E'on

toonceltic

Hi all, advise required.
Received an email off my duel fuel supplier, e'on today informing me that my direct debit is going to be increased from £93.50 a month to £192.00.
Now, i have noticed that my account does say i am on a fixed direct debit, so i am asking "can they do this?"
My account is at the moment in debit so i am assuming they want the increase to cover the colder months ahead.
I have a £5 for both fuels penalty for leaving early, so should i just go ahead and change supplier once again.
Mant thanks in advance.
Peter

DandelionPatrol

If you have debt of more than £200 [per fuel?] I think it is, you will have to settle the debt before you are allowed to switch.

System

toonceltic wrote: »

Hi all, advise required.
Received an email off my duel fuel supplier, e'on today informing me that my direct debit is going to be increased from £93.50 a month to £192.00.
Now, i have noticed that my account does say i am on a fixed direct debit, so i am asking "can they do this?"
My account is at the moment in debit so i am assuming they want the increase to cover the colder months ahead.
I have a £5 for both fuels penalty for leaving early, so should i just go ahead and change supplier once again.
Mant thanks in advance.
Peter

Yes, but E.on reps will advise you how you can reduce the amount within limits using the Direct Debit Manager.

The term 'fixed direct debit' is confusing in that it implies your DD is fixed. Sadly, the only thing that is fixed is your tariff and contract term. The initial amount is set using the projected annual usage that you provided at sign up.

Before you shout foul, make sure that you have been billed on an actual meter reading. Only when you know how much your energy has cost to date can you calculate how much you will owe E.on for the remaining period of your contract.

Nada666

The 'fixed' in 'pay by fixed monthly direct debit' and the 'fixed' in 'fixed tariff' are separate and different usages. Only the latter is fixed.

The increase is not (only) to pay for the winter months ahead - you still have to pay for the shortfall that your previous 'fixed' instalment size did not cover.

If you do manage to switch you would still have to pay the current balance on your account.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Good morning toonceltic and welcome to the forums,

I agree with Hengus here, the term Fixed Direct Debit can be confusing.

I prefer to refer to this as a monthly Direct Debit. We offer fixed tariff's meaning the unit prices are fixed and will not change. However, a Direct Debit can go up or down depending on the amount of energy that you use.

As you say your account is in a debit balance at the moment, it sounds like we're increasing the payments to cover your ongoing usage and pay this balance off over a few months.

The first thing to do is to enter your up to date meters reads on to your online account and create a real time bill, this will then show you exactly where you are. You can also get some info off the online account about how much you actually use. This will also be helpful if you wanted to switch as you can use it for a quote.

Then check you're on the best tariff for you and that suits your needs.

As Hengus also says, there's the option of having a look at the Direct Debit manager tool and seeing if you can change the payments slightly.

I'm here to help you though, if you need me

Helena

footyguy

toonceltic wrote: »

Hi all, advise required.
Received an email off my duel fuel supplier, e'on today informing me that my direct debit is going to be increased from £93.50 a month to £192.00.
Now, i have noticed that my account does say i am on a fixed direct debit, so i am asking "can they do this?"
My account is at the moment in debit so i am assuming they want the increase to cover the colder months ahead.
I have a £5 for both fuels penalty for leaving early, so should i just go ahead and change supplier once again.
Mant thanks in advance.
Peter

Whilst, under the Direct Debit Scheme, there is no such thing as a fixed direct debit nowadays, the energy industry has now adopted this term to describe a monthly payment by DD that is usually the same each month.

The alternative, a variable payment by DD each month (or more commonly, quarter) is based on a pay as billed basis.

If you had provided a correct estimation of your anticipated annual consumption, then the payment shouldn't need to be changed as 12x the monthly payment should equate to the total annual cost.

The fact Eon have had cause to double your monthly payment suggests you have got something significantly wrong somewhere.

You will find all suppliers who operate fixed monthly payments by DD allow for variation in their terms ... indeed they are obligated to regularly review your account and make changes as appropriate.

I would suggest you do a new comparison using a more up to date assessment of your anticipated annual consumption to find the best deal for you.

If you switch supplier, remember you will get a final bill from the old supplier, which they will usually expect to be settled almost immediately (although it may be possible to arrange a repayment plan over a few months)

Note also that some of the smaller suppliers (and hence often cheaper) do not like customers to be in debt to them, so as you would be joining at a time of increasing energy consumption, then they may charge more per month over the initial winter period to avoid this happening.