Energy company increasing direct debit

I simply refuse to pay by direct debit. I want the money in my account, not theirs. Control is everything.

Germanshepherdsmum

I simply refuse to pay by direct debit. I want the money in my account, not theirs. Control is everything.

Control is everything

Yesss!

- I think we are in a minority though. And we are penalised for it.

However, I recently forgot to read my meter so E-ON estimated my usage...

... and over-estimated by nearly £900 - I'm still in credit!

If that is how they operate their DDs, they can go hang and take their smart meters (my neighbour has had nothing but trouble with her malfunctioning one) with them.

How they arrived at that figure I've no idea - it's supposed to be based on previous usage. It wasn't!

I rather like the old-fashioned way of getting a bill for what I've used and paying it.

I don't pay by DD either, I read my meters at the begining of the month, enter them online and get the bill. It may be a bit more expensive but I don't agree with these companies taking any amount they see fit.

I don’t believe the discount for paying by dd is worth having when you read about problems like this (and worse). I know some people feel comfortable building up a credit over the warmer months, but they would be so much better off setting up a savings account and sending the dd to that - the money would be there when needed and they would earn some interest on it too.

I pay by DD which my energy company has just reduced. I have also asked for the surplus money they have of mine to be returned.
You pay a higher tariff if you don't pay by DD and the hassle involved sending in readings every month is wiped out by the tiny bit of interest you get on savings at the moment.

My husband read the meter this morning and I sent off the readings online. That took each of us less than five minutes. No hassle at all. Far more hassle to ask for money to be returned. Incidentally, there are some pretty good savings rates on offer at present.

Personal preference for sure. We pay by DD. No issue changing monthly payments or reclaiming credit. We have never had an energy supplier insist on an amount. They suggest, I change it up or down according to my own calculations. Why not contact them and ask for an explanation astitchintime. Probably easily sorted.

Just change your DD to the amount you want to pay.

dragonfly46

I pay by DD which my energy company has just reduced. I have also asked for the surplus money they have of mine to be returned.
You pay a higher tariff if you don't pay by DD and the hassle involved sending in readings every month is wiped out by the tiny bit of interest you get on savings at the moment.

... and the hassle involved

Hassle?

My OH read the meter and called out the numbers whilst I typed them in online.

... took about 4 minutes.

If he's not around, it takes 5 minutes.

Really, it is not a hassle.

A hassle is contacting your energy company when they have increased your DD well above expectation, only to reduce it when you finally manage to speak to someone after having listened-carefully-to-your-options, pressed-one-if-you-are-calling-about-this-or-two-if-you-are-calling-about-this/that/or whatever!

And hanging on listening to awful music’ whilst waiting for a human being to answer … no thanks.

jusnoneed

I don't pay by DD either, I read my meters at the begining of the month, enter them online and get the bill. It may be a bit more expensive but I don't agree with these companies taking any amount they see fit.

Thing is, some energy companies are very good at reducing DDs etc, or allowing you to decide the amount.

Others are not.

And when they are not and are holding on to your money and you have to do all the chasing, it's a pain in the proverbial.

Life really is too short - for me anyway - to add to the stress that already exists in modern day life... I don't want to have to shop around for the best deals, etc every year or 6 months. Not to mention the huge amount of information on company websites that one is presumably supposed to find the time to read.

It should be a simple process; you need fuel, a company supplies it, how much you've used is measured and you get a bill. I don't want to read about how well they are doing or answer questions on my experience with them today by filling in a short questionnaire. If I have a problem, I will tell them, if not, I have no interest in making a meal of a simple necessity!

Don't know which company you are with, but I would simply phone them and ask for it to be reduced back to the original amount. You are likely to become more in credit over the next quarter with reduced energy usage, so ask for a refund at the same time.

Exactly, Dickens. People are reeled in by the offer of a discount which isn’t worth having and leads to nothing but hassle.

They did that to us as well, so I went back into payment and changed it back. It's all on line easy to do, I was in credit so couldn't see the point.

My DD was revised downwards a few months ago. I asked for the credit I had accrued to be returned and it was.

I am going to claim my money back from now on, especially during the summer months.

My supplier never leaves me hanging on the phone and always deals with calls promptly and politely.

I read my meters every month takes less than 2 minutes and I pay be DD mine has recently gone down quite a lot fine by me I’ll keep an eye on it and if I go into debit will up my repayments

We have a smart meter. Our electricity company have just reduced our DD payment

PaperMonster

Just change your DD to the amount you want to pay.

But can customers do that??

Yes customer can but I think only within 10% or something like that

I am another who pays on meter readings every month.

Learnt the lesson of average monthly payments over 50 years ago when we bought our first house. At a time when we were really strapped for cash we paid twice as much as needed to heat the house because British Gas would not accept that we would not leave the heating on all day when both of us were at work. Never again.

My energy company has reduced my payments a couple of times recently. I do read the meter for the solar panels but that's only four times a year. The only awkward part of it is that the installers put the meter in a very dark corner, but once I realised that all I had to do was photograph the numbers and enter them at my leisure it was no problem.

I am partially sighted, and can no longer read the meters well placed outdoors so I have a smart meter. To date, I have had no problems and when I accrued some money last year it was returned without a hassle.

My previous company EDF changed my direct debit almost monthly so I was delighted to move to Octopus when it was a fledgling company.

I've been told mine will ve going down in July...I have a smart meter so pay for exactly what I use every month

A few years ago we changed to a company which lets you amend your DD yourself. They also have a graph showing your usage, over a year, related to your payments, with anticipated usage and payments over the coming months, so you can see and adjust your DD accordingly. I like that everything is so transparent. Yes, I agree that the credit building up during the summer months could be in my savings account rather than in theirs, but I like the security blanket.
It is also easy to get credit refunded on request. I am with Octopus. They are an ethical company, and electricity is produced using green energy.