My monthly direct debit is increasing by c.86% - is this correct or should the max increase be 54%?

sallyd12

cx6 said:

does anyone know if you have the right to refuse this - for example if BG said £134 a month do you have the right to say eg no, you can only take £90 ?

I spent a long time on the phone with them yesterday and they were not budging. Unless I could prove eligibility for hardship support, i wasnt getting any help. The alternative suggestion was to move to a pre pay meter so more flexibility on how I paid but that obviously comes with an inflated cost itself. 

By challenging the new amount I was immediatley given a small discount of £9 p/mth. Now I need to wait and see if my consumption drops considerably (which it will for everyone as we move in to the warmer months) and if my account is building up credit, I can reduce the DD again.

The_Fat_Controller

If you move to the SV rate, as I said before, you need to factor in the change to the price cap on October 1st.

It is very unlikely the capped rates will go down.

[Deleted User]

sallyd12 said:

I have a smart reader so bills are accurate. I'll have a think about the variable direct debit as that could work out quite well for me. Appreciate your advice

Just make sure that your supplier is able to lift your reads from your smart meters otherwise your supplier may be estimating what you use.  For example, in my case, Eon Next are still unable to read my SMETS2 smart meters nearly 7 months after I joined them so reads are provided to them manually and these reads are used on all my bills since I joined them.  I have now gone onto Variable DD with Eon Next so expect my next DD amount to take me to a  balance of £0 after it is applied.  Am already saving for next winter to ease the pain. 

Mobtr

cx6 said:

does anyone know if you have the right to refuse this - for example if BG said £134 a month do you have the right to say eg no, you can only take £90 ?

You can try but if they say £134 p/m is what you need to pay & you only pay £90 you are underpaying by £44 p/m which means you will go into debt & on your next review you may find it goes up to £170 to cover the deficit. 

keithgawler

sallyd12 said:

cx6 said:

does anyone know if you have the right to refuse this - for example if BG said £134 a month do you have the right to say eg no, you can only take £90 ?

I spent a long time on the phone with them yesterday and they were not budging. Unless I could prove eligibility for hardship support, i wasnt getting any help. The alternative suggestion was to move to a pre pay meter so more flexibility on how I paid but that obviously comes with an inflated cost itself. 

By challenging the new amount I was immediatley given a small discount of £9 p/mth. Now I need to wait and see if my consumption drops considerably (which it will for everyone as we move in to the warmer months) and if my account is building up credit, I can reduce the DD again.

It's worth building up a simple spreadsheet Sally from your historic bills. Capturing bill period, kWh consumed, actual cost, days in period allows you to get a good profile on your usage. This would then be very useful to validate/challenge any proposed changes.

As others have commented, there will be further big rises to come. Tempting though it might be to try and shave down your monthly DD, if you have the capacity in your budgeting then it's worth keeping your DD running in line or ahead of estimated annual costs as the October increases occur at the start of the heavy winter consumption period and there will be a big jump then.

mumf

I get an email each month from eon reminding me to send a reading,which takes no time at all,they bounce the bill back,we both know it’s accurate,and there’s no scary changes ,such as people on direct debit seem to be experiencing. I have been told what percentage rise to expect,and budget accordingly. I can’t change the increase but I feel that I stay in control .

jimjames

sallyd12 said:

cx6 said:

does anyone know if you have the right to refuse this - for example if BG said £134 a month do you have the right to say eg no, you can only take £90 ?

By challenging the new amount I was immediatley given a small discount of £9 p/mth. Now I need to wait and see if my consumption drops considerably (which it will for everyone as we move in to the warmer months) and if my account is building up credit, I can reduce the DD again.

Rather misleading if they told you it was a discount of £9 a month. Discount implies you're getting a lower rate, you're not. The rate is what it is, the DD is an estimate of your use. Any reduction in DD will be recouped if your usage doesn't match the estimated bill in future.

NotMirandaHart

In my experience with SSE even if there is no change to the electricity price, if you phone to argue the point that the direct debit increase is too high, they lower it for a month, then simply raise it again about a month later.  If the price of energy is due to increase, then as soon as that's announced, they up the direct debt, then, once the increase has happened it goes up by the same amount again. It seems they wish to always hold £100-300 in credit after the next bill is paid, more is held in hand if it is summer. If they estimate usage you have to be careful, as this seems to be an increase in estimated us at least 18-20% over the same quarter previous year.  What a shame they hold our funds as cash, not energy units paid in advance.  You guys on prepayment meters finally have an advantage.

Flight3287462

As above take monthly readings and send them to your supplier so that all bills are accurate.  You will in all probability be building up some credit over the summer months  which may help ease the pain next winter.

Grey_Critic

I have refused to be held hostage and said I will continue with my current DD and make interim payments to control. Personally I am of the opinion that thye suppliers are making sure their profit margins stay excessive - Ofgem are certainly not on the side of the consumer.