MSE News: 30% of British Gas, Octopus & Shell Energy customers say their direct debits have DOUBLED

polymaff

A simple way to get the DD right - every time.  If your energy supplier can implement a variable DD based upon just-reported meter readings, go for it.  The only thing against this is that you've got to manage your money - but we mse folk can deal with that.

Can't we? .. 

chris_n

JaneEdin said:

A sort of success story. My mother is with Eon and lives in a retirement flat with electricity supply only which has been expensive in the past but affordable. In March we decided to increase her dd by 15% to cover current monthly consumption and to start to reduce the £300 winter deficit. We check her consumption regularly and are fully aware of the additional support the government is providing for pensioners so knew that she'd be back in credit before the winter period.
In May Eon increased her dd by 59% with no prior notice and when we queried they told us the dd couldn't be reduced and that she should speak to the Step Change debt charity. I found this quite frustrating and after a very annoying telephone call they eventually agreed to reduce the dd but not down to the March level (an £3 extra which thankfully is covered by her April pension increase).
We fully understand the current energy crisis plus my mother is carefully managing her finances and is not in debt so it feels so wrong that (some of) the energy companies can treat people this way, very disrespectful and quite stressful for the older generation. Once matters settle down we're going to change suppliers.
As an aside I'm with Octopus and have found them to be refreshingly easy to deal with - will definitely be considering them as my mother's future supplier.

You have stated that she has a deficit of £300 but you think she is not in debt? That surely needs to be paid for in a timely manner as it is energy she has used despite your checking her consumption and not changing her DD accordingly. Why should the energy supplier wait until winter for the government payments to start reducing her debt? Or have I misunderstood something? 

maisie_cat

It's very clear that people are often not comparing like with like when they talk about DD increases. When we were with Neon Reef we were paying less than our annual consumption divided by 12 , because we were in credit. When we changed to BG  they had no history and it was winter so the DD increased from NR by 213% although the annual only increased by 157%.
Now it's settled down the DD since NR has increased by 200% and the annual consumption by 269%.
If I were a reporter I could use any of those numbers to make the point I wanted to make. 

gajones

I am with British Gas, and enquired on the July23V2 price fix which Martin advised in recent MSE email. When i spoke to British Gas, I was told my payments would change within 48 hours. i am currently paying around £350 per month for joint fuel, on standard tariff and my payments would rise to £450 per month within 48 hours. I was told the offer ends at end of June. 
Why would anyone change tariff now and increase payments by £100 per month at the moment.
What is the best way to change to a fixed Tariff, as this does not make sense to me?

peter3hg

gajones said:

I am with British Gas, and enquired on the July23V2 price fix which Martin advised in recent MSE email. When i spoke to British Gas, I was told my payments would change within 48 hours. i am currently paying around £350 per month for joint fuel, on standard tariff and my payments would rise to £450 per month within 48 hours. I was told the offer ends at end of June. 
Why would anyone change tariff now and increase payments by £100 per month at the moment.
What is the best way to change to a fixed Tariff, as this does not make sense to me?

The cap is forecast to increase by about 46% in October so if you don't fix now your direct debit will go up about £160 in October  (all things being equal).
The fixed deals at the moment are more expensive than the current price cap, but the recommended ones are cheaper than the forecast October cap. Basically you will pay more between now and October, but should more than make up for it over the winter when the cap is higher and your usage is higher.

Obviously it isn't quite as simple as that, but that is the basic premise of it.

QrizB

gajones said:

Why would anyone change tariff now and increase payments by £100 per month at the moment.

In order to pay less, in total, over the next 12 months.