Effects of the White Label Restrictions?

falconer99

Our electricity and gas supplier is Sainsbury’s Energy (aka British Gas). Our tariff is fixed until July 2016. We’ve just received a letter from them. They said “You’ve used less electricity and less gas than expected so your payments have been changed.”

Yes, they’re going up by over 11.7 %.

So, either they have grossly mismanaged our payments ; or have just kept the rate low to entice new customers ; or have adjusted our payments because of the new restrictions on Sainsbury’s being a British Gas ‘white label’ ; or have done what I always suspect British Gas do, and that is to increase the monthly direct debit payments, and then refund the balance (having made lots of money on the interest) but only when you complain (and not until).

And their on-line "contact us" form won't accept the above comments because they say I've used unacceptable characters!

CashStrapped

What is your direct debit set at?

What is your annual average use in KWH? (based on actual meter readings)

Knowing the answer to the second helps you to assess whether your direct debit is too high or low.

Judging what you are being charged by looking at the DD alone is a bit of a red herring.

How often do you send actual meter readings? The less often you send them, the more a utility company has to guess your usage. This can result in wildly incorrect DD amounts being set. This ends up in either an unexpected debt or a more welcome large credit.

I give my meter readings every month after the DD has left. This gives me a up to date picture of the account, and ensures my DD is set just right.

falconer99

I send in a reading every time I'm asked, that is, every three months. And they're always accurate.

I wasn't complaining that the payments were too high or too low, but that they said my usage was below their expectations, and yet the monthly payments, as set up by Sainsbury's based on my (yet again) honest past usage, were being increased.

Nada666

What has any of your points (whether founded or not) got to do with white label labels and their restrictions?

falconer99

My only gripe is that Sainsbury's has fixed my monthly repayments, and, even though they say that my usage of both gas and electricity is less than they expected, my monthly payments are going up.

CashStrapped

You have the power to set and control the DD.

Every time an energy company has done that to me, I have rung and reduced the DD. They have always enacted my request.

As long as you are in credit, you should not have a problem

Just ring and speak to them or change your DD setting online.

footyguy

falconer99 wrote: »

Our electricity and gas supplier is Sainsbury’s Energy (aka British Gas). Our tariff is fixed until July 2016. We’ve just received a letter from them. They said “You’ve used less electricity and less gas than expected so your payments have been changed.”

Yes, they’re going up by over 11.7 %.

So, either they have grossly mismanaged our payments ; or have just kept the rate low to entice new customers ; or have adjusted our payments because of the new restrictions on Sainsbury’s being a British Gas ‘white label’ ; or have done what I always suspect British Gas do, and that is to increase the monthly direct debit payments, and then refund the balance (having made lots of money on the interest) but only when you complain (and not until).

And their on-line "contact us" form won't accept the above comments because they say I've used unacceptable characters!

This MSE article explains how to challenge Direct Debit amounts if you think they are unfair
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

And this link explains how to go about contacting your supplier about this
http://www.sainsburysenergy.com/content/sainsbury/help-and-advice/energy-complaints.html?

System

footyguy wrote: »

This MSE article explains how to challenge Direct Debit amounts if you think they are unfair
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

I tried that last year and took it all the way to The Energy Ombudsman. The EO's response was that suppliers now have an over-arching Supply Licence responsibility to ensure that customers do not get into debt. Make of that what you will.

SwanJon

CashStrapped wrote: »

You have the power to set and control the DD.

Every time an energy company has done that to me, I have rung and reduced the DD. They have always enacted my request.

As long as you are in credit, you should not have a problem

Just ring and speak to them or change your DD setting online.

You don't even need to phone up - you can take control of your DD online - even down to adjusting individual months to your liking (so long as the total remains on track).

That said, falconer's letter sounds incredibly badly written and doesn't help anyone.

System

SwanJon wrote: »

That said, falconer's letter sounds incredibly badly written and doesn't help anyone.

I don't think that you mean that.

falconer99

No, Swanjon.

My letter was grammatical and free from errors, and says what I wanted to say.

I wasn't trying to help anyone in this instance. I was merely trying to express my annoyance, and to ask for advice as to why it had happened.