Extra Energy; 3 months in and I'm not happy!

vancreef

I moved from EDF to Extra Energy in August of this year, as they came out cheapest on a price comparison website. I was paying £119/month with EDF so I obviously expected a cheaper company to reduce this amount. I received updates throughout the transfer period to confirm that everything was going smoothly, but then I got a worrying email from Extra Energy to confirm that my monthly Direct Debit of £196/month was now set up. £196 a month?! I rang them right away and asked why my monthly payments were going to be £196/month when they are supposed to be cheaper? The advisor told me that as I am a new customer and they have yet to accurately calculate what I will use on a monthly basis, this is an emergency amount to ensure that I don't fall behind on my account. He also told me that if I was to submit 2-3 online meter readings over the next 2 weeks, it is highly unlikely that £196 will actually be taken, and if it was taken then next month's amount would be more accurate. I submitted 3-4 readings over the next 2 weeks but the £196 payment still came out. The next month (September) was also £196, but we were on holiday and completely overlooked it until mid October when my wife noticed the payment on our bank transaction history. I called them to ask why 2 months had been paid at £196 and was told that they had miscalculated my usage, which he then corrected over the phone and advised that my new monthly amount would be £110. He then told me that even thought the amount had been corrected on the system it was too late to do anything about October's payment which again would be £196! These ridiculous amounts have now put me in an overdrawn status on my bank account, for which I have had to pay a charge, and I have called them several times to ask for the £313 credit I have on my account back, but they refuse to give it to me. They said I can't have any of it until their 6 month assessment is done (February) despite the fact that they shouldn't have taken so much and that I am now in financial difficulty, leading up to Xmas.
I thought I had a right to reclaim any amount of credit at any time from an energy supplier?

HappyMJ

My advice....cancel the direct debit to stop November's amount coming out. You could even ring your bank and invoke the direct debit guarantee and you will get all your payments back straight away. That may however prevent a switch from progressing.

Then switch. Forget about the cancellation fees. When the final bill comes sort out a payment arrangement that you can afford.

MABLE

HappyMJ wrote: »

My advice....cancel the direct debit to stop November's amount coming out. You could even ring your bank and invoke the direct debit guarantee and you will get all your payments back straight away. That may however prevent a switch from progressing.

Then switch. Forget about the cancellation fees. When the final bill comes sort out a payment arrangement that you can afford.

Be very careful about cancelling the dd because they are going to start reporting to credit reference agencies and this would go down as a missed payment.

Try working with EE rather than against them.

System

HappyMJ wrote: »

My advice....cancel the direct debit to stop November's amount coming out. You could even ring your bank and invoke the direct debit guarantee and you will get all your payments back straight away. That may however prevent a switch from progressing.

Then switch. Forget about the cancellation fees. When the final bill comes sort out a payment arrangement that you can afford.

Bad advice is worse than no advice. Payment by DD is often a contractual term. If a DD is cancelled by the payer when requested by the energy company then the supplier reserves the right to switch the customer on to its standard variable tariff.

With newer entrants to the energy market, they do not have the capital reserves to allow customers to accrue a debt over winter. I am with Ovo, their ts and cs make it clear that (a) they buy energy ahead of supply and they want to be paid in advance and (b) if they consider that the credit balance is below what it needs to be entering the winter season then they will impose a DD increase of up to 50%. I suspect that ExtraEnergy has something similar. Best the OP reads the ts and cs before cancelling any DDs or switching. Remember customers only pay for the energy used and a monthly DD is at best a 'guesstimate'.

Finally, I should add that £313 credit is about average (3 times monthly DD) when you are about to enter a Winter period. I pay £71 per month for energy and have a credit balance of £234. Ovo suggest that I could reduce my monthly DD by £2. I am not surprised that ExtraEnergy wants to retain the credit balance.

youravinalarrrf

I would suggest that you read your Welcome Letter from Extra Energy and see Section 3.0 d of the Terms and Conditions

"Your Direct Debit is based upon the amount of energy we estimate you will use (based on the information provided by you) and your tariff. We will review your Direct Debit payment regularly to ensure your fixed payments are accurate. If you are joining us through the winter months, your Direct Debit may be set at 25% higher (than your standard monthly amount) to cover the extra usage until spring, when it will return to a recommended Direct Debit amount."

As you joined at the end of summer you will not have a chance to build up a credit balance to cover your normal increased usage through the winter hence "the Direct Debit may be set at 25% higher." In your case I would expect your Direct Debit to be set 25% higher than what you were quoted prior to signing up based on the usage figures you provided. The Direct Debit will (or should) reduce again in the Spring to near the figure you were quoted depending on your actual usage.