Can Bulb increase my DD without my permission

Alnat1

Do you give meter readings to Bulb every month?

EssexHebridean

dez82 said:

in August my bill was £73.55 the month before £68.40. For Dec 2021 it was £96.80. My debit order is currently £150 and they have changed it to £460 (I have 160 credit). I check my account every month and I request the credit back because I need the money and now that its increased to £460 in will be in debt every month. I work to a strict budget but I worry about those who are in a worse situation than I am. 

Thank you all for your responses, I have asked for a variable Direct Debit. 

While the amount they are asking for *might* be a bit inflated, you can fully expect that you are going to be paying a lot more this winter thank last as already stated. If things are that tight that you were already unable to afford the £150 DD, then I suggest you put together your SOA (link in my signature) and do a post over in the Debt Free wannabe board for advice - if as you say you are going to be in debt shortly anyway it's better to nip it in the bud and get help sooner rather than later. 

MWT

pochase said:

MWT said:

To answer the question in your title, yes, they have to tell you before they do it, but they do not need your permission to do it...

dez82 said:

I have asked them to stop the DD and will now pay for what i use - have i done the right thing?

If you have asked them to put you onto a variable direct debit which means they will only take the correct amount for what you have used each month (assuming they have an accurate meter reading), then yes, that is a good thing to do if you can handle the variability of the bills each month, especially over winter.

If you have just cancelled the DD and asked to pay on receipt of your bill (standard credit account) then no, that is a bad idea as your energy cost will increase since they are allowed to charge higher rates for that sort of account...

Bulb does not have different rates for paying on receipt of the bill

Payment method - Monthly Direct Debit in advance, or payment on receipt of bill

Electricity Unit rate 35.0564p per kWh

I would watch that carefully, Octopus didn't have different rates either, but they  have had to introduce them to meet the conditions for the EPG scheme...