No wonder our utility bills frequently rise without us being aware of increased costs.

Recent examples of two of our largest utility companies operating inefficiently only add pounds to our bills.

British Gas, which operates my electricity account, sent us an estimated bill which could easily be rectified by us sending in the meter reading.

However, to send pages informing us of what our annual usage and costs will be, based on an estimated quarterly bill, is a farce.

How is it possible to produce one estimate based on another?

The time, materials and overhead costs of such a waste are sure to be passed on, unknowingly, to the customers.

The only useful purpose of such a blatant guessing game can be to produce company cashflow forecasts to enable the banks to lend them money.

BT are no better, having set up a direct debit scheme which has paid our telephone bills for years.

Usually the advance statement arrives about three weeks before BT wants to collect the direct debit, which allows time to budget to ensure funds are available.

Our last statement arrived just six days prior to BT’s proposed payment date.

I knew there would not be enough funds in my bank account to honour the direct debit, so tried to contact BT to change the direct debit date to a week later.

The automated telephone system is geared to suit BT, with dominating robotic voices that put a huge distance between customer and company.

I stopped the direct debit through my bank to avoid a £12 charge. BT soon called once they knew the direct debit had not gone through. They gave a number to call to tell them when the bill would be settled, and, you guessed it, the number put me through to the same going-nowhere, automated system.

I have received three similar calls from BT, all giving the same useless number to call.

The only consolation was that each time I called that number, I was told it was a free call.

Common sense seems to have been disbanded in favour of capitalist domination.

Adrian Taylor, Thames Street, Eynsham