Provider wants 3 months bank statements is this lawful?

caynick

My utilities provider has requested 3 months bank statements as they are refusing to lower my DD payments (was £60 now £209) 

I am on Universal Credit so cannot make their required amount, is what they are asking lawful? I don't wish to share my private information with them,

Thank you

Robin9

Details of your consumption (in KWh not £)  please .  Hopefully the readings are Smart or your own monthly ones.

From your bills has your DD been covering the cost or are you in debt ?  If in debt part of the rise may be your supplier recovering that

MWT

caynick said:

My utilities provider has requested 3 months bank statements as they are refusing to lower my DD payments (was £60 now £209) 

I am on Universal Credit so cannot make their required amount, is what they are asking lawful? I don't wish to share my private information with them,

If you are in debt and are telling them that you cannot afford to pay what is owed then they can certainly ask for proof in the form of bank statements, and you can refuse to give them the proof if you want, but that isn't going to help get things sorted out.

What matters though is are you actually in debt as Robin has asked above... ?

QrizB

OP posted on the same subject last month:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6348502/otm-want-to-increase-my-payment-from-60-to-260-but-i-am-not-working-atm-vulnerable

MWT

I would suggest StepChange at this point, as was suggested to the OP few years ago, after a previous stressful debt problem was posted on here.  

Thrugelmir

caynick said:

I am on Universal Credit so cannot make their required amount, is what they are asking lawful? I don't wish to share my private information with them,

Unfortunately many people cannot be trusted. Substantiate your claim. 

pochase

caynick said:

My utilities provider has requested 3 months bank statements as they are refusing to lower my DD payments (was £60 now £209) 

I am on Universal Credit so cannot make their required amount, is what they are asking lawful? I don't wish to share my private information with them,

Thank you

In your last post you were saying you have set up a standing order for £60, are you now back to a debit order?

Did the £60 cover your energy cost until the CAP increase or were you in debt? GO from the fact that if the £60 were just enough before you will maybe not need a direct debit of £209, but at least £90 to £100.

It seems you are trying to fight the £209 already for a while, if they are insist on it and now even want proof of your financials my guess is that it is at least very near what you will need in future.

I have never heard of requesting a proof of your financial status and I am a bit at a loss why they would want it. Are you trying to claim that you cannot afford your energy, in which case it will be very normal for them to request proof. Or are you just trying to get out of the DD payment of £200, in which case I might want to see if you are able to pay the high bill when the debit order is not sufficient, which would also be legal.

What was your energy use for the last 12 months, this will give us an idea how to better answer your question.

wild666

someone on UC could well pay over 50% of their UC in energy bills. They should be finding ways of reducing the electric and gas they use by turning off everything at the socket if not in use except the fridge, freezer and router and turn down the temperatures on a combi boiler, if they use gas, to 50 for hot water and 55 for heating and lower the thermostat temperature to 18 degrees. 

Buy a hot water bottle and use that if slightly cold rather than turn on the heating. If you have the heating, gas, at the temperature set by someone who services the gas boiler, normally over 60 degrees then each hour you can use over 11 kWh of gas so lowering the temperature will see less kWh used but the downside is that it takes longer to get the place up to temperature.