Tariff ending, account in debit.

Ivaninho

Hi all,
I'm coming to the end of my E.On tariff and wondered if anyone had had an issue where they could have 'fixed' it that when your tariff ends, your account is in deficit.

In Jan I got a letter telling me I was so much in credit and the DD was being reduced. Fine I thought, weather is getting warmer, shouldn't be a problem.
I get a letter the other week explains my tariff is ending, which I knew about, and that my account is suddenly in debit by around £130, within two months.
Now, I'm not so bothered about paying for what I've used.
The thing is, have they intentionally done that so I have no choice but to continue my custom with them?
Just a ponderage.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

No they haven't done anything intentionally, as being in debit isn't an impediment to leaving. They can stop you leaving if you haven't paid a bill in 28 days, but this isn't the case here.

Ivaninho

I think you may have misunderstood.
I'm suggesting they use this kind of tactic to sway customers to staying with them who may not understand it's still ok to switch supplier even with an account in debit.

aleph_0

Ivaninho wrote: »

I think you may have misunderstood.
I'm suggesting they use this kind of tactic to sway customers to staying with them who may not understand it's still ok to switch supplier even with an account in debit.

This seems highly unlikely. Even if it was a good idea (I'm not sure it is), such scheming would be hugely reputation-damaging if leaked, and I can't see how such a tactic could be kept secret.

A far more likely explanation is that energy companies are being cautious not to keep customers too much in credit (because of the publicity associated), so their algorithm might tend towards preferring a slight debit balance, rather than credit, and their predictions were a little out (possibly due to the mild winter, and the general difficult of making such predictions).

dogshome

With a debt of only £130, your present supplier cannot object to you Switching to another supplier.
So far as the debt is concerned you can:
Either pay it off as a lump sum or make an agreement with the old supplier to pay it off at XX a month

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Ivaninho wrote: »

I think you may have misunderstood.
I'm suggesting they use this kind of tactic to sway customers to staying with them who may not understand it's still ok to switch supplier even with an account in debit.

That doesn't even come close to what you said in your first post:

The thing is, have they intentionally done that so I have no choice but to continue my custom with them?

Was it you that didn't understand?

Tin hat off now, they make plenty of money without this bizarre charade to keep customers. As others have said, energy companies have gotten into huge flak from the press for having accounts in credit (despite it being an entirely normal side effect of spreading payments in a cold country), perhaps they just wanted to mitigate this?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Ivaninho

Thought it might help if I give you a bit of information about our Direct Debits.

We certainly don't want customers to have more credit on their accounts than they need. To this end, we review payment arrangements each quarter.

At two of these reviews, we'll only advise if we think the monthly payments need to change. We'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not you want to act on this advice.

It's only at the mid-term and annual reviews where we'll make any adjustments. We'll let you know in advance of any proposed changes.

With Monthly Direct Debits, our aim is to achieve as near as possible to a zero balance by the time of the annual review.

Reviews are based on current prices and usage over the past 12 months. If either changes, so will the payments.

At your January review, we'll have taken the credit on the account into consideration. As I say, we don't want customers to have more credit than they need.

We also had a price increase in January, although this will only have affected you if you were on a variable tariff.

It may be, we wrongly anticipated your usage since January and this will have contributed to the debit balance. We'll be happy to spread this balance over the coming months or, if you change supplier look at giving extra time to clear the balance on the final bill.

You might also be interested in a tool on our website to give customers more control over their payments. It's called the 'Direct Debit Manager.'

If circumstances change, you can use the Direct Debit Manager to alter payments to suit. Provided the account is billed up to the latest meter readings, you can change the payments by up to 20 per cent up or down. Up to 5 per cent up or down without readings.

Before completing the change, though, the website will show how much the account will be in debit/credit by the time of the annual review if the change is confirmed but usage doesn't alter accordingly.

Hope this is of interest Ivaninho. Let me know if you need any more details as happy to help.

Malc

wavelets

I love a good conspiracy theory