Direct debit almost doubled

Xbigman

macman wrote: »

The UK average is around £1250pa for dual fuel.

Not for single people living in flats it isn't.



Darren

Robin9

On face value your supplier is playing catch up because you have been underpaying.

You won't have been on a special tariff - most tariffs run for a limited time, 12 or 24 months, after which you will be switched to their standard tariff unless you took some action.

Do look back on you previous bills and see what tariff you are on and have a look at the bottom line to see if you are in credit or debit.

Are your bills estimated or do you regularly (at least monthly) submit readings on line ? Are these readings listed in your bills ?

footyguy

Bexidecimal wrote: »

Hi everyone, first time posting but I have trawled through the forums before.

So jumping right in.. I've been with npower for the last 2 years since moving in to my current flat. Never had a problem and the price has always been fine and convenient to stay with them.

I have been paying around £60 a month for 2 years for both gas and electric. Yesterday my direct debit went out of my account and they had taken £110?!?!

So I called them, obviously angry and they informed me that I had gone over the yearly estimation and from now on this was the amount I need to pay monthly. Also that I was now £270 in debt with them to make up for all this extra energy.

I checked my metres today, both of them are right next to the metres for the shop below my flat and I was hoping that they just checked the wrong one. Unfortunately not and the readings are right.

Honestly though I don't understand how they can double my bill, my usage hasn't changed and definitely not to almost double the amount?!

Is there anything I can do? My credit score is untarnished so far and I've never been in debt. I don't want to start now but I also don't want to pay all this extra money. That is over £300 I wasn't expecting to pay out this month. I've never had this sort of issue before, I always pay my bills on time and I honestly don't even know where to begin to handle this properly.

I plan on abandoning npower as soon as I can but I wondered if anyone knows a way I can at least lessen the amount they expect me to pay them before I change company.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Start here
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

If you agree with the supplier that your anticipated annual consumption is different to what it was previously, then use this figure and consult a comparison site to find the best deal for you. It probably has changed if your account is currently £270 in debit.
Some of the money you are now being asked to pay will be to pay back that shortfall. If you switch supplier, you will receive a final bill and will be expected to pay it all back in one go (although they may agree a short payment paln if you ask them nicely - say over 3 months)

You should have been receiving regular statements. Is this really the first time you have been advised your account is in debit? :huh:
Were you providing regular meter readings?

Doesn't really make sense to me , so I'll wish you Good Luck! with whatever you decide.

footyguy

Bexidecimal wrote: »

So my only option is to just pay and leave??....

No you can remain with the supplier and they will recover the shortfall usually over a similar period it took to build up.

But you may be paying more than you need to for the ongoing consumption. You need to refer to a comparison site to see just how it stacks up.

phillw

macman wrote: »

The UK average is around £1250pa for dual fuel.

Sure, but mine is half that & so there must be people paying more than that to get to that average. Which of us is silly?

How much you use depends on tariff and usage. I try to reduce both to the bare minimum.

ClaritaMax

Hey Bexidecimal, interesting to read your post as something similar has just happened to me with EDF Energy and I'm looking for advice on it.

I just moved into a 1960's 4-bedroom detached house from a 2-bed new build so had no idea how much energy bills should be. I signed up for EDF's online Simply Fixed November 2017 (E7) tariff which was £44/month. Having since googled the average energy bill of a moderate to large house, I now know this is very low! I only did this after my DD bounced because there wasn't enough money to fund an unexpected DD hike to £109 in May! I thought Simply Fixed implied that the price wouldn't change. In the introductory agreement no mention was made that the DD might go up depending on usage.

I had missed an message in March asking for a meter reading so they could confirm the DD amount, so I will be more watchful for those in future. I could have avoided the DD surprise, but I'm still annoyed that I was able to sign up to such a low and unrealistic price in the first place due to their online form.

It will even out to about £90/month the helpful yet uninformed lady on the phone said. Does that sound a good price for my home? It's the first place I have owned and done bills for so I am totally naive.

Lesson learned!
Thanks for any advice anyone can give, and I feel for you Bexidecimal your amount was much worse!

macman

What you pay per month is not relevant. What matters is the actual annual cost. You can find the best tariff in a couple of minutes armed with your annual kWh figures and your postcode.
No one can tell you whether £90pm is good or bad because we don't know your usage.
Fixed means that the unit rate is fixed. But if you use more units than estimated, your debt will build and your DD wiil be increased. Submitting regular reads will prevent this.

JJ_Egan

<<I thought Simply Fixed implied that the price wouldn't change >

If you look at your bills it has not changed .
Your usage may change up or down .
Initial DD are an estimate based upon whatever the user enters not some mythical get you in low figure .

cifpower

I don't understand how the increased direct debits are "unexpected". You must have had bills either posted to you or made available to you online. It would say on the bill if the direct debit was changing.