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Energy Direct Debits: Get money back & your payments lowered Discussion
Comments
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I'm trying to resolve my monthly direct debit increase with Bulb but failing. I am around £640 in credit. My energy usage according to the KwH tool on here is around £2800 which means our previous DD was correct. They want to double it. The new price means it will take 32 months for the DD credit to be used even based on their figures of fuel usage which are incorrect. I tried contacting them and they just said apply for a refund. I applied and they have refused to repay and also currently still refusing to adjust our DD. They are also refusing to allow us to switch to quarterly billing. the switch tool says the tariff I am on is lower than switching but the figures Bulb are quoting just don't make sense.0
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Hi ShoesAreDamnExpensive,ShoesAreDamnExpensive said:I'm trying to resolve my monthly direct debit increase with Bulb but failing. I am around £640 in credit. My energy usage according to the KwH tool on here is around £2800 which means our previous DD was correct. They want to double it. The new price means it will take 32 months for the DD credit to be used even based on their figures of fuel usage which are incorrect. I tried contacting them and they just said apply for a refund. I applied and they have refused to repay and also currently still refusing to adjust our DD. They are also refusing to allow us to switch to quarterly billing. the switch tool says the tariff I am on is lower than switching but the figures Bulb are quoting just don't make sense.
Call the customer services line again and go on hold as long as is necessary to speak to a human.
You are entitled to a refund when you are that much in credit if that is what you want.
You do have grounds to demand your DD is kept as it is or even reduced given the amount you have accrued as credit on your account.
If they refuse to listen ask to have your complaint escalated and make sure you note your case number.
A member of their customer care/complaints team should call back and they have more power to make decisions like the above on your account and action them.
If you are still not getting anywhere you can then take your complaint to the energy ombudsman that costs you nothing, but as I understand it does cost the energy supplier a charge and therefore the threat of this may make them listen in order to avoid this.
I had a similar situation with OVO in August.
I had only just joined them in the summer and was £200 in credit after my bill had been issued and the previous months bill had been paid.
They wanted to increase my DD from £150 to £394 for electric only.
I think based on last winters usage which wasn't going to be the same again this year because my oil boiler broke and was unfixable last winter and I had to heat my home with electric.
I had the boiler replaced at enormous cost, oil boilers are not cheap! Sone in the spring so the usage would not be the same going forward.
In the end I took the decision to also cancel my DD at that time when they were unwilling to leave the DD as it was. Now this isn't always the best idea, as you can incurr more charges by not paying monthly DD but felt I had to stop them taking so much money that I felt was excessive.
It would have put me massively in my overdraft, cost me money in interest and made me struggle to pay other bills only to have it sit there in my electric account and potentially earn OVO interest.
Me cancelling my DD flagged the account as hoped and a few days after that their customer care team called me and agreed to freeze the DD at £150 for 3 months.
Those 3 months have now passed and I'm still roughly £200 in credit and that's before even the first £66 of the £400 energy rebate has been applied to my account.
I'm going to stick to my guns at £150 through the winter, if a bill comes in that's slightly higher I'm going to pay in extra then to cover that with the buffer I have built up in my bill account, but hoping I can keep my usage down.
Just stick to your guns and complain and complain and they will listen.
You have more than enough credit to cover your extra usage if you leave it there. Good Luck!0 -
I’m after some help/advice due to a recurring quarterly issue with my supplier Shell Energy.
Below is what I received todayWe recently got in touch to let you know that your energy rates are changing on Saturday 1 October, in line with the Energy Price Guarantee We’ve calculated your new monthly payment, based on your energy use and your new rates under the Energy Price Guarantee. Your new monthly payment will be:
£290.00
from8 November 2022
However on 21st September I received an email from Shell advising me of my new rates from 1st October (summary of email below).
I’ve been paying £175 a month for the last 3 months as that was the lowest I could set my direct debit at the last 3 month review. My online account shows I am in “good health” with a balance of -£4.93 debit. My largest bill based on actual usage of the last 6 months was £130.00, my lowest £92.00.
I tried to lower my monthly direct debit via “my online account” today but was advised the lowest it could be set was £232.00. I’ve just been to web-chat where an advisor said he could overwrite this and put my direct debit in line with my projection rather than the system generated amount but I’ve just received an email saying it’s now £88.00?!?!?
Are all energy companies this bad? I’ve now got a monthly estimate of my usage of anywhere between £88 and £290.Like most people I’m sure, I just want to pay an accurate bill each month without hours of web-chat and panicking my direct debit could significantly increase if I missed one of these emails and they automatically increased my payment based on what appears to be a fabricated prediction or random numbers plucked out of somewhere.
Have I missed something? Is there a way of fixing this or is there a recommended provider I can switch too that make this whole process painless.Thanks
Paul0 -
Hi Paul-ll
I am also a customer of Shell Energy. If you go into your account online, I understand there is a facility to change from monthly to variable Direct Debit, to ensure you only pay what you owe each month.I am considering doing the same myself as I am currently a little over £700 in credit - as soon as I can find out whether they’ll use up the credit against my future bills, or simply bill me for my usage and I reclaim the credit separately.It’s also covered in the Energy FAQs on the Shell Energy website.0 -
So, my mum is on her own and retired, she mentioned to me that British gas had told her to increase her direct debit to 300 quid a month (actually 285 from what I can see). This seemed odd to me so I checked her account, she's estimated to use 2300 per year for both gas and electric, this works out at 191 a month! IThe website won't allow her to reduce the direct debit below 275 saying that she's "on track" at that rate.
The messaging service is useless with no agents ever available.
How many elderly people will freeze this winter because they are being robbed through extortionate direct debits that they cannot afford?0 -
rjm2k1 said:How many elderly people will freeze this winter because they are being robbed through extortionate direct debits that they cannot afford?
There will be no elderly people who freeze because they have too much credit in their account.0 -
rjm2k1 said:How many elderly people will freeze this winter because they are being robbed through extortionate direct debits that they cannot afford?None, zero, nada, nil.Having a credit balance on your energy account doesn't make you cold and turning off your heating doesn't reduce your DD.They might get into debt, or decide they can't afford to eat, or any number of other unfortunate things; but they won't freeze because of it.N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Intelligent Go elec & Tracker gas / Shell (now TT) BB / Lebara mobi. Ripple Kirk Hill member.
2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 3.6kw inverter. 33MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.Not exactly back from my break, but dipping in and out of the forum.Ofgem cap table, Ofgem cap explainer. Economy 7 cap explainer. Gas vs E7 vs peak elec heating costs, Best kettle!0 -
Remember we pensioner's get £500 winter fuel this year plus the £400
If on benefits much more
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rjm2k1 said:So, my mum is on her own and retired, she mentioned to me that British gas had told her to increase her direct debit to 300 quid a month (actually 285 from what I can see). This seemed odd to me so I checked her account, she's estimated to use 2300 per year for both gas and electric, this works out at 191 a month! IThe website won't allow her to reduce the direct debit below 275 saying that she's "on track" at that rate.
The messaging service is useless with no agents ever available.
How many elderly people will freeze this winter because they are being robbed through extortionate direct debits that they cannot afford?
If the accounts already in credit then you have grounds to request the DD remain at the level you believe to be correct.
Be prepared to have a buffer available to cover any extra usage, but by the sounds of it this won't be necessary.
Stick to your guns and they will listen, if the initial customer services still refuses ask for a complaint to be filed and get the case reference. You may then have to wait for a call back, but in the meantime you could cancel the DD with the bank to stop the escalated amount going out, but just make sure you still pay in your monthly amount to cover your usage.
They normally call you pretty quick to reinstate the DD once you cancel it and will then agree to your amount without issue.
It's such a frustrating time and I think a lot of the energy companies are clawing as much as they can into peoples accounts so there's less risk of debted customers and to make their books look better.
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Can anyone work this one out? £235 in credit, estimated annual cost of around £3300, but they are wanting over £8000 to cover the projected costs! They have refused to change the 1st November direct debit amount as it's too late (within 14 days) of collection. It was £200 a month, that's some increase considering the account is in credit!!0
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