Direct Debit increases

helen_stewart

I have just received my half yearly statement from British Gas who have decided to increase my direct debit from £85 pm to £112.25 pm.  I am currently £168 in credit!  I rang them to request no change to my DD as I am going to receive the £400 from the Government in October, the usual £200 winter fuel payment plus the additional £300 winter fuel payment and I am entitled to the Warm Home Discount, currently £140.  So, I will be more than able to cover any additional shortfall by the end of year statement in March.  Their 'system' would only allow them to change the payment to £90 pm, which I cannot afford at this time.  As I receive only the state pension plus the protected payment (SERPS - an extra £15 per month) I am not entitled to claim pension credit and therefore do not qualify for the additional £650 which has started to be paid out to those who qualify!  There must be many pensioners in my position who are now being made to increase their DD payments, even though they will receive government help this year.  I pointed this out to the person I spoke to who, after listening to my explanation with regard to the extra payments I will be receiving, has offered to make it an official complaint.  MARTIN - next time you meet with the big wigs from the energy firms please could you ask them why they are continuing to take more money from customers who can't afford it even though they will receive the extra payments this winter?  This is totally unfair!!!  Are there any other forumites in my position?

MWT

The £400 probably will not come as a lump sum in October, but more likely spread over 6 months, but that doesn't alter you valid concern.

If you are confident that the various additional sums you are going to receive will arrive at the right time then changing to a variable DD would make more sense for you, so you will only pay the exact amount owed rather than be forced to accumulate a larger credit than you need, but it does depend on your ability to manage the cash-flow and deal with higher bills over the winter period.

pochase

helen_stewart said:

I have just received my half yearly statement from British Gas who have decided to increase my direct debit from £85 pm to £112.25 pm.  I am currently £168 in credit!  I rang them to request no change to my DD as I am going to receive the £400 from the Government in October, the usual £200 winter fuel payment plus the additional £300 winter fuel payment and I am entitled to the Warm Home Discount, currently £140.  So, I will be more than able to cover any additional shortfall by the end of year statement in March.  Their 'system' would only allow them to change the payment to £90 pm, which I cannot afford at this time.  As I receive only the state pension plus the protected payment (SERPS - an extra £15 per month) I am not entitled to claim pension credit and therefore do not qualify for the additional £650 which has started to be paid out to those who qualify!  There must be many pensioners in my position who are now being made to increase their DD payments, even though they will receive government help this year.  I pointed this out to the person I spoke to who, after listening to my explanation with regard to the extra payments I will be receiving, has offered to make it an official complaint.  MARTIN - next time you meet with the big wigs from the energy firms please could you ask them why they are continuing to take more money from customers who can't afford it even though they will receive the extra payments this winter?  This is totally unfair!!!  Are there any other forumites in my position?

The energy suppler will not take into account money the government has promised, but where nobody knows when, how and if it will be paid. And at the moment the only clear commitment and procedure is in place only for the £650, where the pay-out has started.

When I look at your current payment/usage you were using 12 x £85 = £1020 + £200 Winter fuel payment + £140 WHD = £ 1360. This is slightly above the cap before April.

Now we have a cap that is £1957 for April to October, the summer months with lower energy use, and caps of £3244 for October and £3363 from January are predicted.

That means even all the additional help will probably not be enough to cover the increases.

Assuming your Gas/Electricity split is the came as the cap and not taking into account that summer should see much less use than winter there is

6 months at April cap = £980
3 months at October cap = £810
3 months at January cap = £840

Total cost from April 2022 to March 2023 = £2630

Lets take everything into account  £400 + £500 winter fuel payment +£140 WHD +£200 credit = £1240

This leaves now £1390 to be covered by direct debit. For 4 months (April to July) you have paid 4 x £85 = £340 so for the remaining eight month you need to cover £1050, that is a monthly direct debit £ 131.25 for August to March, so the BG is not much to high, they will be to low if you don't decrease your usage.

The above figures are based on you being on SVT and the 12000KWh gas/ 2900KWh electricity spilt. If you give us your usage figures over a 12 months period and let us know of you on SVT we can calculate it better.

wild666

IMHO any payment made by the government to the user via their account should be taken into account when working out the DD and whether it should increase or decrease. 
My supplier, Octopus, said they don't take into account any money given by the government whether it's the WHD or any grant. 

Mstty

I agree the £400 should not be taken into account. If everyone reduce their DD by £66.67 for six months the majority will be in debit come April 2023.

If there is a point where direct debits should be reviewed IMO it should be April 2023 when all grants are paid and used/not used and then the year ahead calculated from there.

Ultrasonic

helen_stewart said:

Their 'system' would only allow them to change the payment to £90 pm, which I cannot afford at this time. 

I'll ask this as it's likely to factor into any response to a complaint: are you really saying that you can pay your current £85 per month but the modest increase to £90 per month is something it's impossible for you to pay?

EssexHebridean

Ultrasonic said:

helen_stewart said:

Their 'system' would only allow them to change the payment to £90 pm, which I cannot afford at this time. 

I'll ask this as it's likely to factor into any response to a complaint: are you really saying that you can pay your current £85 per month but the modest increase to £90 per month is something it's impossible for you to pay?

If someone has such a tight budget that every penny has to have a job, then this is very possible. Allowing for increases in other areas too - food, cost of running a car for example, there are huge numbers of people now finding that budgets which previously has wiggle room built in simply don't, any more. 

jimjames

helen_stewart said:

please could you ask them why they are continuing to take more money from customers who can't afford it even though they will receive the extra payments this winter?  This is totally unfair!!!  Are there any other forumites in my position?

Is it worth switching to pay on receipt of bill so you don't have a credit built up with the company? Not all offer it but I believe most do. If things are so tight that £5 isn't possible then having wild swings between bill amounts each month/quarter might not be a good idea though.

Ultrasonic

EssexHebridean said:

Ultrasonic said:

helen_stewart said:

Their 'system' would only allow them to change the payment to £90 pm, which I cannot afford at this time. 

I'll ask this as it's likely to factor into any response to a complaint: are you really saying that you can pay your current £85 per month but the modest increase to £90 per month is something it's impossible for you to pay?

If someone has such a tight budget that every penny has to have a job, then this is very possible. Allowing for increases in other areas too - food, cost of running a car for example, there are huge numbers of people now finding that budgets which previously has wiggle room built in simply don't, any more. 

I didn't say it was impossible. 

Pete99

Unless you're on a really good fixed deal, why pay with a fixed DD, most people must be on the standard variable rate tariff which in most cases can be paid for on receipt of bill instead, at the moment, when we don't know how much we'll be paying from October it surely makes sense not to stack up a huge credit or debit with a company that may go under, obviously going bust doesn't apply to the big suppliers.

[Deleted User]

Given the present political situation, I doubt that any supplier is going to take a Government credit into account until it sees the colour of the Government’s money. It is just possible that one of the candidates for PM might come up with a scheme that targets the proposed support in a different way.