Shell energy

lauraNchild

Hi there,
I’m hoping somebody may be able to offer me some advice.
My home energy used to be provided by green star energy who have now been taken over by Shell energy.
Prior to this, green star told us they had made a mistake in the calculation of our tariff and it was doubled from £30 per fuel, per month to £60 per fuel, per month. We now owe £300 which, we simply don’t have spare to give to them to pay it off immediately.
My fiancée has paid an additional £100 this month and this was agreed with green star.
However, over the course of one week, Shell have text my partner twice asking for immediate payment of the deficit. We’ve received a letter in the post and now an email advising that there’s a debt on the account which is now being passed to the debt collection agency.
I hate those types of letters, it frightens me. I have never defaulted on any payment and I think to bombard people with threatening enforcement letters, particularly during the current climate when a lot of people are furloughed or unable to work, is totally unfair.
Can anybody offer any reassurance or guidance on this?
Thank you in advance.

Gerry1

A direct debit is just a payment to a kitty.  The kitty may or may not be keeping up with your actual usage.  A fixed  DD simply means that you pay the same amount into the kitty each month: it's not All You Can Eat.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/#whatyoupay

The DD can go up twice, once to reflect higher than expected usage in the future, and again to claw back the arrears that have built up.

Have you been providing monthly meter readings?  If not, send one now.  Estimated bills can be way out, but you can easily work out how much you owe them.  For electricity, just subtract the opening reading from today's reading, multiply by the pence per kWh and don't forget the standing charges and VAT.  Same for gas, but first convert the voulme to kWh here.  Subtract the amounts that the bank shows you've paid to get the final amount.

If they are expecting you to use more than is actually the case, ask them to revise the DD to be 1/12 of your annual consumption.

If you can't afford to pay what you owe them, ask for a payment plan.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/#lowdd

Gerry1

lauraNchild said:

green star told us they had made a mistake in the calculation of our tariff

More info, please !

Did they just increase your DD to reflect higher usage, or did they fail to bill you correctly?  If the latter, the back billing rules may apply.

lauraNchild

They sent us an advisory letter to say they had miscalculated our usage and would now be charging us that amount on a monthly basis.
since then we have been giving monthly meeting readings. 

It’s difficult for them to estimate I know, we moved in in the summer and of course over the winter we’ve used more. We’d rather just pay for what we use.
My frustration is this pestering for outstanding debt when we had already organised a payment plan with greenstar who were aware we couldn’t pay it all in one go. Clearly, that has not been communicated. Furthermore, the email Shell have provided to us to get in touch to make payment, doesn’t work. It doesn’t receive emails!

Gerry1

lauraNchild said:

We’d rather just pay for what we use.

Shell Energy, E.On and probably others offer Variable Direct Debit, which is what you are seeking.

lauraNchild

Good to know. We’ll be contacting them and telling them that is our intention!

dogshome

It would have been nice to know just what the problem was with the Greenstar account, but that's now water under the bridge.

What isn't under the bridge is the Debt being chased by Shell - The rule is that when a customer is in debt, the supplier must negotiate a payment plan that the customer can afford - WRITE a letter headed Complaint to Shell and include within it a payment installment plan you can afford