INSANE Direct Debit Price Hike By SSE/OVO

Attackthebanks

So i am FULLY aware of the hike in energy costs and the increase to direct debits on the variable rate.

However...

My friend on a variable rate with SSE has been paying £244 per month for about 6 months BEFORE the energy hike (which i thought was high).
They are currently £350 in credit, and havent missed any payments, they stay in a 3 bedroom house, with average energy use and dont even have radiators in every room.

SSE emailed them today to say the £244 direct debit wasnt covering their projected energy use, and that they needed to increase the direct debit to £561 per month, their estimated energy use is £3802 by April 2023.

Now maybe i am wildy off on this and its correct, but did Ofgem not price cap at £1971 a year.

They called SSE and they said this was correct.

Surely this cant be right?

BUFF

Attackthebanks said:

My friend on a variable rate with SSE has been paying £244 per month for about 6 months BEFORE the energy hike (which i thought was high).
They are currently £350 in credit, and havent missed any payments, they stay in a 3 bedroom house, with average energy use and dont even have radiators in every room.

SSE emailed them today to say the £244 direct debit wasnt covering their projected energy use, and that they needed to increase it to £561, their estimated energy use is £3802 by April 2023.

Now maybe i am wildy off on this and its correct, but did Ofgem not price cap at £1971 a year.

They called SSE and they said this was correct.

Surely this cant be right?

The price cap figure is for an "average" user which by the sound of things your friend may not be.
It's also not an actual cap in that if you use more you will pay more (what is capped is the.per unit & standing charge cost).

You/they need to look at their actual (not estimated) usage & their tariff. Once armed with accurate figures you/they can either come back here for more help or use those to point out to SSE why their estimates are wrong (if they are).

Attackthebanks

BUFF said:

Attackthebanks said:

My friend on a variable rate with SSE has been paying £244 per month for about 6 months BEFORE the energy hike (which i thought was high).
They are currently £350 in credit, and havent missed any payments, they stay in a 3 bedroom house, with average energy use and dont even have radiators in every room.

SSE emailed them today to say the £244 direct debit wasnt covering their projected energy use, and that they needed to increase it to £561, their estimated energy use is £3802 by April 2023.

Now maybe i am wildy off on this and its correct, but did Ofgem not price cap at £1971 a year.

They called SSE and they said this was correct.

Surely this cant be right?

The price cap figure is for an "average" user which by the sound of things your friend may not be.
It's also not an actual cap in that if you use more you will pay more (what is capped is the.per unit & standing charge cost).

You/they need to look at their actual (not estimated) usage & their tariff. Once armed with accurate figures you/they can either come back here for more help or use those to point out to SSE why their estimates are wrong (if they are).

Any advice then, move to another company perhaps?

Robin9

More info please

Is this gas and electric ?

We need actual annual consumptions (in KWh not £) Read the meters now and find some Actual (not Estimated) readings from a year or so again.  I assume they are taking monthly reads and the supplier is using them.

Are they sure they are in credit  - some of the online accounts are difficult to read - they include the credit from the last bill and the DD's but not the energy used

Mstty

For this forum to help you , and there are many knowledgeable people here they need to know the exact usage in kWh for gas and elec your friend has been using. Actual use not estimated and then you will see the help flood in.

BUFF

Attackthebanks said:

Any advice then, move to another company perhaps?

If your friends are on the SVT (& most are) then the suppliers are all pretty much at the same level that they are capped at & tbh they don't really want to take you on as  they are actually losing money at those prices.
What some appear to be trying to do is scare some consumers onto higher fixed tariffs.

Attackthebanks

BUFF said:

Attackthebanks said:

Any advice then, move to another company perhaps?

If your friends are on the SVT (& most are) then the suppliers are all pretty much at the same level that they are capped at & tbh they don't really want to take you on as  they are actually losing money at those prices.
What some appear to be trying to do is scare some consumers onto higher fixed tariffs.

They will automatically change the direct debit though won't they? 

pochase

The figures don't really make much sense.

If SSE expects them to use 3802£ of energy, why would they ask for 561£ x 12 = 6732£ direct debit, plus the 350 you are saying they are in credit. That is nearly double of the expected use.

Is it maybe that they are not 350£ in credit, but in debt? Also it is very unusual to build up a credit during the winter months?

GingerTim

If SSE's calculations are based on actual readings, and your friend was somehow able to move, then they could expect to pay more or less the same.

As others have noted, usage in kwh is what's needed before the more knowledgeable members of the board can help properly.

BUFF

Attackthebanks said:

They will automatically change the direct debit though won't they? 

Unless they object & show that the estimated figures are not  a reasonable reflection of real use, probably (it probably has some wording along the lines of unless we hear from you we will change your DD). 

As everybody is saying we need real kWh figures on actual energy usage & what tariffs they are on currently (& when those end).

jimjames

Attackthebanks said:

BUFF said:

Attackthebanks said:

My friend on a variable rate with SSE has been paying £244 per month for about 6 months BEFORE the energy hike (which i thought was high).
They are currently £350 in credit, and havent missed any payments, they stay in a 3 bedroom house, with average energy use and dont even have radiators in every room.

SSE emailed them today to say the £244 direct debit wasnt covering their projected energy use, and that they needed to increase it to £561, their estimated energy use is £3802 by April 2023.

Now maybe i am wildy off on this and its correct, but did Ofgem not price cap at £1971 a year.

They called SSE and they said this was correct.

Surely this cant be right?

The price cap figure is for an "average" user which by the sound of things your friend may not be.
It's also not an actual cap in that if you use more you will pay more (what is capped is the.per unit & standing charge cost).

You/they need to look at their actual (not estimated) usage & their tariff. Once armed with accurate figures you/they can either come back here for more help or use those to point out to SSE why their estimates are wrong (if they are).

Any advice then, move to another company perhaps?

That would be a fairly pointless exercise as almost no companies are accepting new customers and if they are on the capped rate then it would be exactly the same elsewhere. But it's not a maximum you can pay, it's a maximum rate per unit. Use more units you pay more money.

As above the important thing is how much they are using. If they've not taken a meter reading yet then they need to do so ASAP to make sure they know if the bill is accurate or not.