Direct debits

B61

I have contacted my energy supplier due to the enormous increase in my direct debit from 85 to 246. I have told them I will pay 150 but they have said I can only have 10% off and can only accept 217, I have also told them I would pay off any shortfalls. Are they allowed to say what Imust pay per month they said if I dont pay it they will cancel my direct debit is this allowed? And surely I can pay what I want with my direct debit?

pochase

Your first option is to go on a variable direct debit if the supplier has this. So you would pay every month what you own, which can be quite a bit in winter.

Have you come of a fixed deal recently and are in debt? That would be the only scenario I can see that justifies an almost 200% increase.

If you answer the following questions we will be able to better advise.
Were you in credit or debt at the last bill?
Are you on a fixed tariff or standard variable rate? What is the price for gas and electricity.
How much gas and electricity have you used the last 12 months.

MWT

B61 said:

Are they allowed to say what Imust pay per month they said if I dont pay it they will cancel my direct debit is this allowed? And surely I can pay what I want with my direct debit?

The answer is a little complicated.

If your supplier is one of the ones which charges more for standard credit accounts, then as long as they are calculating your DD 'correctly' then you just need to choose between paying the DD and staying on the current tariff, or you can switch to a credit basis and pay on receipt of the bill, but it may cost more.

The real question though is are they calculating it correctly?

Take a look at their assumptions regarding the annual usage for electricity/gas, are those close to your actual use over the last year?

If not then tell them that and say that is the basis for reducing the DD as they have got your consumption wrong.

If it is right then they may have a point and your DD needs to be higher than you were expecting.

Northern_Wanderer

Cancelling the direct debit will mean higher bills, so I would not do that. Changing to variable DD is really going to hurt in winter unless you can save for that now. I'd only recommend it for those who are good at budgeting. A winter month could be £300 on variable DD.

B61

pochase said:

Your first option is to go on a variable direct debit if the supplier has this. So you would pay every month what you own, which can be quite a bit in winter.

Have you come of a fixed deal recently and are in debt? That would be the only scenario I can see that justifies an almost 200% increase.

If you answer the following questions we will be able to better advise.
Were you in credit or debt at the last bill?
Are you on a fixed tariff or standard variable rate? What is the price for gas and electricity.
How much gas and electricity have you used the last 12 months.

I was 300 in credit when my last energy company went bust. I am on a standard variable rate my electricity rate is 29.58p/kw standing charge 47.58 per day Gas is 7.36p/kw standing charge 27.22 per day. My last bill I was 131 in debit which I paid off. I am not sure what I have used in the last 12 months but they are estimating me using electricity 1120.79 per year and gas 1804.94. Hope this helps.

Robin9

B61 said:

pochase said:

I am not sure what I have used in the last 12 months but they are estimating me using electricity 1120.79 per year and gas 1804.94. Hope this helps.

Look back on your bills from about 12 months ago and hopefully find one with Actual readings on it. Read your meter today and you can work out your actual annual consumption.

Electric is easy just deduct the old reading from the new;  gas needs you to multiply that difference by 11.2 to get the KWh

Gerry1

Robin9 said:

B61 said:

pochase said:

I am not sure what I have used in the last 12 months but they are estimating me using electricity 1120.79 per year and gas 1804.94. Hope this helps.

Electric is easy just deduct the old reading from the new;  gas needs you to multiply that difference by 11.2 to get the KWh

Only if it's a metric meter.  If it's Imperial, the figure is about 31.7

pochase

@B61

I have calculated what your supplier believes you will use in the next 12 months from your information. Does this look right?

Electricity estimated by supplier	£ 1,120.79
Standing charge	£    173.67
	£    947.12
rate	0.2958
KWh Electricity	3201.9033
Gas estimated by supplier	£ 1,804.94
Standing charge	£      99.35
	£ 1,705.59
rate	0.0736
KWh Gas	23173.736

This would be just at the current rate you quoted not taking into account that they might have already included estimates for higher cost for the second half year after potential increases in October.

Electricity looks quite normal. Gas would be on the high side.

wild666

B61 said:

I have contacted my energy supplier due to the enormous increase in my direct debit from 85 to 246. I have told them I will pay 150 but they have said I can only have 10% off and can only accept 217, I have also told them I would pay off any shortfalls. Are they allowed to say what Imust pay per month they said if I dont pay it they will cancel my direct debit is this allowed? And surely I can pay what I want with my direct debit?

If the £85 was covering your monthly usage then they should only increase your DD by 54%, this would be £130.90. If you have a debt then they can increase it by more to collect the debt but if in credit the most they could increase is by 54% that is assuming the credit is only a few pounds.

I would open a complaint if you have a large-ish credit and they are increasing it from £85 to £246. With the figures quoted, unless you have misread the readings they claim then your yearly total bill is £737.47 giving a monthly DD of just £61.46 per month.

At £246 per month the total of the yearly bill on your figures will be paid in roughly 3 months.

Robin9

pochase said:

@B61

I have calculated what your supplier believes you will use in the next 12 months from your information. Does this look right?

Electricity estimated by supplier	£ 1,120.79
Standing charge	£    173.67
	£    947.12
rate	0.2958
KWh Electricity	3201.9033
Gas estimated by supplier	£ 1,804.94
Standing charge	£      99.35
	£ 1,705.59
rate	0.0736
KWh Gas	23173.736

This would be just at the current rate you quoted not taking into account that they might have already included estimates for higher cost for the second half year after potential increases in October.

Electricity looks quite normal. Gas would be on the high side.

Working backwards from these figures - assuming 15p for electric is £480; gas at 3p £710 ; add standing charges and VAT = approx £!350 ie £110 a month.  At £85 you were underpaying   - part of the new charges are the supplier clawing back the underpayment.

Have a look at your last bill - is there a debit shown ?

london21

I opted for the variable direct debit option with Bulb, but then means varying amounts based on my monthly usgae which I am happy with.