Legality of stopping a direct debit to energy company

Legal questions aside its actually quite difficult to cancel a Direct Debit as they originate from the company...they are 'taking' money out of your account - you are not sending it to them so you will have to ensure your bank does not allow the Direct debit to be 'removed'.

As to the legal side, I'd get on to citizens advise or similar to find out if you will be in breach of a contract.

I can’t see any reason why not just ask them to send a cheque if there is any refund due or you can do the same if you owe them. I suppose they may refuse to cooperate with the switch over if they are really nasty. Why don’t you just ask them?

I'd cancel the DD at the bank and answer questions later if necessary. Given the credit you have with the supplier you can't be accused of dodging the issue.

I've cancelled DD's at the bank no problem.

Cancel the DD you have with them and get a reference number from your bank when you do it.

There is another thread about this supplier.
I would be very wary about going with a new and unknown supplier.

MamaCaz
I would cancel the DD which is perfectly legal. No bank can legally refuse this request. They may try but they have no legal right not to follow your request.
Make sure you put it in writing ( email will suffice) to the bank and the energy company.

Thank you for your answers. I will go ahead and cancel the direct debit.

Annsixty , do you know where the existing thread is on this company? I would be interested to read it.

I will look for it now.

It is on "chat" posted by Nudejude on November 15th.
She was complaining about just the same thing i.e. the company putting up charges during the winter months.

I do online banking and can cancel online. The only ‘legal’ implication might be that paying by DD is part of your terms and conditions and so the rate at which you get your fuel might increase

I've cancelled a DD online recently (Lloyds Bank) no problems.
But if I was you I would make sure to have an alternative contract set up first.

It's easy to do, and why should you leave yourself exposed if they fail. When they contact you just say you promise to pay the amount outstanding at the end of your tariff. Don't let them bully you.

Yes, you can cancel a direct debit.
I have done that and did keep getting letters from the company (Sky) asking me if I had realised that I had cancelled it (yes), was I sure I wanted to cancel it (yes), did I want to reinstate it (no), then got weekly letters with offers from them for about 3 years afterwards.

Check your contract first though.

ps We had told Sky that we were going to cancel the direct debit but they still persisted.

I told my energy company that I had not signed up to paying a 50% increase half way through the term and said they had two options either continue to take the agreed amount and I would pay any amount outstanding at the end of the term or I would cancel the direct debit until we reached an agreement. They ignored several emails from me, so I cancelled. I put the amount to one side each month ready to pay in full and by the time they asked for payment I only had a couple of months left to go till the end of term. They agreed to take the same amount until the end so the d/d was put back in place and they stuck to the agreement as did I. I owed £50 in total at the end of the contract.

Thanks everyone

You can cancel your DD as long as you are sure you will have enough credit to cover your final account. If not, the transfer to another supplier will be delayed.

There is an article on the financial pages of the MoS today about what happens if one of these smaller companies has to hand in their licence. It is generally reassuring about what happens to your fuel supply. It is automatically transferred to one of the big six so fuel - and bills will continue - you would then be free to move your contract elsewhere.

It didn't discuss what happened to any balances the smaller energy company owed to customers.

Hilda you’re quite right that the DD originates from the company, and they can vary the amount they deduct provided that they give you notice of any change to the amount they’re going to deduct. That’s the difference between a DD and a Standing Order. A Standing Order can only be varied by the account holder.

But a DD still has to be authorised initially by the account holder. When you cancel a DD you’re simply withdrawing that authorisation and most DD agreements include the condition that you can cancel at any time.

I changed electricity supplier because they kept increasing my DD. Changed to new supplier, they contacted my old one and I was given a transfer date. I gave the new supplier the meter reading and the old one as well. Old supplier sent me a letter saying they would take a lady payment to clear my account and new supplier payment started the 1st of the following month. When the last payment of the old account was taken I then went into my bank and cancelled the DD . Hope that makes sense!

Last not lady

There are accounts how appearing about Outfox The Market quickly reinstating direct debits that customers have cancelled with their bank, and also of them generating new invoices based on fictitious meter readings that suddenly plunge a leaving customer from a large credit balance to one of debit, meaning that OFM can then bring the changeover to a new supplier to a halt.
True? I don't know, but I will be watching both our bank account and our energy account very carefully between now and our planned changeover date!

'Now', not ' how'.