"Scottish Power trying to increase my monthly Direct Debit"

tobykim

I think the incentive is that you get a discount for paying by DD

Sol00

I see. I suppose it depends on what you would prefer - paying DD with a discount but possibly paying outwith your means, or paying for what you use without a discount but being able to budget for your use.

Premier_2

Sol00 wrote: »

I see. I suppose it depends on what you would prefer - paying DD with a discount but possibly paying outwith your means, or paying for what you use without a discount but being able to budget for your use.

Monthly Direct Debit is supposed to even out your monthly expenditure so that you end up paying the same in the expensive winter months as you do in the cheap summer months.

In effect, if you are not currently in credit and overpaying in preparation for the expensive winter months ahead, you may be able to afford what you actually consume today but you'll be left with a huge problem come the winter.

MarkyMarkD

The way that most energy suppliers operate monthly direct debit indeed achieves this, because they set your monthly DD amount and leave it alone for a year at a time. But SP insist on reviewing it once a quarter and (usually) arbitrarily increasing it each quarter, leaving a lot of accounts way in credit. It really is wrong for them to do this. If they really want to make people settle their account balance quarterly, that would be fine - if they have an actual reading - but to achieve a similar (or worse) result by over-inflating monthly DD amounts is very unfair.

neil9313

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

The way that most energy suppliers operate monthly direct debit indeed achieves this, because they set your monthly DD amount and leave it alone for a year at a time. But SP insist on reviewing it once a quarter and (usually) arbitrarily increasing it each quarter, leaving a lot of accounts way in credit. It really is wrong for them to do this. If they really want to make people settle their account balance quarterly, that would be fine - if they have an actual reading - but to achieve a similar (or worse) result by over-inflating monthly DD amounts is very unfair.

I must be the odd one , SP only adjust mine once a year, and i ring them and change it if i think its to hign, they have always agreed!

IMHO you should pay DD monthly and be online and put yr figures in and get a bill once a month! Its the easy way and cheaper!

loracan1

Scottish Power put my DD up to £130 from £85 last October, despite the fact that I was bang on with the bills and a little in credit. All it did was spur me into changing suppliers - N-Power, £77 a month and they let me know in advance when the meter will be read.

DGJsaver

and companies like npower seem to leave it deliberatly so that a debt builds up and they have you by the balls

jockess1

I had just had a letter from SP telling me also they were increasing my DD by £20 a month. I phoned them up and gave them an up to date reading. They said it was fine and I wouldn't have to pay the extra. They then sent me an email wanting to increase it by £40. So I called them again and they said it was ok it was just that the call hadn't been updated on the system. I just wonder why they said £20 then £40. They review it every 3 months so I reckon all SP customers go through this every quarter? I have only been with them 3 months as they came out cheapest but can't be doing with this hassle every 3 months.

Be_Happy

I've just had mine increased by £32. Not too bad, considering it is based on the last 3 months winter usage and I've switched to the fixed rate that's higher.

I did read somewhere, that they adjust your DD every 3 months for the first year, then after a complete year, it is based on the annual usage. So I'll see what happens when the first year ends.

Incidentally when I switched to them 3 months ago the DD they quoted me was far too low - £45. I asked them to change this to £70, so had I accepted the lower figure there would have been a much higher jump now.

MarkyMarkD

When you say "adjust", Be Happy, I guess that you mean "increase"? There is no legitimate reason for the increase they've applied to my DD.