Pure Planet DD wrong. Large Debt

JohnB47

Chickusdickus wrote: »

We were paying around £120 pm with Scottish Power. We also run a Dog Grooming Salon on the Premises; hence why our bill was £120 in the summer months. We expected higher in the Winter, but we're not accountants or Energy Suppliers, so when we gave this info to PP and they came back with £48pp rising to £73pm in the Winter we thought it was a fantastic Deal.

You see, there's the problem right there.

You must surely know that the direct debit amount is an estimate of how much you need to pay. It is almost always a bit too much or a bit too little. That is why a Direct Debit amount can never be "wrong".

Either way, any shortfall or over payment needs to be sorted out at some point.

Having a particularly low Direct Debit amount is not "a fantastic deal", it is just a bit of financial relief in the short term while a debt slowly builds up.

The bottom line is that you used the energy and you need to pay for it.

nickcc

Also seems strange that PP didn't review the OP's payments sooner. My account was reviewed after six months and my monthly instalments increased as I'd estimated my consumption prior to my Daughter returning home.

Neil_Jones

Chickusdickus wrote: »

Hi all. Hope you're all saving money and the world.

We changed from Scottish Power 14 months ago, July 18 in a hope to Go Green and Save Money. Reviews were good and savings promising. We were paying around £120 pm with Scottish Power. We also run a Dog Grooming Salon on the Premises; hence why our bill was £120 in the summer months. We expected higher in the Winter, but we're not accountants or Energy Suppliers, so when we gave this info to PP and they came back with £48pp rising to £73pm in the Winter we thought it was a fantastic Deal. We've never questioned it till this month when I took a closer look at the Invoice to see we were £693 in debt! They have said it's a fault on both our parts. Personally I believe i'ts entirely theirs.

You would save that though wouldn't you?
The obvious problem here is that your debit was far too low in the first place, if your previous debits to Scottish Power at £120 a month covered all your usage how did you think £73 a month was going to do the same?

You don't need to be an accountant or an energy supplier to be able to think "my utility bill cost me, say, £1200 under Scottish Power last year, PP may be 10% cheaper (or whatever), so the payment figures of £73 a month they've given me can't be right".

Oh, and even now to go to their site and put in a quote for this address it's a minimum of £80 pm.

It is not a minimum anything, that's what they estimate you will use over a year divided by 12 with a skew for the colder winter months to come. Energy is always based on usage, paying £73 a month for an all-you-can-eat energy supply does not happen, this is why we have energy meters.

We're not sure what to do next. They only have an App for Support, or E-mail. They've offered a re-payment plan of £60 and to increase our monthly to £110; basically it's going to go from £48 to £170pm....

So...? You owe them £700, you've used the energy. What do you expect them to do? It took you 14 months to notice, you should really have spotted the debit long before now.

I'm considering a formal complaint with the Ombudsman, but not sure.

And what exactly do you propose to complain about? You accepted a ridiculously low direct debit amount, PP didn't come along and say "we want you to only pay £48 a month, end of discussion".