Lower a direct debit amount?

[Deleted User]

Hi, I am currently with Scottish Power for my gas/elec and pay £60/month by direct debit. We live in a 3-bed house with 3 children.
I am currently approx. £179 in credit and it's going up each month! I reckoned I could get away with lowering the direct debit to £50/month, but on the Scottish Power website it states that I have to make a one-off payment of £140 to reduce the direct debit payment by £10!
Is there any way I can get them to reduce the direct debit? It's not the end of the world not to, but the £179, or £10/month saving would be coming in handy elsewhere! If I rang up do you think they would reduce it without the additional payment? I just don't want to make a wasted phone call or spend ages in a phone queue if I can find out an answer on here.
School run calls, back soon...
Thanks in advance!

StuC75

How long have you been with Scottish Power? Its probably best to adjust the DD in spring time after had the higher winter usage, that way can work the next 12 months usage of last 12 months Kwh and what ever tariff you have at the moment..

Nada666

It would be easier to argue come April or May. As it is only £10 a month you should survive until then. If, as you say, balance is still increasing despite winter coming on then you may well be able to argue for either a higher refund or a larger discount on your direct debit.

I suspect most people will be wondering how you are managing to spend less than £50 dual per month with a family of six! Are you sure you do not have a historical credit just from previously paying too much rather than an ongoing low consumption? What is your actual annual consumption over the last few years?

[Deleted User]

Thanks for your replies!
I am on a fixed tariff until February 2016, and I'm happy with that tariff. I've been with Scottish Power for about 18 months now. I've always paid £60/month and the amount I am in credit each month is increasing!


I thought people would wonder how I manage! I am very accurate and enter up to date meter readings every 2 weeks(!) and so I know if I've had a peak in my energy usage. I am reading the meters correctly and have had someone round to do another accurate reading a couple of months ago.


We have cavity and loft insulation, double glazing and we are relatively warm without the heating on. I do not have it on a timer as there have been plenty of days that it would have been a waste of energy. Our thermostat is set to 15'C (!) and whenever we do put the heating on it gets roasting within the hour and then we are lucky because the house retains the heat. I also make sure the kids wear their socks and slippers, wear jumpers and have duvets and blankets for the beds, although we've not needed the blankets yet. I have a combi boiler, energy saving lightbulbs and an efficient gas cooker and the heating only goes on approx. once every couple of day s for about an hour max. Lights off when not in the room, appliances off when not in use and teaching my kids about energy efficiency and costs!


I will take your advice and not push for anything until Spring/Summer time, thank you. As you say it's only reducing by £10/month. I think we spend about £50/month in winter and about £40/month in the summer.

blastarhymes

Wow, i spend £165 a month Dual fuel on a 4 bed with 2 of us, think i need to buy socks and slippers ,

i was going to say in the past i have had some success with threatening to leave, Usually gets you what you want, as you have been there for 18 months they should listen.

If not can always hang up

Consumerist

purpleposting4 wrote: »

I am very accurate and enter up to date meter readings every 2 weeks(!) and so I know if I've had a peak in my energy usage. I am reading the meters correctly and have had someone round to do another accurate reading a couple of months ago.

If only others on this site would do similarly then so many of the problems encountered could br avoided.

Well done.

[Deleted User]

Thanks, I really am on a mission to sort out my finances at the moment, and Energy is one area I am very disciplined!
People should submit meter reads at least every month and then as you say there would not be as many 'shock bill' threads, but it would also make people think more about their energy usage and how they can make savings.

I think a lot of people think that because we have hit the colder months, their timers should be set to 'automatic' and come on every day, twice a day without a second thought.
It takes a bit more time and effort, but to have the heating off and only put it on manually when needed will save a fortune! There have been mornings and evenings where you could get away without the heating on, or just put on another layer.
Why pay more to the energy companies when you don't need to?!

blastarhymes

so regards your only turing it one when needed, is there anything anywhere that has compaired the...leaving the temp at say 18 deg permanently (24hr) vs only turning on when needed (more work to do to get to level) ?

Consumerist

purpleposting4 wrote: »

People should submit meter reads at least every month and then as you say there would not be as many 'shock bill' threads, but it would also make people think more about their energy usage and how they can make savings.

Have you considered signing up (free) with <iMeasure> ?

I submit my meter readings to iMeasure every Monday (they send a reminder every Monday) and in return I get an interesting graph which plots my energy consumption against weather conditions and also predicts consumption according to how cold it has been over each week. It's not really a prediction, of course, but gives you a heads up when your consumption takes an unexpected leap.

Luckypenny_2

Hi, I don't know if EON is alone in this, but I switched to them in December from NPower. Our payments began at £83 a month, based on our annual usage with NPower, and the switch meant we would save £322 a year. I submitted a meter reading after one month of everyone in the family making an effort with switching off unwanted lights and appliances. I rang and was told I could get a recalculation online. I did this and it recalculated at £53 per month in order to achieve a zero balance after one year!!! I was then able to adjust my DD on their system to that amount!!! Very impressed with EON!!! Have a note in the diary to keep submitting monthly meter readings so we know our usage. It was a very simple process.

Consumerist

Luckypenny wrote: »

. . . I submitted a meter reading after one month of everyone in the family making an effort with switching off unwanted lights and appliances. I rang and was told I could get a recalculation online. I did this and it recalculated at £53 per month in order to achieve a zero balance after one year!!! I was then able to adjust my DD on their system to that amount!!!

Hi Luckypenny and welcome to the forum.

Just bear in mind that this winter has been exceptionally mild so far and £53 pm for both gas and electricity is quite low by any standard. Watch out for shock DD increases further down the line.

It might be better to set your DD to around 1/12 of the cost of your normal annual consumption, if you lnow it.