Can they change my Direct Debit

Dustykitten

EON wrote to us last week wanted to increase our DD from £165 to £397. We owe £21 at the moment. I phoned them and they had the data wrong and that it would actually only be going up to £201 per month.

Cheeky devils said it was too late to cancel the next DD - I politely told them to jog on and cancel the DD and reset it. I need to make this month's payment manually but that is fine.

They told me that they aim for us to be in credit this month and zero in April. Whilst this makes sense our contract started with them last October so that was never going to work. They set the initial DD figure on switching.

Good luck with getting this sorted. What is your summer split of gas and electric - which one is coming out hight? That will help you see if there is a problem.

victor2

As already said, you appear to have very high consumption at £100/month in summer.
As well as sorting out the immediate issue of agreeing a realistic monthly DD, look closely at what cost so much in the summer.
First look at your actual gas and electricity usage. Gas, if only used for heating and hot water, should have been relatively small. If your electricity usage is making up the bulk of the £100, then have a serious look at what you are using. Take daily readings of your meter to get a feel for when the higher usage is and see how it relates to activity in the house. Consider a monitor for electricity. E.On used to offer them for free, not sure if they still do.

DVardysShadow

jalexa wrote: »

It's always difficult to deal with an autumn debit balance, but purely on the numbers posted the "£450" (and £352) is completely ridiculous (and why should there be 2 figures?). Based on an "annual review" zero-balance in 7 months time and "£200 winter consumption" I would say £250 would be "about right".

You need to quit negotiating this by phone and formalise your approach. You should ask for "written explanation of the calculation in accordance with Standard Licence Condition 27.14".

Until the supplier has provided their estimate of annual consumption for each fuel, and confirmed the "annual review" date (should be sometime in April/May), the applicable "winter weighting" for each fuel, and the detailed justification for a "annual review zero-balance", IMO they are in breach of their licence conditions. And you might still have grounds for challenging their consumption assumptions.

Normally I advise a written complaint but given that agreement on a revised monthly payment is time critical, I suggest you make one further attempt to agree £250 and if unsuccessful move to a telephone complaint citing failure to explain in accordance with SLC27.14 and make it clear you expect the payments to be no more than the "£200 winter consumption" until the conclusion of the complaints process, including the possibility of Energy Ombudsman referral. Check back, for the telephone record, that the adviser understands all the points you want to make. Ask for a response target timeframe and keep on top of any failure to respond in accordance with the timeframe.

I agree with this. It has to be the way forward in dealing with Direct Debit disputes. If the answer to the request for the expalnation of the calculation does not yield enough information to calculate the same DD value or any value at all, the expalnation should be rejected in writing. People need to get on top of the utilities and pin them down to compliance with this licence condition

Moonbeam

On the phone to them this morning - fingers crossed!

Moonbeam

Incidentally - Jalexa - how would I check on the metric/imperial potential issue...?

I've looked on the meter and it says M3 - don't know if that helps...

Moonbeam

Gas previous
27482 read by us on 09 September 2011

Gas current
27656 read by you on 29 October 2011

Difference
174 unitswith multiplier value 1.0
conversion value 1.02264, calorific value 39.7

1962 Gas kWh (kilowatt-hours) used

ChargesGas primary units used 338kWh at 7.381p each 24.95


Gas secondary units used 1624kWh at 3.211p each 52.15




IGT Charge 5.04



Total gas charges 82.14

We put the central heating on part way through October as we had a really cold spell in Central Scotland. Since then I have reduced the hours the heating and the hot water comes on...

DVardysShadow

Moonbeam wrote: »

Incidentally - Jalexa - how would I check on the metric/imperial potential issue...?

I've looked on the meter and it says M3 - don't know if that helps...

So your meter is metric. You now need to check that your bill is in cubic metres [good] or 100's of cubic feet, which means you are paying nearly 3 times the correct rate.

victor2

If your meter says m3 on it then it's metric, just make sure that your bill says cubic meters or the conversion to kWh is something like 11 times the units, rather than 31, which is what an imperial one comes close to.

Edit:
Your bill details look right, so it's just your usage you need to look at now, as well as the originsal issue!

Moonbeam

I've put on the full details of our last gas bill - apologies for my stupidity - I find the whole metric/imperial calculations really difficult - rubbish at maths....however good at English, which means I can articulate well when I argue with their customer services team

DVardysShadow

Moonbeam wrote: »

I've put on the full details of our last gas bill - apologies for my stupidity - I find the whole metric/imperial calculations really difficult - rubbish at maths....however good at English, which means I can articulate well when I argue with their customer services team

This is not at this point a question of Maths or calculations. It is a case of looking at your bill carefully and determining whether the reading as are quoted as m^3 or 100's of cubic feet. Obviously that is a detail you have not copied from the bill, but it will be on there. It can be inferred from the calculation, but that is more maths than looking closely at the bill.