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[MSE Wendy]

This thread is specifically to report successess for the

Energy Direct Debits article

If you want to discuss the article pelase use
Energy Direct Debit Overcharging Discussion.

How to report your success/failure:

1. Click reply to enter you story.
2. Report your story in the following format:

• Who was your energy provider?
• Which situation were you in? (e.g. announced increase, general increase, switched supplier, DD just too high)
• How much did you get back?
• And then write your brief direct debit tale...

[ncrossland]

Our gas-only direct debit from NPower was £43 per month. We got our 6-monthly bill, and amazingly the charges were within 70p of what we'd paid on direct debit - that's an impressive bit of estimating!

However, on the same bill, it said they would be putting up the direct debit to £90 per month - over double!

I called them up, said it was unreasonable, and without any argument whatsoever the lady on the phone suggested £48 instead.

Proof, if you need it, that either their automated direct debit estimation system is wildly flawed - or they're blatantly trying it on.

[KimYeovil]

There's a mistake in the article. It suggests:

"A monthly direct debit is up to 10% cheaper than any other way of paying".

No. It is from about 10% cheaper - it can be up to 70% cheaper.

[dawsond410078]

I'm with Sciotish Power - on dual rate electricty tarif.

We pay on a monthly DD of about £45. We tend to be 'light' users - sorry for the pune, and usually have a slight credit on our bills. Since the price hikes we were £16 down and promptly received a letter saying that our DD would be going up to £57.

A possible trick I found is to pay off the outstanding on a credit card and then send them a e-mail (we have an online account set up) saying how unfair this increase is in few that we have cleared the outstanding amount already.

I received a e-mail back from them saying that the DD would now stay at the old rate. But a review would be done early next year.

Always worth a try - good luck.

GH

[CJN]

I am with EDF on a dual fuel tariff.

We were about £150 in credit after a year because our bill was based on the previous occupants. They wanted to keep the money in hand for the winter bills but I said I prefer to be in debt after the winter and repay it over the summer when bills are lower; we use much less gas anyway. After a few email exchanges they repaid the money but have not yet adjusted my payments.

Incidently, I was charged £9.52 for something called a Gas Transportation Charge. It is something to do with not being connected to the National Grid gas pipeline, how does the gas get to my house? Do I bother emailing them yet again? sigh

[A.Jones]

We switched to npower just under a year ago, when we moved house. They were going to raise our monthly payment just over 50% two months ago, I believe much of this was based on previous occupants winter usage, not mine. I phoned and threatened to switch straight away and they quickly readjusted it, putting it up just over 8%.

[Cornishmum]

I am with EON and our tariff is dual fuel online.

My direct debit was £98 per month and yesterday the letter came raising it to £143. I've just rung them and without any hesitation it was reduced to £100 per month.

The explanation for the hike was because I had recently submitted my readings online and the letter is automatically generated - not very reassuring!!!

The man on the phone suggested that I enter my readings online every 6 weeks which will give them a true picture throughout the quarter and they will make adjustments accordingly. I didn't realise you could do this and usually only submitted them when EON asked for a reading - a 6 weekly date is now firmly in my diary!!!

[brownfrog]

Full marks to Southern Electric. When I changed back to them from BG they set it at the rate that BG had it at - SE's bills have been so cheap that we were building up a large excess. I rang them up and the advisor immediately apologised for it being so large (which wasn't their fault), arranged a refund and reduced the DD.

[wilf55]

slightly of track but anyone struggling with benefits Direct payments which keep the price of the gas elec higher

ring energy watch and complain....
i was paying direct payments costing me 146 month to cover couple of pounds of the arrears and the gas elec i was using it would have taken approx 14 years to clear the 800 ish debt

anyway rang energy watch cos scottish power would not put me on dual fuel online type tarriff which was cheaper

energy watch arranged for me to go on dual fuel online type tarriff not only reducing my monthy bill which had to be paid by direct debit to 106 but this meant i was paying more of my arrears and cleared them within 1 year as opposed to 14 years it would have taken me

dont be frightened of arguing the point that you are being held on an artificially high tarrif when basically being on benefits being in the least likely position to afford a high bill in the first place


beware though you have to be disciplined (if like me you didnt pay in the first place and got a high amount of arrears!!) to ensure you have the money put away for the direct debit and do not incur bank charges

but thats another story......

[BigL]

That's a coincidence. I'm with EON (gas and electricity) and froze any price rises earlier this year. Yesterday, got the letter saying that the Direct Debit was going up. I rang last night and explained that the price was frozen and he countered by saying that my usage must have gone up! Not very likely. He then asked me to take a reading which resulted in him reducing the Direct Debit by £35 a month. As an afterthought, I asked if I was in credit and to my amazement (and his) I am £300 in credit! I asked for this back but he asked me to wait for 3 weeks when the next bill is due. He did not have an answer to the question "If my consumption is forecast to go up, how come I have overpaid by £300. Just shows that everyone should query any price hike demand.

[MSE Archna]

Originally Posted by CJN

Incidently, I was charged £9.52 for something called a Gas Transportation Charge. It is something to do with not being connected to the National Grid gas pipeline, how does the gas get to my house? Do I bother emailing them yet again? sigh

Hi CJN,

There is some info on this in the Gas & Elec article that you can read.

[retropants]

I'm with Eon, duel fuel online etc etc.

I set my prices low for 2009, just before the late summer increases, and for my conscientiousness, they increased my dd from 80 to 112, saying that my current payments would not be enough! Go figure. Anyway, I reluctantly agreed to let them do this.
Yesterday I received a letter telling me that my dd was going to be increased again to 137. I was not very happy about this, so I called them this morning. I informed them that after my last payment I was 138 in credit. They told me that this was not sufficient credit to cover the winter, and ideally I should be 300 in CR before the winter to cover extra fuel used. I told them that there were only 2 of us in the house, both working full time, and could not possibly use 137's worth of fuel every month and that I was not going to let them increase my payments, as the increase from 80 to 112 a few months ago was designed to cover the winter usage. The lady on the phone put my figures (I gave her today's meter readings) through their 'caluclator' (ahem) and it still insisted I needed the increase. I told her I was still not having this! She then said she'd calculate my usage manually for me. After a few minutes on hold, she came back and agreed with me, I am paying enough.
Ok, so stand your ground, and ask them to calculate manually, and go prepared with your meter readings. Incidentally, my boiler was replaced in April, so my gas usage has reduced (they noticed this) and so I should be paying less, not more. We'll see how the winter goes, I guess.

Thanks for taking the time to read my drivel!
RP.

[frjack]

I'm with Scottish Power, dual fuel.

I was notified, last week, that they wanted to increase my DD from £40 to £55.

I emailed, telling them not to increase the DD. or I would bail out. They replied with a bunch of figures (which I later found to be estimated) for my last 12 month's consumption, followers by more figures, which didn't quote any assumptions or base figures. The upshot was the deigned to decrease my DD to £52.

I emailed them again and stressed that they should not increase the DD, under any circumstances, or I would cancel the DD and bail out. I gave them until 5pm on Monday to reply, confirming this.

On Monday, I received an email stating my complaint had been escalated and would be dealt with in 5 days... The DD was due in 48 hours! So... I got on the phone and by sheer luck, got through to someone who actually knew what they were talking about and wanted to help.

I explained the situation and presented my figures (based on the figures my account history provided) which indicated my DD could possibly be increased to £43. The lady I spoke to examined the figures used (and only partially quoted by the previous respondent!) and informed me the figures sent to me were vastly over estimated - a 30% increase in consumption had been assumed, despite my consumption decreasing for the past 2 years!

After some sensible talk and figures from her, I agreed that it was too late to change this month's payment, but that the DD will stay at £40, until it is reviewed again, in March... and she transferred me to a discounted tariff (no ties or fees)!

Always challenge this and ask for detailed consumption figures, then do your own calculation and compare. If it fails and you think you are right, cancel the DD, immediately - they'll soon sit up and pay attention, then!

Cheers!
FrJ

[Smithills]

I've just negotiated a drop in DD for gas with Atlantic. My new DD was £72- then I sent them a new meter reading- a drop to £63. Then the bill that was generated from that revision showed a surplus- and based on meter readings, they have re-set my payments to £35/mo. Now this could be a little on the low side, but as I've been here for 2 years, I know what my estimated annual gas, electricity & water usage is fairly accurately.

I think that you can get too bamboozled by thinking just in £££- after all the increases, the companies can easily justify any hikes by telling you it's to cover their prices & winter use. but if you have evidence for them- my average kW use is XXX per year, then they can't over-egg it too much. I will increase my DD to a round amount- say the nearest tenner, as I would rather build up a little surplus, then be in debit. Be vigilant and you should stay in a good position.

[bucksplit]

We're with e.on.

We recently received a statement informing us that our direct debits were going from £67 to £118 a month with less than a month's notice, despite us being £63 in credit. I immediately called e.on (using the 'SAYNOTO0870' website!) and spoke to a very patronising and rude Customer Services rep, who spoke to me as if I was a very deaf and rather dim foreigner. BIG mistake, because I then immediately emailed e.on's Director of Customer Services to complain a) about the price hike b) about the rude way my enquiry had been handled. As a result, I was called within 24 hours, received a full and courteous apology, and my direct debits were put back to their original amount. I also received an immediate email confirming this and explaining how e.on works out the debit amounts.

The fact that e.on were so quick to apologise and revert the d/d suggested to me that they'd been deluged with complaints. Something this forum confirms.

It is outrageous that customers in credit should be expected to subsidise these corporate behemoths. As my wife said at the time, it's the equivalent of being expected to pay for a meal chosen by the restaurant before you've even decided what you want to eat. (And not even a complimentary olive.)

COMPLAIN!

[lilmisstrouble]

I'm with Npower, they send you a bill every 6 months. I got mine at the end of October> I pay £80 pm for dual fuel. Despite being £23 in credit with another £80 to be paid the following day they wanted to increase my payment to £146 pm. I rang them and told them I wan't paying it and if they increased my payment I would switch. They immediately agreed to let the payment remain at £80 pm. I check my usage monthly and work out the cost and will pay extra if my DD does not cover it. One month later I am still £100 in credit

[ggugvrunt]

EDF changed our direct debit from £40 to £62 when we were £70 in credit.
Customer services said they could reduce it to £54 but would not go any lower since 'this figure was based on previous meter readings'. I pointed out that the letter had also said the £62 was based on previous meter readings, so one of their calculations must be wrong, but the person didn't seem to understand that!
I told them I would be prepared to agree to £50 and would like to talk to a supervisor about it.
They rang back later and left a message to say the supervisor had agreed to £44!
I really don't know how they do their calculations!

[CJN]

Thank you for the information. I have contacted EDF this charge is £40 per year, they only seemed to charge me from September this year, which is strange but I am not going to argue about that. The charge is actually in the small (very tiny) print at the bottom of my new price tariff.

I am on a fixed protected tariff until Sept next year, since the salesperson assured me that prices would rise January, we shall see.

[mothershipton]

Having read the article and being £150 in credit I contacted scottish power with a copy of the template letter ammended to fit my situation and scottish power emailed back today that they would reduce my direct debit down to £76 from £92.
I fixed my prices in the summer and am putting in twice monthly meter readings (yes i get obsessed with numbers sometimes!) so i think that helped . The money is much better in my pocket!

I find it galling to think that the energy companies are lining their coffers by putting up everyones direct debit. Having said that SP seem to be doing the right thing. good luck to everyone else

[cotterpin]

we received a letter with our latest gas bill saying that they were going to increase our DD from £43 to £79, even though we've had a credit balance on our bill for over 2 years. I calculated how much gas we'd used over the past two years and took the average price per unit and worked out that we'd have to increase our consumption for the year by 40% for a DD of £79 to be reasonable. I then worked out that a DD of £56 per month would cover our gas usage for the year at current prices and so phoned E.On.

I have to say that the advisor I spoke to was very helpful and said that the DD shouldn't have been increased as our annual review was due in April and that they should have waited to see what our winter consumption was like before altering the DD. They were happy enough to go with my figures and go with £56 per month, but I wanted to keep a bit more in the kitty. I suggested setting the DD at £60 per month which hopefully will cover things and received a letter the other day confirming this amount.