GB Energy account

redslady40

Hi, I'm currently with GB Energy & would like to discuss a possible breach of contract. I'm on a 12mth fixed tarriff whereby I pay a 6mth summer tarriff & 6mth winter tarriff. My recent payment went up by £33 and according to my contract, I should be given 10 working days notice prior to the DD coming off my account - I never rec'd this. After contacting them, they came back advising that they had reviewed my account and adjusted my DD accordingly, based on my summer biils. They have offered the following: a) keep the payments as they are now or b) use my credit balance against their estimated yearly amount & reduce my new payment, albeit it's still more than my contracted amount.
My contract ends in February, but given I didn't receive the contracted 10 working days notice of the payment change, I was wondering where I stood with them? Am I able to ask them to put my payments back to what they were & get a refund of the £33 they took of my account this month?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Terry98

It's best to read this first http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/energy/2016/11/gb-energy-goes-bust-160000-customers-affected-heres-what-you-need-to-know?_ga=1.12610167.1321980049.1481001854

redslady40

Thanks I had already read this; but the email they say the sent me was sent on 29th October so before they announced they were to cease trading.

SwanJon

Which tariff were you on?
If you didn't recieve notice of a change in DD you can ask your bank to return it, but this will not change how much you owe GBE.

On a fixed tariff it is the p/kWh that is fixed, not the DD amount, so if you use more than estimated your DDs will need to be higher to cover the extra use.
The DD is not a 'contracted amount' - you need to pay for what you use at the price you 'contracted'.

System

SwanJon wrote: »

Which tariff were you on?
If you didn't recieve notice of a change in DD you can ask your bank to return it, but this will not change how much you owe GBE.

On a fixed tariff it is the p/kWh that is fixed, not the DD amount, so if you use more than estimated your DDs will need to be higher to cover the extra use.
The DD is not a 'contracted amount' - you need to pay for what you use at the price you 'contracted'.

Very sound advice. Think of it like this:

Your supplier calculates that you will have to pay £33 a month for the last 6 months of your contract to achieve a zero balance. You invoke the DD guarantee and claim the first £33 back. The amount 'owed' still equals 6 x £33 or £198 so all that the supplier will do is increase your monthly DD to £40 for the next 5 months.

eddddy

... or you could think of it like this ...

It's the price per unit of electricity (and/or gas) that is fixed.

So for example,

- If you use twice as much electricity/gas as predicted, then your DD will need to be twice as much as predicted.

- If you use half as much electricity/gas as predicted, then your DD will need to be half as much as predicted.

So it sounds like you're using more electricity/gas than was predicted.

You can claim back the DD payment via your bank if you want, but it won't save you any money overall. You'll still have to pay for all the electricity/gas you use, one way or another.

System

eddddy wrote: »

... or you could think of it like this ...

It's the price per unit of electricity (and/or gas) that is fixed.

So for example,

- If you use twice as much electricity/gas as predicted, then your DD will need to be twice as much as predicted.

- If you use half as much electricity/gas as predicted, then your DD will need to be half as much as predicted.

So it sounds like you're using more electricity/gas than was predicted.

You can claim back the DD payment via your bank if you want, but it won't save you any money overall. You'll still have to pay for all the electricity/gas you use, one way or another.

It doesn't work like that. DD payments are assessed over the remaining term of the contract. If usage is assessed to be higher than the initial projection then the DD will increase and vice versa. It doesn't follow that if a DD doubles that the consumer is using twice as much energy.

The calculation is:

New projected Annual Total in £s Less amount already paid = £s 'owed' to achieve zero balance at the end of the contract divided by the months of the contract remaining.