Scottish Power Increasing My DD...

Nemo

I've been with SP for dual fuel for 6 months now, so basically over the winter months. My initial direct debit was for £30, which I thought would be about about right.

I received a letter this morning saying that my account has been reviewed, and the DD is being increased to £51 for 'a 6 month period'. I currently owe £60, but reckon that as my gas usage will now be minimal sticking at £30 would make my account about all square at the end of 12 months.

Questions:-

Is it worth even trying to get them to reduce the DD, or will I get told there's nothing they can do?

When they say 'for a 6 month period', will the DD be recalculated to the average of the 12 months after my first year is up, or is it likely to stay at £51?

Have I got the right to ask for any credit to be paid back to me at the end of the 12 months? I'd rather have it in my bank account than the credit slowly reduce over the following 12 months.

Thanks.

PS. I realise my bills are quite small compared to most, and it's not huge sums I'm talking about, but there's principles involved.

Cardew

I don't think there is a common policy even within a company, let alone different companies.

As you say if you have only built up a small debit balance(£60) over 6 winter months, it would be quite normal for it to reduce over the summer with the same DD of £30.

I currently have a £129 debit balance for gas and yet my DD remains the same. It is normally reviewed in Oct and I expect it will be marginally in credit by then.

If you phone SP and say you want the DD to remain at £30 they will usually oblige - often because it is too much hassle to stand their ground.

BG usually pay back any credit balance of £100 or more at the end of the annual cycle, and review the DD amount. I expect most companies have similar guidelines - obviously if you were £1 in credit it wouldn't make sense to pay you that sum back.

dragonsoup

They did this to me as well. My DDM went up by £40pm when I was about £30 behind in February. Last time they agreed with me I was overpaying and cut it back. This time they would not budge.

I am no longer with them and will never go back.

waterbaby

They increased ours from £30 a month to £35. It's 'only' £5, but I didn't want to pay it, as we were in credit!

I know how much gas and electricity I use per year, so I worked out my average monthly cost based on their prices and it came to £29 something. I wrote and informed them of this, laying out all my calculations, and they took the charge down to £30.15. So it is possible to have it changed, if you have the justification.

I'm not sure that you have such a strong case though, if you are £60 in debit. And if you don't have a whole calendar year's usage you won't have evidence to back you up.

But I wanted to let you know that they do consider what you say.

Nicholas

I'm with Ebico ie Eqipower handled by Southern Electric. I pay by DD and they just informed me they are upping my payments from £15 a month to £31 a month to cover shortfalls, but this is based on an estimated reading that is 200 units over the top!!! Gave them correct readings and hey presto, down to £26 a month. I queried why they would even consider changing payments based on an estimated reading, and the guy on the phone said it was a fair point.

Anyway, I have had enough of this faffing around with DD, told them to cancel the DD and I will start paying quarterly as the bill comes in. As Ebico charge the same regardless of payment method, this will not cost me any more than before.