Electricity Suppliers Direct Debits!! WTF
Discussion
Been with my supplier (who will not name due to rules) for 16 months. Paid DD of £44 for 8 months, then up to £76 for 6 months, then, after a stupidly low estimated bill said I was £500 in credit, they dropped it to £18 for the last 2 months. So total paid in 16 months is £844. After the stupid low bill that put me massively in credit, (and dropped DD to £18) they wrote to me recently and asked for an updated reading, which I provided. The adjusted bill came through and showed me some £55 in credit not £500+. So I expected the DD to increase from the £18 I had been on, maybe toward the £76 per month that it had been previously. Over 16 months, I have used just less than £800 of electric, and so maybe approx £50 a month..??
No, the letter came today, and they want to up it to £98 a month!! So I called, the woman said it SHOULD be £104 a month, but as I am in credit, they dropped it to £98!
I pointed out the obvious flaw in their maths, and she said I would need ot speak wiht the Direct debit team tomorrow, as they close at 5.
I told them I thought it was a rip off to get customers to bankroll the electric suppliers, as they flipping well OWE ME MONEY right now, and could they give me an adress so I can bill them! ! She told me that they gain nothing from taking too much cash from us customers and from us all being in credit....
When I asked just how big is the bed that they keep all the cash under, she hung up!
What a totla scam! It's not the first time they tried this, I was paying £115 a month from my previous supplier, and after 3 years, they owed me £1400!! When I swapped to this bunch, they calculated my useage from my previous 4 years readings from 2 suppliers and said £44 a month was OK!
Rip of bunch of Germans, the lot of them!
No, the letter came today, and they want to up it to £98 a month!! So I called, the woman said it SHOULD be £104 a month, but as I am in credit, they dropped it to £98!
I pointed out the obvious flaw in their maths, and she said I would need ot speak wiht the Direct debit team tomorrow, as they close at 5.
I told them I thought it was a rip off to get customers to bankroll the electric suppliers, as they flipping well OWE ME MONEY right now, and could they give me an adress so I can bill them! ! She told me that they gain nothing from taking too much cash from us customers and from us all being in credit....
When I asked just how big is the bed that they keep all the cash under, she hung up!
What a totla scam! It's not the first time they tried this, I was paying £115 a month from my previous supplier, and after 3 years, they owed me £1400!! When I swapped to this bunch, they calculated my useage from my previous 4 years readings from 2 suppliers and said £44 a month was OK!
Rip of bunch of Germans, the lot of them!
Been there and understand your frustration! In my last property I used around £400 of electricity a year - called them to suggest keeping a the DD at a set level as this would always be about right. Worked for about 6 months until they decided to increase the DD for the Winter period, then it went into the same high/low cycle you are in.
Useless feckers...
Useless feckers...
And unfortunately if you pay for what you actually use rather than a direct debit then they charge you more per unit.
Disgusting methods imo.
I pay £48/month gas and last time I looked was £200 in credit and £18/month electricity and was £100 in credit. Will they reduce it so I remain slightly in credit rather than hundreds? Like f
k.
Disgusting methods imo.
I pay £48/month gas and last time I looked was £200 in credit and £18/month electricity and was £100 in credit. Will they reduce it so I remain slightly in credit rather than hundreds? Like f
k.I can't even get a bill.
When I moved into my flat, both the agents and myself took meter readings and forwarded it, by recorded delivery to the electrical supplier. Nothing. Came home to a bailiff one afternoon, who demanded £500 for the previous tenant, told him to bugger off. Called the supplier, was told by an idiot boy that if i'd bothered to contact them, that this wouldn't have happened. I set up a new account for which they got my move in date, name and bank details wrong.
I called up to change to a monthly DD and change my bank details, 3 weeks later I've got a letter saying they've cancelled my direct debit and my bills will be coming every quarter.
I literally give up with them
When I moved into my flat, both the agents and myself took meter readings and forwarded it, by recorded delivery to the electrical supplier. Nothing. Came home to a bailiff one afternoon, who demanded £500 for the previous tenant, told him to bugger off. Called the supplier, was told by an idiot boy that if i'd bothered to contact them, that this wouldn't have happened. I set up a new account for which they got my move in date, name and bank details wrong.
I called up to change to a monthly DD and change my bank details, 3 weeks later I've got a letter saying they've cancelled my direct debit and my bills will be coming every quarter.
I literally give up with them
We just call up and make them reduce the DD when they try and up it to a ridiculous level. I also submit monthly meter reading to keep things tidy. When we got £150 in credit last month we called up and they refunded the lot. DDs are better and more convenient for us, so a qick phone call every six months is not an issue.
I've never had a problem.
I work out how many Kwh I will use in a year, convert that to pounds (bearing in mind the summer/winter differential), then divide it by 12.
This is the figure I ask the company to use as a monthly direct debit, rather than their plucked-out-of-the-sky figure (my figure is sometimes higher, sometimes lower) and we stick to that. I review it myself every now and then and if I notice my usage/cost going up, I ask them to adjust the DD accordingly. I've only once had a letter suggesting a too-high increase and they changed it when I spoke to them on the phone.
This is NPower and Atlantic EG
I work out how many Kwh I will use in a year, convert that to pounds (bearing in mind the summer/winter differential), then divide it by 12.
This is the figure I ask the company to use as a monthly direct debit, rather than their plucked-out-of-the-sky figure (my figure is sometimes higher, sometimes lower) and we stick to that. I review it myself every now and then and if I notice my usage/cost going up, I ask them to adjust the DD accordingly. I've only once had a letter suggesting a too-high increase and they changed it when I spoke to them on the phone.
This is NPower and Atlantic EG
remedy said:
And unfortunately if you pay for what you actually use rather than a direct debit then they charge you more per unit.
I'm with Ebico for gas and electric, they charge the same rate however you pay. I'm on quarterly billing, have been for a couple of years now and haven't had any problems so far.Most of them are probably still hanging on to their legacy applications to do all this billing. I was working on a new billing system about 10-12 years ago.. When the market was going to be de-regulated.. Then the company got bought, the new owners didn't want to pay for a new billing system and so it all reverted back to the old one. Binned.
I remember working on a direct debit calculation app.. It was all singing all dancing and should have done away with all of this, but that got binned as well.
It's really not difficult, but as long as it doesn't really "hurt" them I guess they won't change!
I remember working on a direct debit calculation app.. It was all singing all dancing and should have done away with all of this, but that got binned as well.
It's really not difficult, but as long as it doesn't really "hurt" them I guess they won't change!
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