitve pricing.

javed, london, uk

Due to a drastic change in circumstances four years ago (divorce, private renting, landlord sells up), I found myself living in a Housing Association home. It was already fitted with a pre-payment meter which I was well aware would cost me more to use. Depite having a good credit history and having always paid utility bills by Direct Debit, I was told that it would 'cost' a £100 'deposit' to have the meter changed to a regular, non-prepayment one becaue of my new address being somehow less credit-worthy than I am. Thankfully I was able to do this BUT how could a pensioner or family on benefits afford this trumped up fee? There are obstacles to those on low incomes (for whatever reason) being able to enjoy what so many take for granted; desirable school places, fair priced fuel, afordable public transport (or even DECENT public transport at all!), fair taxation on low incomes to name a few. Choice is a concept which doesn't exist for many people in the UK today.

AspieMum, North Yorkshire,

These supplies are now competitive, so if any company was making excessive charges they would soon lose market share and ultimately their business. the cheaper cost of supplying customers who do not insist on pre-payment meters, who accept paperless bills and who pay by direct debit, must be passed on to them and the rip off would be if it were not. The only point I do wonder about is whether the companies have fairly priced in the low credit risk of customers who chose prepayment, although the high cost of actually physically going and collecting the money would outweigh that massively.

peter land, Hertford, Hertfordshire

So what's new? It's a cartel, simple as that

Paul, Coventry,

The problem with mutual societies is that they should work for the mutual benefit of the members. But they often work for the mutual benefit of the employees. And so with the formerly nationalised industries. The unions were over powerful, the businesses were overmanned, service was poor and the prices bore no relation to the costs.

It is unfortunate that many people cannot afford to pay for heating, but the problem is not caused by the private ownership of the energy companies. Profit is not evil.

Perhaps if the ( how often public owned? ) houses were built to Scandinavian standards of heat efficiency, or fitted with efficient unwastefull heating systems - I recall the electric storage heating of my childhood, then this would be less of an issue.

This situation has been a long time coming, and is not a new phenomenon caused by power companies making a ( I agree excessive) profit. But they could have "lost" the profit by employing a lot of unnecessary people.

David B, Larkhall,

The Government should not rely on the power companies to be generous. They must govern them. A windfall tax to finance fuel efficiency improvements to the homes of those in fuel poverty will give long lasting benefits and then true regulation applied to the power companies allowing them a respful profit level is all that is required.

William, Sheffield,

Take profit out of public services. These should be nationalised industries, not private companies. Electricity, gas and water are essential public utilities that everyone needs and it's quite standard practice these days for private companies to take advantage of the poor it seems.

So it's best to stop them being private companies. Fuel will cost a damn sight cheaper than now once you remove £9b profit out of the system. Come on Labour, do something for the people..that's what you used to stand for!

Kevin Rogers, Preston, United Kingdon

As a pensioner, I survive on £119 per week. Gas and electricity cost me around £30 per week in the Winter, and about £20 in the Summer.This is a huge chunk out of my income, and leaves very little for clothes, food, etc. I have a card meter for both. I am with EON. I only have the gas heating on for a couple of hours per day, and rarely at all in the Summer months. But you can't get away with that where electricity is concerned, you have to have light, kettle, shower etc. It's bad that these huge companies are ripping off pensioners. they should pay less, not more.

SW, Nottingham, UK

Not only a rip off but also the worst possible service... Think of British Gas, are they not delivering a mediocre service ? This industry's practices are an absolute shame.

Quentin, London, UK