Payment by Direct Debit

levineh1

I am currently with Eon Next and they have substantially increased my direct debit. There doesn't appear to be a way of reducing the direct debit. Martin Lewis says payment by other means costs 9% more, I would like to know how this can be the case? I don't see any discount on my bill for paying by direct debit. I would rather have a fixed direct debit where the full amount is taken within 2-3 weeks of the bill being produced. Please advise further. Any help would be appreciated.

Alnat1

Ask Eon to change you to VARIABLE DD rather than the FIXED DD you're on now. You will pay each month for what you have used.

Only do this if you can afford to pay what could be much larger bills over winter when you'll most likely have the heating on, for example £50 a month in summer, £400 a month in winter. 

Brie

Alternative is to check how they have calculated what you need to have as your DD.  Eon wanted to increase mine substantially based on a year's use being the same as January use x 12.  And then admitted they add a couple extra months to "keep me safe".  I disputed it and they reversed the decision.   They have now further deduced my DD by the £67 a month rebate.

victor2

levineh1 said:

I am currently with Eon Next and they have substantially increased my direct debit. There doesn't appear to be a way of reducing the direct debit. Martin Lewis says payment by other means costs 9% more, I would like to know how this can be the case? I don't see any discount on my bill for paying by direct debit. I would rather have a fixed direct debit where the full amount is taken within 2-3 weeks of the bill being produced. Please advise further. Any help would be appreciated.

You can reduce your DD with Eon Next in your online account by up to 10%. You'd have to contact them to do more than that. But as @Alnat1 says above, request a change to paying the full balance each month, if you can budget for that.

You won't see a discount for paying by DD, you supposedly get lower rates if paying by DD.

philipbin

If you let me know your electric and gas annual use and the area you are in I can check your figures.

Areas

East Midlands
Eastern
London
Midlands
North East
North Scotland
North Wales and Merseyside
North West
South East
South Scotland
South Wales
South West
Southern
Yorkshire

[Deleted User]

levineh1 said:

Martin Lewis says payment by other means costs 9% more, I would like to know how this can be the case? 

Martin Lewis is using an old generalisation from before all the variable tariffs moved to the cap.

There are different caps (and therefore different unit rates and standing charges) for each payment method.

At the moment, prepayment seems slightly cheaper than direct debit in a lot of cases, with cash/cheque the most expensive.

MattMattMattUK

philipbin said:

If you let me know your electric and gas annual use and the area you are in I can check your figures.

Areas

East Midlands
Eastern
London
Midlands
North East
North Scotland
North Wales and Merseyside
North West
South East
South Scotland
South Wales
South West
Southern
Yorkshire

Do you really need to post a large list of regions in more than half of your posts?

[Deleted User]

MattMattMattUK said:

philipbin said:

If you let me know your electric and gas annual use and the area you are in I can check your figures.

Areas

East Midlands
Eastern
London
Midlands
North East
North Scotland
North Wales and Merseyside
North West
South East
South Scotland
South Wales
South West
Southern
Yorkshire

Do you really need to post a large list of regions in more than half of your posts?

Someone wants to show off their spreadsheet 🤣

Fair play, its useful, but the big list does look odd.

Ultrasonic

levineh1 said:

I would rather have a fixed direct debit where the full amount is taken within 2-3 weeks of the bill being produced. 

Which do you want: a fixed DD amount or a DD based on your bill? You can't have both.

As for the discount, you see it in terms of the cost per kWh of energy you pay rather than a line on your bill showing the cost reduction.

philipbin

MattMattMattUK said:

philipbin said:

If you let me know your electric and gas annual use and the area you are in I can check your figures.

Areas

East Midlands
Eastern
London
Midlands
North East
North Scotland
North Wales and Merseyside
North West
South East
South Scotland
South Wales
South West
Southern
Yorkshire

Do you really need to post a large list of regions in more than half of your posts?

Do you really need to quote such a large list of regions ?

dunstonh

I am currently with Eon Next and they have substantially increased my direct debit. 

Is the figure they are moving it to reasonable and correct of too far wrong?

What is your annual kWh use per year (real figures - not estimate)

 I would rather have a fixed direct debit where the full amount is taken within 2-3 weeks of the bill being produced. 

You have contradicted yourself a bit there.  Fixed direct debit is what you are on.  This is where you average out your annual costs.  i.e. annual of xxx kWh used (or estimated based on past use) and divided by 12.

If you mean paying for what you use, when you use it, then that is possible with many suppliers.   However, the problem is that most people that say that are unprepared for the amount they will pay in the cold winter months.  £50pm in the summer could equate to £500pm in the winter