Talk of mass stopping of direct debits to utility companies

[ivykaty44]

so rather than keep letting the utility companies take the money every month, and as much as they like

you put the gas and electric money to one side instead and stop letting the companies have your money between bills to use to make millions

Do you mean stop paying them? Where does it go when it's to one side?

Do you mean stop paying them? Stop paying by direct debit and instead pay the bill each quarter instead

Where does it go when it's to one side? Put the money in another bank account, in an envelope each month till the bill arrives

No one forces you to pay by direct debit. Just ask them for a bill based on actual usage and settle it every month and make sure you give up to date meter readings.

I'm NEVER in credit with my energy companies! 😆

Balance is just below what I owe but no way would I let my money be in their pocket rather than mine.

Or give a meter reading weekly and pay what you owe, so they don’t get any extra

well, yoh can always pay upon invoice, usually for a higher tarrif.

you need to calculate your actual usage by looking at the meter readings and see if that is close to the dd you have been offered. note also that usage is usually higher in winter and the dd should be the average over 12 months.

Been advised of change to terms and conditions for mine today (Bulb). Only 5 days notice now for change of Direct Debit instead of 10 days.
Imagine them increasing your DD from £100 to £500 with only 5 days notice.

I think that will lead to a lot of people not paying. It’s alright if you set up a savings account so you have the money to pay the bill, but many won’t. They’ll spend this extra money and then will come unstuck when the bill is due.

Most energy companies allow you to alter your monthly payments. I overpay in the summer and underpay in the winter, ie. Have a regular monthly direct debit.

I will keep paying by monthly DD the tariff is cheaper & it's convenient. People need to make their own decisions & do what suits them.

I have stopped my DD to Bulb before as I don't want to build up a big credit with them. They are in special administration and could be sold. When energy companies are taken over, credits are technically protected but the reality is that it takes people months to get it sorted.

Now I'm back on DD but it's much closer to actual usage and I'll build up a small credir over the summer. They still keep trying to put it up though and treat me as their bank.

Some energy companies will put you on a more expensive tariff if you cancel your direct debit though, so be careful.

It's a higher tariff if you do it that way so fill your boots. Or you can ring them up, get the bank details, cancel the direct debit and set up a standing order. They can't help themselves then. Still a higher tariff though probably.

I cancelled mine when Bulb started trying to up my dd by hundreds of pounds at the start of the year.

I submit a meter reading two days before my bill is due and they give me an actual usage bill.

But you never lose your money and instead simply increase your risk of non payment and a lot of work to settle your bills.

Energy usage is seasonal. You’ll build up credit in the summer but burn through that easily during the winter when you use a lot of energy.

Not paying will make it worse for you and for everyone if the energy companies cash flow are significantly impacted and they go out of business.

The Russian situation is making it hard for everyone. Not paying the energy companies mean they can’t buy the energy to supply you. And less people paying means when they go under you will still end up paying to pick up the pieces.

My tariff hasn't increased, but I've read that if you don't pay by dd you won't get the £400 payment - not sure how true it is though, need to research it

There may be a difference in how the credit is applied to prepayment meter customers and non-prepayment meter customers , but I've not heard of anything stating that direct debit payments make any difference...

Bulb put my DD up from £150pm to £190pm effective 1st June. We use £140 max currently, and were £110 in credit with them. When I rang and told them to put it back down to £150 they refused, so I told them to cancel the dd and I would pay when the bill came each month.
They did this begrudgingly, but tried saying my using is £190 a month now. I have a smart metre, plus also know this is untrue, at least for the moment! Anyway, first bill came in after I canceled the dd and it was £130 not £190 like they said it would be.
As we were £110 in credit, I just paid the £20 difference, no longer interested in staying in credit with these companies.
So far for this month we've used £80 has an electric, so I estimate it to end on £125-£130.
This would have meant that over the course of two months we would have overpaid by dd by £120. This is something we just cannot afford!!
So glad I now just pay the bill when it comes in.

@NewBootsAndRanty - thank you. Just had a Google and I think you might be right. I didn't read it, a caller on LBC mentioned it.

usually for a higher tarrif.

British gas charge us less no we have set up a DD, we were just laying for what we used but at a higher cost so a DD is in my interests

Which would have helped you massively this winter when bills are said to increase by an eye watering amount. The reason the energy companies have increased DDs is to help cushion the massive blow that is coming for you but to also help them buy in advance the energy you need.

Every country I s fighting for the limited supply from Russia . To secure our share, they have to buy in advance. They can buy it month by month. We’d all be facing blackouts if the did that.

Aconitum be careful with Bulb, they started charging my friend over £300 a month, even though she's single and lives in a small 2 bed flat. She told them that she hadn't used that amount and they insisted she had and was taking it out of her account each month.
It turned out her meter was faulty. This whole saga when on for over a year, with the financial ombudsman getting involved. She was eventually vindicated and got a refund but it was a ridiculous amount of hassle.
I really hope you don't go through the same.

@Sweatymess2022 but will you be able to afford your bill in winter? I'm quite happy to build up a bit of credit with them (currently £500) as I'm hoping it will mitigate the October and possibly January price hike. I'm scared of high bills that I won't be able to afford so would rather overpay now. My direct debit is £260 a month from £140 before this shit show started so I hope that will help us out. (I'm also going on mat leave soon so will be extra skint and inside more come winter). I can't imagine paying more a month. It's already ridiculous for 3 bed semi.

Also @Sweatymess2022 I've noticed that the Stripe "top up" payment clears immediately and shows up in my Bulb account, whereas the direct debit takes up to three days to be credited. In the meantime I then always get some stupid email message saying I am £250 in arrears and I might need to increase my payments to cover it. It doesn't exactly incentivise me to use their direct debit system.

Then I also have a smart meter and I get messages saying that they have "estimated my usage". Why would they estimate it, they can see what my usage is? They just pluck numbers out of a hat, I swear.

When I was on estimated bills they didn't even look at the track record if previous actual readings and underestimated electricity use by almost 50%.

We only pay for what we use. We then pay via standing order.

RudsyFarmer How did you set up a standing order rather than a direct debit?

Further information has popped up stating October the 1st is non payment day for direct debits - a strike I guess on mass