Just cancel your direct debit.

[Workingman]

Energy suppliers have been accused of overestimating users' DD payment by three or four times their actual usage. They haven't used actual historical records to do this. what they have used are the numbers for a "typical" home thrown out by the media, you know the ones:
* On 1 April, yearly bills increased by an average of £693
* prepayment customers saw an average increase of £708 - from £1,309 to £2,017
* A rise of over £700 for all over the year.

They are not "typical", (average) they are fantasy figures from the likes of Martin Lewis and USwitch to gain a headline, and they also rake in good credit balances for the suppliers. The median or mode are way below what these people call average and they are where most of us are.

Very few will be paying £2,017 any time soon - it is £5.53 per day, every day, for the whole of the year. It is about 5.51 units of gas or 21.5 kWh of electricity per day once standing charges are removed.

Put what they say your new DD will be in a separate account and only pay for what you use each month via the Internet. That way any credit will always be in your account and not theirs.

[Suff]

In France they make it difficult to pay then hassle you to pay by direct debit.

Until the new smart meters they would estimate your bill then take the money, winter estimates used all year round.

Once they had your money it was a fight from hell to get it back. Witness my son telling EDF that it would take a decade of holiday electricity use to spend what they had already taken from him and they kept writing estimates to demand more.

Fortunately he now has a smart meter and they can only take what he has used via the direct debit.

We never allowed a direct debit and our log man for our CH boiler has put his prices up once in a decade. Mrs S keeps whinging that we've burned €2000 of logs this winter. Then again our house is 8x the standard, is still not fully insulated and the logs have not gone up in price.

Whinging has been more muted recently.

[TheOstrich]

I'm be interested to learn which energy companies are doing this monthly DD hike.

We're with E.on Next for both gas and electric. The forecast "annual energy charges" on our bills are quite sensible, based on historic billing / usage, and only take into account last April's increases in prices, not any projected October 2022 increases.

We have on-line control over the level of our monthly DD's and have the ability to adjust them up or down as we like. On the webpage where you do this, E.on do "recommend" a level of DD but this is simply the above forecast annual charge divided by 12. Currently, with the electric, that's around £5 a month more than I'm actually paying, but because our account is pretty much in balance, E.on haven't leant on us to increase the DD.

We are currently overpaid on the gas, and that means that I should be able to keep the existing DD at it's current level through next winter while the overpayment is naturally worked off.

E.on Next have never tried to unilaterally "enforce" anything, to my knowledge. Mind you, that said, there's no mechanism for automatic refunds of overpayments which used to be the norm before online monthly billing; I think you'd have to ask. And we're still getting a 5% reduction in prices for paying by DD as far as I can see ....

[saundra]

I'm so glad this is here I need some help please
Hope m with Scottish power
Neighbour paid my bill on 27April
But s/p haven't received it so it's hassle iv
sent photos of receipt after 3days of chat which I love is to,write msessages think they have been accepted
,they are now going to a different department why happened if they won't accept the photo iv,had a late payment letter ??? I paid my n a pay zone shop won't do DD

[Suff]

From Which

The price cap on out-of-contract energy tariffs will increase on 1 April 2022. If your tariff's prices rose with it, then you'll pay more over the next year - which means your supplier will increase your direct debit to cover this additional cost.

Assuming you are still in contract, then your DD won't change. If you are out of contract, then the answer to the question who is raising DD rates should be "everyone".

[Workingman]

Ossie, go read some of the comments on this article's HYS. It is what prompted my OP.

Saundra. I have problems with SP on my payments as well. Each month I get an email to send a meter reading. When I do this generates a bill. I pay that bill by card and in full as soon as it arrives. I then receive an online statement saying the amount has been paid (in progress) and will be taken from my bank within three days. The next thing I get is an email saying "Action required: Your bill is due for payment". It is threatening and implies that recovery action will be taken if I do not stump up, even though I have just paid. They cannot be ignored and I have to deal with them

It has happened every month since I went on to an ordinary meter from pre-pay and I have had a long running argument with SP to stop the threats - all to no avail. My belief is that it is a tactic to force me to go DD, which I will not do. I have spent hours on the phone and on chat and they are just a waste of time. Last month I told them that from this month's bill I will just ignore them (the threatening emails) and that they can take me to court. I'll still pay the bill in full. I have copies of all the emails and my bank statements so I look forward to it.

You could try Citizen's Advice or more likely the Ombudsman.

Although there might be rules it appears from the article that some companies are playing fast and loose with some customers hence the investigation by Ofgem.

[saundra]

Thanks for the reply WM
Today I was on chat yes a wast
Well they have my photo of my receipt so I Will see what happens tea time I got a email they need a photo of my meter reading v told them to get lost
And if just received one about he quick they come to reconnect,electric supply
I have not replied
We will see what happens

[Workingman]

Saundra, I am not sure what the legal position is regarding the photo of the meter, but you should make sure to get a bank statement, including your name and address, and with the payment shown - you can redact every other transaction with a black marker.

SP cannot cut you off if you have paid your bill , and can prove it. They can only do it IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID WITHIN 28 DAYS of the due date.

As I understand things, if there is a dispute it is up to the supplier to take a reading.

[saundra]

WM I paid by cash for the bill so I have the statement receipt
I am not sending photo of my meters
I don't send meter readings any way
Think it's a case of nobody knows what they are doing
Call centre just put you on hold then cut you ofi shall change electric suppliers after this if never had this problem before sigh

[Workingman]

Saundra, changing might be difficult at this time. I looked into it and it was best to stick with SP atm. I couldn't find a new supplier in my area that would not accept anything but DD. It is a nightmare and I do agree, certainly with SP, that nobody knows what's going on.