after spending a morning on the phone and with the much needed help of my Spanish friend (my pigeon spanish really wasnt up to the job!), I have finally realised that the route of our problems has been the PW initially gave the incorrect current account details to the suppliers which is why we have had so many problems!
if anyone else is having similar problems, it may be worth checking the account the utilities are trying to collect from
thanks to everyone for their help and advice, really appreciated.