Energy Direct Debits: Get money back & your payments lowered Discussion 9 December 2008 at 4:33PM edited 10 June 2010 at 5:36PM in Energy 326 replies 56K views

Alnat1

Will OVO let you pay by variable monthly DD which means you pay the bill in full usually a couple of weeks after it is issued.

As you heat by oil your electricity use shouldn't go up massively over winter and this would stop them taking large DDs.

annemariee1978

Alnat1 said:

Will OVO let you pay by variable monthly DD which means you pay the bill in full usually a couple of weeks after it is issued.

As you heat by oil your electricity use shouldn't go up massively over winter and this would stop them taking large DDs.

Thanks, I didn't realise this was an option and may consider it. Just replied in another message on this thread about the resolution.
Hopefully a 3 month freeze on DD reviews will mean I can build up a credit with OVO and they can see what I'm paying currently is more than enough.

pochase

As far as I remember Ovo is one of the few suppliers that does not allow variable direct debit.

Dephead2004

I was with neon reef and am now with BG since 2/12/21. Neon reef's last bill was October. BG want to charge me at their higher rates for the period between October and December. Bearing in mind I was not in contract with them until December 2nd, is this allowed? I am, of course, happy to pay at NR rates for the electricity used between October and December.
In unresolved dispute with BG I kept being told it was industry standard to charge at the new supplier rates since the last old suppliers bill. But what if the old supplier didn't send a closing bill or billed many months ago. 
I have photos and screen shots of the meter readings on December 2nd and before.
Advice would be appreciated.

QrizB

Dephead2004 said:

I was with neon reef and am now with BG since 2/12/21. Neon reef's last bill was October. BG want to charge me at their higher rates for the period between October and December. ...
Advice would be appreciated.

Neon Reef ceased trading on the 16th of November, and BG were appointed as SoLR on the 22nd of November.

You should have received a final bill from NR for your energy use up to the date they ceased trading. Your opening meter reading with BG should be the same as your closing meter reading from NR.

annemariee1978

Dephead2004 said:

I was with neon reef and am now with BG since 2/12/21. Neon reef's last bill was October. BG want to charge me at their higher rates for the period between October and December. Bearing in mind I was not in contract with them until December 2nd, is this allowed? I am, of course, happy to pay at NR rates for the electricity used between October and December.
In unresolved dispute with BG I kept being told it was industry standard to charge at the new supplier rates since the last old suppliers bill. But what if the old supplier didn't send a closing bill or billed many months ago. 
I have photos and screen shots of the meter readings on December 2nd and before.
Advice would be appreciated.

Sadly Dephead2004 as soon as your old supplier ceased trading you lose your fixed rate contracted prices and BG pick up where they left off in terms of Meter readings and standing charges, but these will be at the new companies standard market rate tariff. Which would have been the capped rate.
You have no choice other than to accept these terms and whoever you were transferred too and everyone else in the UK whose old suppliers folded are/were in the same boat.
I ended up with Shell Energy and would have preferred BG tbh.
Has taken me most of the year to clear my Energy debt from last winter because I wasn't getting bills and my boiler had broken and was running portable radiators for warmth so had no idea how much everything was going to cost me.

Dephead2004

Thanks both. The problem comes when the outgoing supplier does not send a bill when they cease trading.I know of a case where the customer was without a bill for 7 months and so was asked to pay at the new higher rate for 7 months. This cannot be right.

Fortunately in my case I have a photo of the meter reading on 22nd November. So supplementary question, will photographic evidence of the meter suffice rather than an invoice which is all BG says they will accept?

pochase

BG will need the final bill.

It is not just about your usage for the period you are complaining about, but also your credit or debt will be in the final bill and go into your BG account.

annemariee1978

Yup I was without any billing between the time Pure Planet went under at the tail end of October and Shell finally onboarding me and sending my first bill with them for that 3 month period.
The folded supplier would have still asked for a reading to use as a 'closing' read for around the time they ceased trading and the new supplier will use this as the open read.

You have to bear in mind the company taking over would have had to take on 1000's of new customers. This takes time and paperwork unfortunately and frustratingly for us it means you have no idea where you stand. But thems the breaks.
If you're in credit with the old supplier this would have been moved across and applied as soon as a bill could be raised. 
For those customers in debit this is the flip that new suppliers would also have taken on.

For instance I owed pure planet around £75 when the ceased.and ask for a closing reading.
 I paid this off and cancelled my direct debit with them so they didn't keep taking money.
I tried to put money aside and set up a DD with Shell as soon as I was able in the new year of 2023, but still ended up with a large energy debt to clear as I had not out aside as much as I needed.

Xs500

My Utility Point supply was transferred to EDF, the final bill took 6 months but was rational.
My concern is that EDF informs me it only issues bills twice yearly, in my case May and December. EDF says it will review my DD with the December bill.
The app shows I am now nearly £1k in credit but that seems to exclude the cost of electricity and gas used after the May bill. So I have no measure of the current true credit. I have no idea whether my present DD plus credit is appropriate to meet costs and I don't want nasty surprises either way when the December bill finally arrives.
I'm on a fixed contract with smart meter.
Have any other EDF customers this concern and have they resolved it?