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

tracyk1207

Switched from BG because during the lockdown they forgot to raise a bill.  Still took my regular monthly DD of £60, and when I rang them to ask for a bill to check credit levels ahead of winter usage nobody understood I just wanted to see regular qtrly bills. 

Long story of frustrated phone calls when they finally raised a bill for 9months at the end of Dec 2020.  This resulted in them deciding to increase my DD to more than double at £150 without any notice at all.  Their terms clearly state they have to provide notice before amending a DD charge, it was only by pure chance I logged into my account and noticed over the festive period the DD had been increased and was due to come out my bank within 48hrs. 

I rang them to complain and tried to explain the high usage was due to their error in not billing for 9months and not a representation of increased usage on my part, but they wouldn't reduce the DD level.  I also explained I was switching (always use MSE to compare annually) in 30days and wouldn't use the £300 credit on my account - even less likely with the DD of £150 increasing the credit balance to no avail.  I cancelled the DD, manually paid my usual £60 but got charged a higher rate for paying without a DD for the final 30 days 😒  Terrible customer service!

tracyk1207

danr111 said:

Hi All,

Just received an email from British Gas saying I have a bill. I checked the app and found the bill saying  I owe them £1100 for 10 months energy (based on accurate read meter readings). I pay a £100 direct debit each month £50 gas and £50 electric. It turns out that my electric usage is through the roof, which I am currently querying as I am using 3 to 4 times what I believed I should be using.

Upon reading the email I realised that following a meter reading I gave in December ( I had to do this via phone as both the app and site were down) I had another bill for £580. This bill stated that my gas use age was average and they increased my direct debit to £57.96, while the electric was very high the direct debit wasn't changed even though within the bill it says they are increasing my direct debit for the electric.

I did not receive notification of this bill or the direct debit change. While british gas says they did inform me, I would of course contacted british gas and queried the bill and dealt with the problem before it became this severe. I did notice my direct debit increase but as it was only minor I assumed everything was ok. I believe the company have failed on a few fronts which has led to my bill being unmanageable. On the off chance that it is not a meter fault and I have some faulty appliances I would like to know my rights as I don't believe I should pay some of this for the following reasons:

• Did not receive notification of a bill in December- app and site were down and didn't get an email
• Did not receive notification of increase in direct debit for my gas
• Electricity did not increase to reflect my usage (even though the bill states that it should and therefore contradicts itself)

What are your thoughts?

I've had the same issue with BG last year - no bill for 9months because they'd overlooked it during lockdown and then wanted to increase the DD because of high usage despite my account being in credit.  NO NOTICE from BG the DD was being increased, I only noticed when I logged into my account over Christmas holidays the DD value had changed.  I called immediately and they claim they had advised me but couldn't provide any evidence, no email, no app messages etc, and wouldn't reconsider the increase despite the credit on the account and a switch in progress.  Looks like they have a comms issue and are ignoring their poor customer service!

AGRP

I'm with Shell Energy on a standard tariff with smart meters and I pay by variable DD every month. I now look after my aged uncle's affairs and he is with Scottish Power on a standard tariff with smart meters. Currently I pay his whole bill manually (from his account) every month by bank transfer. I have asked SP if I can set up a variable DD (from my uncle's account) to pay the whole outstanding bill every month and they say not. I can only pay by DD if I agree to change to another "budget" tariff which involves a fixed monthly DD amount set by SP, which I don't want to do. I've raised a complaint that basically they will not allow me to pay the whole bill outright every month by DD - seems perverse! Has anyone ever faced a similar situation and did they get a resolution other than moving supplier?

2Gundogs

I was transferred to E.on Next when my previous supplier went bust last September. My smart meter is read on the 28th and my DD goes out on the 1st, so pretty much instant payment for every monthly bill. The transfer process took a while to sort out, so my account was initially in debit, which I settled over the 'phone (online payment wasn't working). The rep tried to take the debit amount AND an advance payment for the next month, which was due in a couple of days. I wouldn't let her, as this would have left me with a credit balance onlay a couple of days later. Last week, I received a notification that my DD payments were being increased from April 1st from £65 ( which exactly covers my very consistent monthly bill) to over £127! So, for a 54% increase in energy and a 58% increase in standing charge, they were expecting a 98% increase in my monthy payment. What's more, because they were expecting this to start on April 1st, but my consumption from March would be billed at the price prior to the increase in the price cap, I would have been perpetually in credit to the tune of nearly £100. Online reduction of DD payments is limited to 10%, so it'll take a while to sort out. If it weren't for the discount for paying by DD, I'd tell them to stuff it and go back to quarterly billing in arrears.

Energy companies have always over-estimated the need to increase DD payments, but never to this extent.

Robo61

2Gundogs said:

I was transferred to E.on Next when my previous supplier went bust last September. My smart meter is read on the 28th and my DD goes out on the 1st, so pretty much instant payment for every monthly bill. The transfer process took a while to sort out, so my account was initially in debit, which I settled over the 'phone (online payment wasn't working). The rep tried to take the debit amount AND an advance payment for the next month, which was due in a couple of days. I wouldn't let her, as this would have left me with a credit balance onlay a couple of days later. Last week, I received a notification that my DD payments were being increased from April 1st from £65 ( which exactly covers my very consistent monthly bill) to over £127! So, for a 54% increase in energy and a 58% increase in standing charge, they were expecting a 98% increase in my monthy payment. What's more, because they were expecting this to start on April 1st, but my consumption from March would be billed at the price prior to the increase in the price cap, I would have been perpetually in credit to the tune of nearly £100. Online reduction of DD payments is limited to 10%, so it'll take a while to sort out. If it weren't for the discount for paying by DD, I'd tell them to stuff it and go back to quarterly billing in arrears.

Energy companies have always over-estimated the need to increase DD payments, but never to this extent.

I also transferred to E.on Next when my old supplier went bust and my experience mirrors yours with the added frustration that they have yet to sort me a bill from my old meter when they swapped it to a Smart Meter some three months ago.  I digress,   they have now allowed me to pay my bill in full each month by direct debit rather than pay a fixed monthly fee. Not for everyone but if you are adept at budgeting then this should work for you.

fallen121

My energy supplier went bust and I was transferred to British Gas. The transfer was MUCH SIMPLER because I was NOT PAYING BY DIRECT DEBIT. No credit to worry about, submitted a reading and paid the final bill to the old supplier, submitted a reading and paid the first bill to the new supplier. Direct Debit customers, by contrast, ended up paying DDs to both firms, couldn't login to their own supplier to check the amount of their credit, couldn't challenge their DDs with the new supplier, waited months to get their credit back, then had to fight to get their DDs reduced, then had to chase old supplier for monies taken by DD after they went bust which hadn't been remitted as part of the credit.

Martin, you keep telling me I can get a better tariff by paying by DD but right now there are no deals to be had and everyone is paying the same rate. I DO NOT WANT THE HASSLE of constantly having to phone suppliers to challenge over inflated DDs. Some of these firms you can be on the phone for hours and hours, get cut off and have to start it all over again. HOW IS THIS EASIER? Time is money. I know people £800, £1600 in credit and the suppliers won't give them any relief on their bills.

There is nothing wrong with paying on receipt of bill and you are wrong to demonise it. If everyone keeps accurate records of their readings and puts a regular amount away each month you yourself can earn the interest on hundreds of pounds, not your energy supplier. Constantly having to phone them isn't worth the fractions of pence you will gain by being on a DD tariff.

maisie_cat

I'm with BG as SOLR from Neon Reef. Yesterday I took readings and updated my spreadsheet to forecast my usage going forward. My DD was too high so I reduced it by 1/3rd online in about 10 seconds, BG hasn't sent me a bill since mid Feb but it's easy to keep track.
The key seems to be not relying on a bill to track consumption and have enough knowledge of your own to counter the algorithm. In the past I have had to fight both Flow and Avro to prevent them increasing the DD, although it was a couple of years ago now. In both cases I told them they had no authority to increase and that I would use the DD guarantee if they took unauthorised payment. It worked and seems so much easier now, although my OCD weekly meter reading, and 15 years of data certainly help.

annemariee1978

Hi 👋🏻 

New to these forums but have been a MSE-email reader for many years.
Just came off the phone from OVO seething.

Basically I have just switched to them on the only fixed deal available in the UK to get away from the faceless behemoth that is the vacuum of Shell Energy, who I was forced to move to when PurePlanet went bust.

My situation is slightly different in that last winter my oil boiler broke down and was completely out of action all winter. I had to run everything off the electric and this obviously inflated my usage.
I didn't get a bill for the nearly 3 months whilst the move of mine along with 1000's of other accounts was processed. When the bill did arrive it was much higher than I'd originally budgeted for, partially due to my calculations and also trying to balance other bills I couldn't clear the debt straight away.
I've hated bring with Shell and have done everything I can these 6 months to catch up and clear the debt.

My boiler was replaced in May again taking pretty much every penny I had, and now my bills have dramatically reduced. Even just in the last 2-3 months.

I've paid off Shell, switched to OVO, am a month in hand with OVO £169.49 in credit to be exact.
Last months Bill was £136.40.
The credit is after the bill amount was deducted. So there will potentially be another 150 direct debit going in before next months bill is issued.
More than enough to cover usage and leave credit in the account.
I've just received an email saying they want to increase my DD to £344 !?!?!  Per month.
I explained the above and how this is exorbitant and last winters usage is not a reflection of my potential now I am no longer using electric to heat my water and heating. They said there was nothing they could do, I ask to speak to a supervisor/manager several times but the operator said they wouldn't talk to me. All they could offer was a 15% deduction. I still will not consider this, I am balancing my accounts like most people and am prepared to pay more in the autumm/winter but I will not sit and watch my electricity account sit there swim in money when it can be in my account.
The operator still refused to escalate my call to complaints or a manager so I've now cancelled the direct debit and will have to deal with that fall out.
Any help and advice greatly appreciated.

pochase

Have you used their complaints procedure which has a separate phone number?

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

annemariee1978

pochase said:

Have you used their complaints procedure which has a separate phone number?

Hi, well in the end or the initial phone conversation with OVO the operator said he would fwd my complaint to the relevant department but said it was not possible to put me through to complain directly or even put a supervisor or manager on the line.

He also said it could take 7-10 days for someone to respond to my complaint. So I said fine in the meantime I will cancel my direct debit until they can resolve it to my satisfaction as I will flat out not pay almost triple my current amount when I'm already in credit, then terminated the call as I was getting nowhere.

2 days later I got a call from another OVO customer services assistant and they seemed to be able to listen and resolve my complaint. They have now agreed to freeze any reviews of my account for 3 months so my DD will not increase in that time and they will leave it at £150. When it gets to the end of 3 months I guess I might have another battle, but I guess for the interim I've got my way.

Also to note that my first bill arrived today and even though I gave them an accurate customer reading, within the time frame that they requested, they still raised my bill with an estimated reading dated 3 days after the reading I gave and to top it off their estimation was 90 kwh units's higher than mine. This added around another £30 to my overall bill!
So I was back on the phone. Their customer services line was very poor today. First time after virtual queuing for 10 mins and explaining my concerns I was put on hold and then cut off. The 2nd time I was holding for about 5 mins and then got through to dead silence and no human to speak to so had to terminate the call myself as it seemed I was stuck at this point.
3rd time lucky, I did get through and finally spoke to someone who confirmed they will re-raise my bill using my reading and they couldn't explain why an estimated reading was used when I gave a reading within the deadline of their emailed request.

Going forward I may leave it until the last day of the window to supply a reading to try and stop them doing this again.
Should mean my account will now be in credit by almost £200 by the time they fix this. I'll leave this in place for now so I get a buffer in for the winter, but I have a feeling they'll be giving me my money back rather than me needlessly paying them ridiculous amounts of money.

Just goes to show you've got to track your bill and check every detail. Stick to your guns and refuse anything you think is unreasonable.

I thought moving from Shell to a UK based company like OVO would mean I would receive better customer service and reasonable billing. So far this doesn't seem to be the case.

They are all money grabbing criminals in my opinion attempting daylight robbery whenever they have the opportunity and I'm not going to stand for it!