Energy Direct Debits: Get money back & your payments lowered Discussion

The_Green_Hornet

In my experience, with a number of different energy suppliers, every year they re-calculate my gas and electricity usage and put my direct debit up and every year I contact them and convince them to put it back down again.

It seems to me that it is industry practice to overestimate usage to improve their cash flow and place the onus on the customer to ask for a correction.

If only we had a half decent regulator who would stand up for the customer.

AVENUE

I've been with EDF for quite some time & recently gone from their online10 tarrif to their Blue+Price Promise 2014 which means no further increases till April 2014.

When i switched it also means i dont receive paper bills but online ones via their website.

I was paying £57 per month previously, and i've only just noticed because i havn't been well, that they had put my payments up to £77 per month. They did not send me an email reminder that they had done this or had sent me a new bill. I only found this out when i logged on to their site & looked at my messages! My account was still in credit!

I hadn't read my meter or submitted a reading since my last bill, so i read my meters & submitted the new info online as well as sending a message asking why my payments had gone up without me being told. Well low & behold i logged on a day later and although i'm still slightly more in credit than before they have again increased my monthly debit to £86 per month!! Thats an increase in 3 months of 50% based on my previous monthly payments. Again, this info is only available in my messages when i log on & i've been sent no emails to let me know.

At the end of the online bill it says my estimated annual usage based on my last 12 months is £800 which works out at £67 per month. I'm going to ring them on Monday, but based on this info should i be able to insist they reduce my Monthly payments to £67 which is their projected usage figure, and also have they done anything wrong by not sending me emails to alert me to the increases. I would not have known without logging on to their site? Many thanks.

Best Regards AVENUE

brewerdave

AVENUE ,suggest you have a read thru the other live EDF Direct Debit threads on here - YOU ARE NOT ALONE:rotfl:

AVENUE

Thanks brewerdave, have you got a link for that thread or threads i'm struggling to find my way around here?

Best regards AVENUE

brewerdave

Try https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4292717

:j

jalexa

AVENUE wrote: »

... based on this info should i be able to insist they reduce my Monthly payments to £67 which is their projected usage figure,..

You are affected by than one issue. If you have provided a recent reading and are in credit (though you would get more meaningful advice if you stated your current post-reading credit) the experience of most people is that the telephone advisers will set a payment at a reasonable payment of your choice. "£67" is a sensible reasoned figure. Ask nicely and they should agree. Post again for further advice if they don't agree.

The "technical" issues of notification failure is a another matter. I strongly recommend you don't link the two issues in a single telephone call. Focus on the payment issue until you are satisfied, then in another call raise the notification problems.

I can only say what "should" happen regarding bills or statements. When a bill is ready to be viewed online you should receive an email. The first page of the bill contains your statutory (and only) Direct Debit notice. So the first question to explore is whether your online account has a recent bill and whether the first page of that bill provides the direct debit notice. If that is in order the next question is whether you received an email notification for your bill and (implicitly) whether Edf sent the email. Does the email address stated in your online "Contact details" show an active email address? Also check that your "Bill and contact preferences" are correctly set. Have you *ever* received Edf emails to your active email address? There may be a issue there to be addressed. You need to decide on the evidence where the problem lies and agree a resolution.

AVENUE

Thanks for these helpful replies, its much appreciated. I've just got off the phone to EDF, very polite & helpful lady i spoke with!. She agreed straight away after looking at my account, that although my usuage is slightly up for this period last year, their increase in DD is excessive and has now reduced it from the proposed £86 pm to £67 pm. She asked if i received an email telling me that my bill was ready to view online & i said i hadn't. She then said that other than that, its expected that customers will log on to their account on a regular basis to check! It appears, yet again, that just the fact that i had provided them with an online meter reading last week, triggered the further increase in my DD! However she couldn't explain why part of my "new" DD included a £10 charge for underpayment when i am actually in credit (Only by £25 put its still a credit!). I've asked in future to be put back on to paper billing and am certainly only going to provide a meter reading when necessary. I guess the Summer Months would be best to do this would it? Lol!

Best Regards - AVENUE

jalexa

AVENUE wrote: »

I've asked in future to be put back on to paper billing and am certainly only going to provide a meter reading when necessary. I guess the Summer Months would be best to do this would it?

Now that the payment amount has been changed you will (should) receive a "your payment scheme" notification. Had you remained "paperless" that would/should have been an email alert to an online message. Since you have cancelled "paperless" it should be by snail mail. I am not convinced that is any more dependable than email notification.

If you are confident your monthly payment is "about right" you are right to be wary about providing meter readings. Be aware that you have an 'annual review' date and about 4 weeks prior you will be asked to provide readings. At your 'annual review' balances in excess of £150 are refunded or collected as appropriate. Lesser balances are incorporated into the next year's payments. Keep alert at review time.

Oh, the "its expected that customers will log on to their account on a regular basis to check" is nonsense. A direct debit originator must "send" the notification. A tip though, had you known where to look, you would have seen the payment amount on your Myaccount home page change immediately your submitted readings were acknowledged.

AVENUE

Thanks for that again. They've confirmed to me in writing that my new payments are now £67 per month. I sent them a message online to ask when my annual review was and they have said its 25/03/2013.

Will this be the actual anniversary date of me first signing up for their service....or do they like to have these reviews at the end of the coldest part of the year so they can try to justify hiking up the debits again?....Not that i'm cynical of course! Lol!

They said to submit a reading just before then, but i dont think i will, i'll just wait first to see what they estimate, unless of course they do a meter reading off their own bat by then!

Best regards - AVENUE

Devonian_Rodders

I can relate to the forum regarding increased Direct Debits.
Having been with Scottish & Southern (SSE) for many years without problems, I am now advised the Direct Debit for Gas will increase from £42 to £61 monthly, an increase of 45%
In previous years the excess on Electricity has offset the Gas account and increases were avoided. Currently there is a surplus on Electricity which SSE have decided to hold on to.

Yes, energy prices have risen year on year and are likely to continue to do so for the forseeable future. However, it does seem the DD system is being used to enable the energy companies to accrue additional funds.

Initially when signing up for dual fuel a 6% discount was applied, but it is noted the goal posts have moved and it is now a flat £40

The twist to this story is I happen to be a pensioner, and need to watch money carefully. Currently there are one or two deals around which may be cheaper on line, but this means that in the event of me not being able to maintain my PC,I would lose out.

All this when successive Goverments have "massaged" inflation figures EVERY September, so as to keep increase for pensioners to a minimum Then Energy Companies (and others) increase prices the following month.
Some readers may say "Ah yes pensioners do get Winter Fuel Payments" but of course that was REDUCED by 20% and may indeed be under further scrutiny soon.

"Happy" New Year !!!