British Gas wont reduce my monthly DD!

moneyangel22

Hi,

Im really annoyed with BG at the moment because a couple of months ago a lady phoned and said they needed to increase my gas and elec direct debits to help clear the balance owing. I agreed because she said it would only be for 2-3 months to get my balance down! My gas increased from £79 to £125!! and my elec from £61 to £76 which isnt too bad! The thing is we had already implemented energy saving ideas around the house resulting in our bills reducing massively over the last few months!! I can understand they want us to clear the balance which had accrued over the last 12 months but surely they can see our bills are coming down so pretty soon we will be in credit at this rate, which I dont want, and cant really afford the dd at these levels!! Now, I know what you are going to say...that we need to build up a credit for next winter when our bills will shoot up again, but honestly, they will not be a patch on what they were last year! I just cant seem to get this through to them!

I would like to reduce our dd's for now and as we are now billed monthly we can keep an eye on things and when our bills start to go up again then I will be happy to put the dd up again!

The guy I spoke to this morning told me that while there is a balance owing there is no way we can reduce our dd amounts!! grrrrr!!!!!

spiro

moneyangel22 wrote: »

The guy I spoke to this morning told me that while there is a balance owing there is no way we can reduce our dd amounts!! grrrrr!!!!!

You are over half way through the summer and your account is in debt, at this time of year with a DD you should be starting to build up a healthy credit balance ready for the winter. Plus depending on what tariff you are on, when they said a few months ago about increasing and decreasing DD, that could well have been before the latest prices rises had been announced.

jalexa

moneyangel22 wrote: »

Im really annoyed with BG at the moment because a couple of months ago a lady phoned and said they needed to increase my gas and elec direct debits to help clear the balance owing. I agreed because she said it would only be for 2-3 months to get my balance down...


...The guy I spoke to this morning told me that while there is a balance owing there is no way we can reduce our dd amounts...

I do not know who is right and who is wrong. Study this and see if you can spot *anything* wrong with your treatment.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/HelpAndAdvice/LookUp/?SXI=14,CASE=3394

The single most important thing you need to be aware of is your annual consumption in kWhrs. Ask your supplier if you do not know. The second important thing is that you provide customer readings at least every three months.

Post again if you are not clear on anything.

NittyGritty

do u submit meter readings every 3 months? if you do not then your bills will be sky high with estimated bills,

moneyangel22

NittyGritty wrote: »

do u submit meter readings every 3 months? if you do not then your bills will be sky high with estimated bills,

We submit monthly readings now and our usage has decreased massively.

jalexa

moneyangel22 wrote: »

We submit monthly readings now and our usage has decreased massively.

"Massively" over what period of time? It is normal for summer gas consumption to be much lower than winter consumption. Electricity less so.

So what is *your* anticipated annual consumption(s) in kWhrs (and what annual consumption "assumptions" are BG making regarding the calculation of the monthly payment)?

You cannot win this without addressing that question.

spiro

moneyangel22 wrote: »

We submit monthly readings now and our usage has decreased massively.

Compared to when? The same months last year?

Cardew

moneyangel22 wrote: »

We submit monthly readings now and our usage has decreased massively.

BG would expect your usage in summer to decrease massively.

Lots of people go away in July/August for 3 weeks or so. You can't really expect BG to anticipate your predicted reduced consumption

so pretty soon we will be in credit at this rate, which I dont want

However you are happy to be in debit?

For you to be in balance by Spring, it is inevitable you will(normally) be in credit at the end of the summer.

You get a large discount for paying by DD - far more than for any lost interest.

If by the end of the year your consumption has dropped considerably, you will have better grounds for negotiating a reduction in your DD - if BG don't automatically reduce it.

bengasman

The answer is so simple: either cancel your dd, or even better, change to a more sympathetic supplier ( which is just about every other supplier out there )

eurmalian

bengasman wrote: »

The answer is so simple: either cancel your dd,

And get a bill for the entire debt, however much it is (The ammount doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet). If the OP isn't happy paying that ammount a month then I doubt they'll be very please with having to pay the entire lot at once either.

bengasman wrote: »

or even better, change to a more sympathetic supplier ( which is just about every other supplier out there )

Firstly, they have debt, it's very unlikely they'll be allowed to switch.
Secondly, I don't think many suppliers would lower a dd when you're in debt during the summer just on the promise that you intend to use less this year.

I'm disappointed. You usually make up something a lot more interesting than that one...