Switching question regarding debit balance

schuey87

I recently looked at my gas and electricity and decided to switch. I chose to switch from EDF to co-op as the comparison sites showed it was one of the cheapest suppliers that I knew a bit about.

On looking further it appears I probably owe ~£500 debit on my current EDF tariff - they are estimating my usage will go down in summer (based on last years figures) and have recently increased my monthly payment so that by the end of the year it should be paid/credit.

If I go through with the switch I assume I will have to pay the £500 debit (which I could do but would rather not - and definitely don't want a monthly payment plan for it). But I got an email from EDF the other day saying "sorry to hear you're leaving us, if you change your mind we'd be happy to welcome you back, call us on ...."

Now I could switch to an alternative EDF tariff that doesn't save me quite as much as the co-op tariff but it isn't far off, can I still cancel my switch as it hasn't gone through completely yet? And if I were to cancel it and go to an alternative EDF tariff I'm guessing I can just do the same as the original EDF plan paying a higher monthly payment for the rest of the year to equal it out by end of year? ... I would call EDF to ask them today, but they are closed so thought I'd see if anyone else had experience of this kind of thing!

footyguy

schuey87 wrote: »

I recently looked at my gas and electricity and decided to switch. I chose to switch from EDF to co-op as the comparison sites showed it was one of the cheapest suppliers that I knew a bit about.

On looking further it appears I probably owe ~£500 debit on my current EDF tariff - they are estimating my usage will go down in summer (based on last years figures) and have recently increased my monthly payment so that by the end of the year it should be paid/credit.

If I go through with the switch I assume I will have to pay the £500 debit (which I could do but would rather not - and definitely don't want a monthly payment plan for it). But I got an email from EDF the other day saying "sorry to hear you're leaving us, if you change your mind we'd be happy to welcome you back, call us on ...."

Now I could switch to an alternative EDF tariff that doesn't save me quite as much as the co-op tariff but it isn't far off, can I still cancel my switch as it hasn't gone through completely yet? And if I were to cancel it and go to an alternative EDF tariff I'm guessing I can just do the same as the original EDF plan paying a higher monthly payment for the rest of the year to equal it out by end of year? ... I would call EDF to ask them today, but they are closed so thought I'd see if anyone else had experience of this kind of thing!

I guess none of us like paying for the gas & electricity we use ... but we have to.

Presumably if you stay with EDF, you will be paying more than if you continue the switch to the Co-op?

Are you still in the cooling off period? If not, is there any early exit fee payable with the Co-op tariff you elected to switch to?

Nada666

If you 'can pay' it and would 'rather not' have a monthly plan then just go ahead with the Co-op switch. Not sure why you don't want a monthly plan but wouldn't mind a monthly increase to your direct debit instalment. I think most customers should prefer a one-off single catch-up payment than larger instalments every month for six and twelve months at a time.

Also double-check the usage and monthly payment with Co-op correlates with your previous usage (particularly considering that it was relatively warm.) And again at the end of this year. A £500 negative balance would result in an increase to the instalment of £83 - not all suppliers will allow you to wait until after summer and the computers will automatically whack it on.