I want to reject British Gas's Direct Debit increase. Can I, and if so how?

A_Lert

Our current Direct Debit is £99 a month (edit: for gas and electric) and as of the 12th July the account is £146 in credit. British Gas are now demanding an increase to £146 a month. While I understand that credit builds over summer and depletes in winter I don't want to pay that much when the tariff has not increased yet and we are already in credit. Especially, though not solely, because we might be moving house later this year and I don't trust British Gas to refund any credit promptly if we do.

British Gas's website refuses to let me set a significantly lower value, stating "This can't be lower than your recommended amount".

Can I reject their demand to pay for energy we haven't used yet and if so how? Or is my only recourse to change supplier?

MattMattMattUK

A_Lert said:

Our current Direct Debit is £99 a month (edit: for gas and electric) and as of the 12th July the account is £146 in credit. British Gas are now demanding an increase to £146 a month. While I understand that credit builds over summer and depletes in winter I don't want to pay that much when the tariff has not increased yet and we are already in credit. Especially, though not solely, because we might be moving house later this year and I don't trust British Gas to refund any credit promptly if we do.

British Gas's website refuses to let me set a significantly lower value, stating "This can't be lower than your recommended amount".

Can I reject their demand to pay for energy we haven't used yet and if so how? Or is my only recourse to change supplier?

You can have a conversation with them, but you are unable to reject the increase outright. The methodology they use is normally pretty reasonable and generally makes sense, it probably makes sense to accept the increase. Any credit you have is also protected so not worth worrying about.

If you want to pay less with lower summer usage then your best option is probably to go on a variable direct debit which means you pay for what you have used each month, no credit or debt is built up, but payments fluctuate bases on usage.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-support/bills-and-payments/setting-up-a-direct-debit

MWT

A_Lert said:

Especially, though not solely, because we might be moving house later this year and I don't trust British Gas to refund any credit promptly if we do.

I would switch to variable DD in that case, but do try to set aside some extra money for the winter, the odds are the BG estimate is not too far off from what you will need, assuming you plan to move to a similar property...

[Deleted User]

A_Lert said:

Our current Direct Debit is £99 a month (edit: for gas and electric) and as of the 12th July the account is £146 in credit. British Gas are now demanding an increase to £146 a month. While I understand that credit builds over summer and depletes in winter I don't want to pay that much when the tariff has not increased yet and we are already in credit. Especially, though not solely, because we might be moving house later this year and I don't trust British Gas to refund any credit promptly if we do.

British Gas's website refuses to let me set a significantly lower value, stating "This can't be lower than your recommended amount".

Can I reject their demand to pay for energy we haven't used yet and if so how? Or is my only recourse to change supplier?

£146 credit is peanuts given that it is summer: the aim of setting a monthly DD payment is that it doesn’t change when Winter energy charges exceed the monthly payment. If the supplier was to accede to your request, then the consequence of that would be a much larger DD increase later on in the year.

Yes, you MIGHT be able to change supplier but most will expect you to pay the first DD payment in advance of supply and it MIGHT be set higher than BG is requesting.

Ofgem has set service standards for Final Bills and credit repayments:

Credit on a closed account

We’ve put in place guaranteed standards to make sure you quickly get final bills and money owed after closing an account.Suppliers have:six weeks from a switch to automatically send a final bill10 working days from a final bill to automatically refund a credit balanceIf suppliers breach a standard they must compensate you. You can also contact them to claim a refund.

xzibit

You can do what you want. There’s no law saying you have to have a direct debit. I just get sent a bill every quarter for what I’ve used, and I pay it. Never understood the point of a direct debit, why loan the utility companies money??

Astria

xzibit said:

You can do what you want. There’s no law saying you have to have a direct debit. I just get sent a bill every quarter for what I’ve used, and I pay it. Never understood the point of a direct debit, why loan the utility companies money??

The point of a DD is that you get lower bills by doing so. Plus, for some people, it allows an easier way of budgeting.

Pay-on-receipt-of-bill has always been more expensive.

If you don't want to loan them money, simply ask for variable direct debit where the DD amount is simply the amount on your bill.

pochase

A_Lert said:

Our current Direct Debit is £99 a month (edit: for gas and electric) and as of the 12th July the account is £146 in credit. British Gas are now demanding an increase to £146 a month. While I understand that credit builds over summer and depletes in winter I don't want to pay that much when the tariff has not increased yet and we are already in credit. Especially, though not solely, because we might be moving house later this year and I don't trust British Gas to refund any credit promptly if we do.

British Gas's website refuses to let me set a significantly lower value, stating "This can't be lower than your recommended amount".

Can I reject their demand to pay for energy we haven't used yet and if so how? Or is my only recourse to change supplier?

When has you direct debit been increased the last time?

As you are mentioning changing suppliers I assume you are not on a fixed tariff, but on SVT.

You are aware that we had a average 54% increase in April, and are expecting a further average 65% increase in October? So most likely you can expect your bills raising by a lot.

If you don't like to pay a higher direct debit ask for variable direct debit, this also has the advantage of monthly bills. Just put enough money aside for expensive winter months, and I would advise a lot more than the £99 you think is sufficient.