MSE Poll: Has your energy direct debit been increased in the last two months?

JudgeDekker

oldagetraveller1 said:

JJ_Egan said:

No its not gone up .

Yes a bit of credit .

But provider gone bust which makes rather a nonsense of the poll .

Ditto. Mine has actually gone down, temporarily, to zero! I'm sure there's going to be a financial shock once moved to and set up with SoLR.

Yeah, me too. Think it'll be 2022 before I have to pay an electricity bill.

miss-tified

I'm with Outfox The Market on a fixed tariff until March 2022. My monthly direct debit is £57.70.

On 6th Sept 2021 they said my account had a debit balance of £20.23 and my DD would increase to £71.77.
When I checked my account the debit balance was £14.07, not £20.23 so I paid it and my DD stayed at £57.70. Otherwise that would have been an increase of 24% or £14.07 per month for a debit balance of £14.47

The above increase was because "Every quarter we aim to review your account and increase/decrease your Direct Debit amount according to your account balance and energy usage from the previous quarter. Following this review, your account currently has a debit balance of £20.23. Therefore, we need to increase your monthly Direct Debit payments so we can help get your account back on track"

On 5th October my account was £57.70 in credit (I'd paid the DD) and they said my DD would increase to £65.56. So that would be a 13.6% increase

This new increase was because "Every quarter we aim to review your account and increase/decrease your Direct Debit amount according to your account balance and energy usage from the previous quarter. Following this review, we have noticed that your direct debit is not covering your **estimated** annual usage. Therefore, we need to increase your monthly Direct Debit payments so we can help you get your account back on track.

My usage is not **estimated**. I do regular monthly meter readings. They have given me an *estimated* annual cost as the reason for increasing my DD. I've now downloaded every bill for the last 12 months as well as a summary of month by month payments and balances. I will firstly try a polite email and if necessary I will then trawl through all the actual usage bills. Let battle commence!

I will win this. I had a similar battle with Sainsburys/British Gas a few years ago. After I refused to pay, after 2 years they sent the debt to a DCA who ended up cancelling the entire amount of the debt, which was just under £900. 

Unrelenting persistence, fierce tenacity, and an outright refusal to accept to accept defeat is my message to anyone trying to fight this kind of problem (and most others). 

DON'T LET THE BAR-STEWARDS GRIND YOU DOWN!

miss-tified

Sea_Shell said:

"Has anyone who's been asked to increase their DD done the maths to see how the new figure may have been arrived at, or are companies plucking figures out of thin air?"

I think some companies are chancing their luck. As per my earlier post, if I don't get a satisfactory resolution from my first polite email then I will be doing the maths and commencing battle with Outfox The Market.

stratofish

I had an email from my provider E.On Next this morning to say my upcoming payment next week was triple the agreed amount. After investigating it seems that they have changed my DD from a fixed payment of £100 a month to "pay everything each month" without informing me to clear a £300 debt. There is also no option to switch it back to a fixed amount monthly so I've cancelled the DD via my bank instead and will pay manually from now on.

My bill usually averages about £70 a month, the debt was due to them underestimating meter readings and slapping on a £400 bill for a single month back in April. I had increased my monthly payment from £70 to £100 to clear this over the year instead of paying it outright.

MWT

stratofish said:

...so I've cancelled the DD via my bank instead and will pay manually from now on.

Call them and get an agreed payment plan in place, just cancelling the DD opens up the potential for them to charge you more as you generally need to have a DD in place to get the lowest price, even under the cap.

jes2016

Can't seem to vote on this now yet I'm only getting my request for renewal now

pochase

jes2016 said:

Can't seem to vote on this now yet I'm only getting my request for renewal now

Did you see that is a poll from October 2021 and was closed last year already?

Malchester

Yes. EDF increased my DD 2 days ago even though I am only slightly in debit and, by my annual review in November I will be in credit. To their credit when I contacted them they immediately reduced the DD back to what it was. Took 30 seconds

wild666

I increased my DD myself from £48 per month to £55 per month but I have a £284 credit balance. My electric usage in summer and winter is the same 116 to 131 kWh per month and the gas around 35 kWh but add £23 for SC's every month. That 's  around £35 E  and £2.50 G then £23 SC that a maximum of just under £61 per month in summer and £75 in winter. I do turn off absolutely everything that's not in use otherwise there would be another £19 per month on the electric bill