Monthly DD rip off?

specialboy

Just checked my bank statement and I'm being charged £194 per month for duel fuel, does this sound correct?
Four bed house, 6 year old boliler, 2 adults who are both working and live here full time and son who is staying for a couple of months but who is also out all day working.
Am off this week so will be shopping around for a better deal but just wanted to know your thoughts on the above.

elsien

Whether it's correct or not depends on how much energy you are using.

So has the dd recently increased, and have you checked that the figures are based on actual useage instead of estimates? It may be that your previous dd was too low so has been amended to catch up with arrears, or it might be that if your useage is estimated, the company has overestimated so you're building up a surplus.
Without getting the bills out and checking what they say, your question is impossible to answer.

Cardew

No it doesn't sound correct - at £2328 pa if there are 12 payments of £194 it is around double an average amount.


The first thing is that you make it sound like you have just noticed what you are paying?? You should have been told the level of your Direct Debit when you started with the company, and notified in advance of any change to the DD amount; normally this will be on your bill.




It may well have been that you were paying well under £194 and thus insufficient to cover the cost. If this was the case you would have built up a debit balance and your DD raised to cover your expenditure AND pay off the debit balance by the review date in Spring.


Have you been giving regular meter readings or have they been estimated?


More information needed on consumption(in kWh) and DD payments to comment further. However it is far too early to assume a 'DD rip-off'

matelodave

Sounds like you don't check your bills against meter readings and you've ramped up a deficit due to underestimated bills and the supplier is trying to recover it. Most bills would tell you when there are adjustments to your DD - you just have to read them properly

Most suppliers have online accounts and give you the opportunity to send in readings.

You do really need to check your bills and make sure that they reflect your meter readings - if they don't then contact your supplier and get them corrected.

daveyjp

Incredible how some people simply allow a company to help themselves to whatever they feel like from a bank account!

OP could be thousands in credit and would never know.

specialboy

Yes it's incredible isn't it. I entered a fixed tariff paying £130 per month and put it to the back of my mind. Fiprst I realised I was paying so much was when I checked a bank statement (yes I don't check them often enough) I've since found that I have been paying £194 since October and in Sept they took ??£296 from my account. I will be sitting down and sorting it out on Thursday morn when I'm next free for a few hours.

Cardew

A fairly common scenario, and understandably many busy people cannot be bothered to check bills and/or bank statements.


I expect the answer will be as detailed in the posts above. i.e. £130 was too little and you built up a debit.


Be aware that you probably won't be able to switch to another company until you have cleared any debit balance.

matelodave

Even £130 a month sounds like a lot- over £1500 a year - are these bills based on estimates or has the meter actually been read and the readings submitted.

It looks like you need to do a careful check of your bills, payments and bank accounts and make sure that you check the last time the meter was actually read and billed. These things always get harder the longer you leave it especially if you don't retain old bills or readings

backfoot

Much as I try to help fellow posters and offer advice on charges and technical issues, there is a point where even my patience wears thin.

Quite often, an Energy Supplier will get it wrong either by over aggressive Direct Debits or billing errors etc.but this and another almost parallel thread are very frustrating.

There is information in abundance from the bills through to the internet to understand these high cost parts of our lives. The answer is to simply use it.

'Specialboy' has been paying nearly £200 a month towards energy charges recently without realising it and was also happy to pay £130 per month without baulking at the idea, even though the need for such energy is likely to be totally excessive.

I live in a different world.

Is it a cultural/generation thing? The same people, even my kids, will pay for mobile phone contracts which are disproportionate to their needs.

'Specialboy' doesn't have time until thursday when he has a few hours to sort it out !:eek: That's despite saying earlier 'I'm off this week so will be shopping around for a better deal but just wanted to know your thoughts on the above.'

Say's it all really.

matelodave

I do agree - Gas, electric & water bills aren't difficult but some people seem to think that you need a degree to work it all out.

However in my opinion it's just plain idleness because they can't be bothered to check their meters, bills and bank statements.

They then blame everyone else for their own shortcomings as the title of this thread suggests.

I'm a firm believer that budgeting and money management (including how to read bills, meters and bank statements) should be on the school curriculum rather than some of the other airy-fairy stuff which most kids will never use.

Robin9

Time and time again we read on this forum that my DD has been set as £xx but I've got a big bill and it is obvious that some DD are set at a stupidly low figure and people are tempted to accept because you will save £2 a month by going DD

IMO DD are fine for a bill like Council Tax where it really is a fixed amount and won't adjust until the April. They do fall down with Utility bills where at the very least they are a guess - I would suggest they be banned until the user has established their own history for 12 months with their supplier.

I was brought up never to pay a estimated bill and used to ring up with my own readings and get a new bill