After getting close to flipping out with stress last night, I finally sat down and went through most of the papers that have been accumulating in the lounge. A few bank statements, a few letters about having gone over my overdraft and PLEASE would I pay urgent attention to getting more money from somewhere, and an “annual statement” (covering the last 6 months) from npower.

Electricity Charges £50

Direct Debits Paid: £61, £61, £61, £61, £61, £61, £61, £61, £61, £61

Balance: We owe you about £550

We’re not going to give it to you.

But for the next year, you can pay £2 a month.

What the hell is all that about?! They have £500 of my money, that would’ve come in extremely useful while I’ve been bouncing off my overdraft limits for the last six months.

How we got into this is that I went on estimated readings for about 5 years, then phoned in. I’d like to know what algorithm they use for figuring out next year’s payments, as if their figures are correct and representative, it will take them 10 years to pay off the debt to me. I’d rather that £500 sat in an ISA than in a privately-owned former utility.