Direct Debit Decrease!? 7 January at 3:44PM in Energy 16 replies 683 views

dunstonh

The thing is, I was already in credit before the October increase

You would expect to be in credit at October.

 Now they've realised that my DD actually covers an entire month from Nov - Dec, they seem to have finally gone "Ah, maybe you were right after all".

So, nothing down to the extra Government support and the extremely mild Q4 then.

wild666

I believe that suppliers aren't taking into account any grants or credit in customers accounts when they workout the DD that they want from customers. This will be giving the customers credit in some cases of hundreds of pounds per year, which if they stay with the supplier for a number of years could turn into thousands of pounds in credit. 
My supplier has told me that credit in an account isn't taken into account when working out the DD they just use the estimated usage for the next 12 months and work out the prices with estimated increases per kWh. One supplier I was with wanted to do a winter/summer DD that would have had me paying three times my yearly usage so I left them.

ariarnia

Astria said:

ariarnia said:

Mstty said:

I am sure @Astria knows their usage well enough the amount they help people here lol at the above comments 

i would have thought so to. but then i struggle to understand the point of the thread (i would of thought they also knew how forecasting works and why it might not take into account the rebate or know in advance how cold winter was going to be...)

The thing is, I was already in credit before the October increase, told them that my current payments would be fine, they completely refused and pretty much said they were going to increase my monthly figure regardless because that's what they calculated it at and I would end up in debt otherwise, so I bowed to their greater knowledge (even though I'm the one using the energy and so have a far better idea of my usage predictions...). Now they've realised that my DD actually covers an entire month from Nov - Dec, they seem to have finally gone "Ah, maybe you were right after all". To be honest, I still think £95 is too high also. 

i'll ask again (just in case) have you actually worked out what your dd should be using your annual figures? 

'telling them' doesn't mean much as most customers getting an increase would probably say the same. showing them using math both proves your point and shows you understand what your talking about. 

and it would mean you would have a better idea if £95 is or is not to high (and by about how much). 

they might still not listen but all i can go on is our experience and we have never had a problem getting or dd set where we want it once we break out the math and give a logical argument. 

I have asked them multiple times to put me back on "bill on usage" rather than "budget DD", but each time they seem to have problems, or say they've done it but not actually do it. 

you know you can raise a complaint and 8 weeks later take it to the ombusman?

Astria

dunstonh said:

The thing is, I was already in credit before the October increase

You would expect to be in credit at October.

Agreed, but similarly, I would expect my credit to be used during October - February, and not my DD to actually be higher than my bill for November - December.

Astria

ariarnia said:

I have asked them multiple times to put me back on "bill on usage" rather than "budget DD", but each time they seem to have problems, or say they've done it but not actually do it. 

you know you can raise a complaint and 8 weeks later take it to the ombusman?

I have actually done since the last call where they said my account was changed but there's still a minimum DD amount that has to be taken monthly, and they won't accept £1/month. I'll let you know the outcome of the complaint.

deano2099

wild666 said:

I believe that suppliers aren't taking into account any grants or credit in customers accounts when they workout the DD that they want from customers. This will be giving the customers credit in some cases of hundreds of pounds per year, which if they stay with the supplier for a number of years could turn into thousands of pounds in credit. 
My supplier has told me that credit in an account isn't taken into account when working out the DD they just use the estimated usage for the next 12 months and work out the prices with estimated increases per kWh. One supplier I was with wanted to do a winter/summer DD that would have had me paying three times my yearly usage so I left them.

If that is the case the simple fix should be that the energy company refund any credit on the account whenever they change the direct debit.