Trouble with energy supplier.advice appreciated.

Stevej60

Hi folk's here's the background.this week see's a new tarif at the end of a three year fixed price of £164 per month for gas and electric which we pay by direct debit.we can see 
via our online account that we have been around £300 in credit after the quarterly bills have been deducted for the entire period. Back in February we were told a new deal would
mean an increase to £392 per month which we told them we were not prepared to pay due to the amount of credit we were in even with last years price hike's,I told them £200 
was their lot and it was agreed and we were informed our account would show the new DD amount in a day or so which has still not happened so as they would have taken the 
£392 pounds out tomorrow we have stopped the direct debit.My wife spoke to a "chatbot yesterday and was told the price cannot be dropped it then appears an agent took over trying to negotiate  £300 a month so she ended the conversation.I may add they fitted smart meters in February which is fine but the Gas meter has not started working and shows zero,also the guy I spoke to reference the £200 informed us we were £700 and took the first Quarter of 2023's bill off which was £250 so at the moment we are £400 in
credit.What can we do and where do we stand?

MikeJXE

Bad idea cancelling the DD as you will be paying 7-10% more for your energy

Quote your usage in kWh over a period of  a year and someone will work out what your DD ought to be 

Stevej60

MikeJXE said:

Bad idea cancelling the DD as you will be paying 7-10% more for your energy

Quote your usage in kWh over a period of  a year and someone will work out what your DD ought to be 

Hi Mike thanks for your reply,we are expecting them to contact us soon as they will soon pay attention when they can't collect the DD,what we can't understand when we have been in a constant £300 Credit(we've had a good few £600/£700) and our bills have been around £250-£300 per quarter for three years at their proposed new tarrif we would be letting them have we reckon £1000 of our money in credit which is madness,in real terms the tarif we were on would cover us still.

Scot_39

Playing devil's advocate - if you've just come off a three year fix chances are your gas is about to over double and your electricity double. And then theres probably the same in standing charges.

So if your quarter credit was a steady £300 - surely that means - that £164 was about the right amount on the cheaper fixed tariif.

So would expect the new target to be much higher - like over double - say £25 pm to wind down that £300 credit - or rather c£33 if £400.

I suspect £300 was actually a very reasonable start point - and it wont last 3 years - not on a varaible tariff - it will be reviewed every 6m - 12m by most suppliers.

Without old and new rates to sclae the old £164pm 0 but better still new rates and energy usage - no one but you can work out what it would cost at the new rates.

Usage x new rates - dont forget the SC - alone £300+ in some regions - subtract the £400 - then divide by / 12 - as a guide to new DD amount

PS The £600/700 probably end of late summer quarters with no heating bills - then your usage "bills" go over the DD amount - that gets eaten into - back to £300 by spring etc - rinse repeat annually on fixed tariff / usage.

 

Spoonie_Turtle

The best advice can only be given if you tell us your actual usages for those quarters.  Then the cost can be worked out at the current rates to be able to set a reasonable DD level.

MultiFuelBurner

Hello @SteveJ

If I am reading this correctly you are just coming off a three year fixed deal. The hike in prices is likely double or triple and of course from now no help incoming to soften the blow like the £400 over this past winter.

For other reasons I won't go into we record all our usage monthly and have done for many years. Have you got your actual (not bill estimates) but actual figures for the past years usage in kWh?

I think you may be in for a bit of a shock and your energy supplier might actually be right

pochase

If you are in credit by £300 after 3 years your current DD sounds about right.

Going from fixed tariffs 3 years ago I would see you in the region of 15p for electrcity and 2p for gas, that would mean more than double electrcity and 5 times gas prices.

The new DD sounds cheap if my assumptions are correct. Also a DD of £164 mean you are a high user. That is the level of the April 2022 SVT. 

What were your old unit ratres during the fix and as already asked, what is your annual usage?

By cancelling the direct debit you unit rates will go up by an additonal 7% to 9%.

When you say that the new gas meter is not submitting your usage, did you submit it manually and was iyour usage for February and March billed? Otherwise there might be no credit at all.

molerat

In a similar period my accurate 1/12th EAC has gone from £76 to £247 so over 3 times the price.  Gas prices are around 4 times what they were and electric 3. I am afraid it looks like unrealistic expectations are the real problem here.

MattMattMattUK

Stevej60 said:

MikeJXE said:

Bad idea cancelling the DD as you will be paying 7-10% more for your energy

Quote your usage in kWh over a period of  a year and someone will work out what your DD ought to be 

Hi Mike thanks for your reply,we are expecting them to contact us soon as they will soon pay attention when they can't collect the DD,what we can't understand when we have been in a constant £300 Credit(we've had a good few £600/£700) and our bills have been around £250-£300 per quarter for three years at their proposed new tarrif we would be letting them have we reckon £1000 of our money in credit which is madness,in real terms the tarif we were on would cover us still.

They will not contact you any more than sending you an email informing you that your rates have increased and supplying you with a bill to pay, cancelling the Direct Debit is shooting yourself in the foot.

From everything you have said, coming off a three year fix and going onto the SVT which is pretty much the only available tariff at the moment would result in a 3-4 times increase in your costs. If you can supply your usage in kWh which will be on your latest bill and let us know your region then we can calculate your annual usage costs. Unfortunately you need to be prepared for the fact that their increased estimates are likely to be correct. 

MikeJXE

Stevej60 said:

MikeJXE said:

Bad idea cancelling the DD as you will be paying 7-10% more for your energy

Quote your usage in kWh over a period of  a year and someone will work out what your DD ought to be 

Hi Mike thanks for your reply,we are expecting them to contact us soon as they will soon pay attention when they can't collect the DD,what we can't understand when we have been in a constant £300 Credit(we've had a good few £600/£700) and our bills have been around £250-£300 per quarter for three years at their proposed new tarrif we would be letting them have we reckon £1000 of our money in credit which is madness,in real terms the tarif we were on would cover us still.

They will contact you for sure but it won't be what you expect 

It will be a simple email outlining your new rates, i have been there and done that

My best advice to you is to show this board your yearly kWh usage and someone will explain what your DD should look like 

Stevej60

Hi folk's many thanks for the advice we'll see what they have to say when they contact us a price hike was expected but as there
are two of us in a fully insulated mid terrace and the same provider is asking double the rate of a family member with a three
bedroom semi with five occupants we cannot see the logic we've tried getting on the website for a KW reading but their site is 
not loading we will continue to try I still worry about the non working gas meter too.