Price increase Direct Debit bug bear - anyone else

stripee

Hi,

This has really got my goat for a while, and I think it's unbelievably bad practise of all energy companies, cos, i've pretty much convinced myself they all do it (with no evidence whatsoever), so thought I'd float this one out there to see what others thought.

When companies write, as they inevitably do at the moment, to tell you their prices are increasing, surely, common sense should prevail, and they should also automatically increase your direct debit by the relevant percentage to prevent your accounts from automatically going into debit?

Has anyone any experience of this? My own has been that they have never been proactive, and left the direct debit "as is".

I can fully appreciate the strategic reason for doing this; let's face it, if they did (or even if ofgem enforced it) if a customer had a letter through that said, "hey, our prices are going up, and by the way, your direct debit has been changed from £100 to £120 accordingly", I imagine they'd haemorrhage customers until they went out of business.

But surely, not doing it, means that customers are simply buidling up unncessary levels of debt on their account, making it potentially more difficult to switch at a later date.

Thoughts, opinons and experiences welcomed.

Stripee

NeverInDebt

"But surely, not doing it, means that customers are simply buidling up unncessary levels of debt on their account, making it potentially more difficult to switch at a later date."

Yes and they also do it when people switch by enticing some to join as they may have lower dd payments. They are lots of posts on here where that is exactly what has happened

That said people should be more pro active in looking for a deal and monitoring usage I accept there are some who have difficulty in this, therefore may need help

You could say by making certain some people are in debt they cant also leave if your sceptical person

stripee

i am skeptical, and I do believe that could also be a significant motivator for companies not to increase the DD.

I also think the "artificially low" DD practise is also shocking, but a slightly separate issue, as that's about encouraging customers to switch through what I consider to be miselling (certainly if it's done with intent), rather than how existing customers are dealt with which is what my original post was meant to be about.

Surely the supplier, as a responsible provider, and as the expert in their industry (you'd hope more of an expert than the poor-old consumer), should know that if usage stays the same, that an increase in unit price will directly result in the need for an increased direct debit so as not to build up unnecessary levels of debt. Otherwise it will take months for the automatic adjustment to kick in once actual usage has been compared to bills (especially as, reading posts on here, so few companies pay attention to customer submitted meter reads).

But both practises should be stopped in my opinion.

Nice of the PM to sort it all out for us this week with the big energy summit.... not. Oh well, I'm sure it will be some point many years from now.....