British Gas can't lower direct debits - is this true??

zharko

Because of the recent reductions in BG prices, and also because I changed my gas cooker for an electric one, I want to lower my monthly direct debits. Called up BG, and got the answer, no, we can't manually lower your DD. It must wait 6 months until the 'review'.

Is this true? Can they really not lower my monthly payment? In the past, when the bill contained an announcement, in tiny print, that the DD amount had been increased (this happened 6 times in 3 years) I always phoned them and said, basically, 'put it back where it was' and they always did it. Why not now?

Can I force this somehow, by cancelling the DD and setting up a new one? Or is this not a good idea.

I really don't want them to take more money every month than I owe. Thanks for any advice.

Tom

Stormy

Well, I think its more like *they don't want to* lower the direct debit until the 6 monthly review. They can change the DD's manually whenever they please.

In the past 12 months they raised my DD twice but with a little complaint they manually reduced it both times.

Then my 12 month review came and they lowered it even further.

If you are certain on your monthly usage level vs your DD (and unit costs) is too high then keep banging the drum, or get Energywatch involved.

Mike

jonnyw_2

With the problems I have had with these monkeys I wouldnt trust them with a direct debit.
I cancelled mine two years ago, set up a standing order and revise the amount up and down according to current unit charges and my own meter readings. I ignore what they say i should be paying and work on actual figures for what I have used.
When theres an announcement of a change of price per unit I do an actual reading and send it in to them, which avoids their creative estimating scam.
Im not sure they like it - but I do.

Wouldnt life be easier if the meter was read every quarter and you got a bill and paid it!!!!!!!!!

zzzLazyDaisy

It is not true. I had mine manually lowered last week by british gas

Cardew

Yes, I believe they can lower it manually. However you must 'plead' your case and have it accepted. Perhaps get them to review it in, say, 3 months.

However it is understandable that they fix the level of DD on past history of consumption and not future promises.

I can't think that Energywatch can get involved in such a case and 'force' BG to lower a DD payment to a level that BG consider is not viable.

A DD is an agreement between 2 parties and if BG, as one of the parties, do not agree with your reasons, it must be their decision.

There is no point in paying by Standing Order if you lose the substantial DD discount.

jonnyw_2

Cardew wrote: »

There is no point in paying by Standing Order if you lose the substantial DD discount.

I would agree if I trusted that the utility companies were accurate with their billing and estimates and if their ability to correct mistakes improved. Until they are, the time saving, peace of mind and control over what you are paying outweighs the discount.

It takes seconds to change a standing order if you have internet banking. It can take hours getting a utility company to set a direct debit to a realistic level if they make a "mistake" or "plead" with them to repay an exessive direct debit which they have helped themselves to.

If you assume responsibility for your own billing you get neither behind or in front with your payments.

On a related point, over the last few months when the price of electricity dropped, I have taking readings on the day rather than waiting for their estimate split which, from past experience always (coincidentally?) seem to be in their favour.

Stormy

Cardew wrote: »

I can't think that Energywatch can get involved in such a case and 'force' BG to lower a DD payment to a level that BG consider is not viable.

I didnt say Energywatch will force them to do anything, But in my experience as soon as I got Energywatch involved my problems evaporated.

So if BG refuse to talk to you, or refuse your input when you can PROOVE your usage level then Energywatch is a good bet.

It worked for me.

Mike

Cardew

jonnyw wrote: »

I would agree if I trusted that the utility companies were accurate with their billing and estimates and if their ability to correct mistakes improved. Until they are, the time saving, peace of mind and control over what you are paying outweighs the discount.

It takes seconds to change a standing order if you have internet banking. It can take hours getting a utility company to set a direct debit to a realistic level if they make a "mistake" or "plead" with them to repay an exessive direct debit which they have helped themselves to.

If you assume responsibility for your own billing you get neither behind or in front with your payments.

On a related point, over the last few months when the price of electricity dropped, I have taking readings on the day rather than waiting for their estimate split which, from past experience always (coincidentally?) seem to be in their favour.

One of the big advantages of Ebico is that you pay the same regardless of method of payment; it is a pity that they are less competitive since the last round of price cuts.

To be fair to all the Utility companies, according to the Regulator they are owed more money than the owe from the DD scheme i.e. debit balances are greater than credit balances across their customer base. That is not surprising when there have been lots of price rises and DDs not increased. Perhaps that will change with prices dropping?

With regard to reading meter on price change date, A couple of companies have announced reductions in their prices but these don't come into effect until the next bill. So if a price reduction was on, say, 12 April and you had received a bill on 10th April you would pay at the old more expensive rate until your next bill - which could be mid July.

anniewoo

BG lowered my DD a few months ago with no problems.

My account was over £100 in credit so I sent an email to them requesting a refund which I received very quickly.

Then I had an email from them saying they had reviewed my account and had decided my DD was probably too high and they reduced it to a lower amount.

So what with the refund and a lower DD,I was very pleased.

Cardew

Stormy wrote: »

I didnt say Energywatch will force them to do anything, But in my experience as soon as I got Energywatch involved my problems evaporated.

So if BG refuse to talk to you, or refuse your input when you can PROOVE your usage level then Energywatch is a good bet.

It worked for me.

Mike

I certainly agree that BG or any of the companies, sit up and take notice when Energywatch are involved.

However in this case the OP couldn't prove usage level, he wanted his DD reduced on the strength of his own prediction that consumption would drop in the months ahead.

If BG had looked at the account, I would have thought that it would be reasonable for BG to wait a while to see if that reduction had indeed happened; at the end of the day it is a commercial decision.

elektra

jonnyw wrote: »

On a related point, over the last few months when the price of electricity dropped, I have taking readings on the day rather than waiting for their estimate split which, from past experience always (coincidentally?) seem to be in their favour.

On the 2 occasions I checked this (BG) I was actually quite surprised how close they were to actual readings ( maybe only a unit out).