Advance Direct Debit Payments

bonus2010

I’m reading that there’s energy suppliers who are demanding advanced direct debit payments in their T&C., for example I read that Toto takes a month in advance which means that your first payment on signing up a contract with them is double the amount.

My personal view on this, is that it is a very risky practice from the point of view of the customer, given that many small energy suppliers have failed in recent times. Members here have reported experiencing great difficulty in having their credit balances returned from failed suppliers, often having to wait at least 3 months or more.

I’m just interested to know which suppliers are insisting on advance payments so I can try my best to avoid them when comparing.

Benight

bonus2010 wrote: »

I’m reading that there’s energy suppliers who are demanding advanced direct debit payments in their T&C., for example I read that Toto takes a month in advance which means that your first payment on signing up a contract with them is double the amount.

My personal view on this, is that it is a very risky practice from the point of view of the customer, given that many small energy suppliers have failed in recent times. Members here have reported experiencing great difficulty in having their credit balances returned from failed suppliers, often having to wait at least 3 months or more.

I’m just interested to know which suppliers are insisting on advance payments so I can try my best to avoid them when comparing.

I think it is very risky going with any small supplier due to the chances of them going bust. There have been about a dozen so far, I believe.

Stick to the Big 6- that's what we do. None of them have gone bust and little chance any of them will. None charge in advance either, as far as I am aware.

Maybe not the cheapest, but ...

_John_Ruskin wrote:

It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little.

When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.

The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well
to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
have enough to pay for something better.

onlyfoolsandparking

It's only risky going with a smaller energy supplier if your not capable of doing a little research on said companies and as regarding sticking to the 'big 6' well if you want to pay more for energy and prop up dividend payments to shareholders, more fool you!

Benight

onlyfoolsandparking wrote: »

It's only risky going with a smaller energy supplier if your not capable of doing a little research on said companies and as regarding sticking to the 'big 6' well if you want to pay more for energy and prop up dividend payments to shareholders, more fool you!

We can all see you are enouraging someone elsewhere not to move from a new supplier who is already over £26million in debt :eek:

- point in fact

Stick to refusing to pay your parking tickets, if I were you

onlyfoolsandparking

And you stick to paying more for energy than I do!

bonus2010

onlyfoolsandparking wrote: »

It's only risky going with a smaller energy supplier if your not capable of doing a little research on said companies and as regarding sticking to the 'big 6' well if you want to pay more for energy and prop up dividend payments to shareholders, more fool you!

Thanks, it seems I’m one of the ones who are incapable of doing a little research on an energy company so as to determine whether or not it is going to fail in one years’ time when entering into a fixed term year contract. Seriously, I felt reassured when I found that the Scottish Government had invested heavily in the non for profit Our Power Energy and that the company was founded through a whole group of local authorities and well-respected social housing companies.

I’ve since returned to ScottishPower but I would be very keen to hear how you go about doing your research so as to determine which companies are going to fail, or are at most risk of failing.

bonus2010

Benight wrote: »

I think it is very risky going with any small supplier due to the chances of them going bust. There have been about a dozen so far, I believe.

Stick to the Big 6- that's what we do. None of them have gone bust and little chance any of them will. None charge in advance either, as far as I am aware.

Maybe not the cheapest, but ...

I'm with ScottishPower now but prior was with Our Power. It's a shame they failed because they were a good company. They didn't charge in advance and I was allowed to pay monthly by bill and wasn't charged extra because I didn't opt for direct debit. They were everything I wasnted from an energy supplier, but for some reason these options are becoming fewer.

JJ_Egan

Customer choice stick with the big 6 as most of them are non UK owned .
There are also a good few older non big 6 still in business .

cranford

For me I have saved about £600 over two years for being with a so called risky small company that charges the first DD in advance.
So if they did go under and I lost my credit of about £200 max at the start of winter I will still be quids in. But the only way I can see that you lose your credit if a small company goes under is that you have switched away and they owe you money and you are thus no longer a customer otherwise the company that OFGEM appoint to take over your contract will honour you credit.

gt94sss2

bonus2010 wrote: »

My personal view on this, is that it is a very risky practice from the point of view of the customer, given that many small energy suppliers have failed in recent times. Members here have reported experiencing great difficulty in having their credit balances returned from failed suppliers, often having to wait at least 3 months or more.

I think you are worrying to much about this imho.

Many/Most small providers ask for the first payment in advance - as unlike the big 6, they can't afford to subside customers. However, this also helps them offer lower prices.

If a firm goes out of business, any credit you have with them is protected via Ofgem - so yes, it might take a couple of months - but you are guaranteed to get your money back.

gt94sss2

cranford wrote: »

But the only way I can see that you lose your credit if a small company goes under is that you have switched away and they owe you money and you are thus no longer a customer otherwise the company that OFGEM appoint to take over your contract will honour you credit.

Even if you switched away before a company goes bust, your credit is still protected via Ofgem's SOLR process.