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

I just change my DD to a very small amount and then pay the rest when bills due.
So I get both the DD tariff and keep my money.

Yes, it’s precarious but also cheap, which means lower prices for customers. If they didn’t do the DD system, they would need regular bank financing and interest rates are on the climb. This cost of money would be passed on the the form of higher daily standing charges to the customer. It’s a help us help you business model.

I pay by DD but it's variable and they collect what I owe them every month.

This does mean that it's going to be a much higher amount in the winter months as

a) Usage will be higher anyway
b) Energy prices will have increased as well

On the other side, I should be seeing a £400 reduction in my bill from the Government - so that will affect the amount I owe.

In my case, I have my spreadsheet and I am good at maths. And I have flexibility in my budget to pay for those winter months

But I know that some people will 'pay as you go' and will be shocked to see the bills in the winter months.

I am now on a variable DD with Shell, submitting meter readings monthly. They tried to increased my DD by 200% in April - I have an on-going complaint in with them about that one. They have still not answered why they felt it was necessary. I am putting money aside for the winter and praying it will enough. It is very frightening,

My spreadsheet has calculations for winter based on what it looks like it will be now.

I can see that there are going to be people who just have no idea how high it is going to be in the coming winter months if you do pay as you go without seeing what is coming.

We stopped direct debits when they kept upping payments whilst we was always in credit ! Ridiculous!
so now we get a bill and pay that no tariff difference either x

I'd been white knuckling it but have just set up a direct debit with EDF, fixed until 2024, for £216 a month. They've said they'll review the direct debit in January next year and change it if necessary based on actual usage.

My entire house, including heating system, is run on electricity. Going to be lots of blankets & solar powered lamps in ours from October!

Wouldn't a debit strike just swallow up the £400 govt credit each household will get? Seems a bit pointless if this is the case.

My energy usage is more in summer than winter, I don't do heat well so I have AC on in the summer. My house holds heat so when it is warm it stays that way.

The DD were going to be huge so I just pay online every month.

We need to do something. These companies have been allowed free rein to shift customers left right right centre. They're taking no action on the affect they have on our climate.
Don't pay. I mean everyone. They cannot cut everyone off and take everyone to court.

Can you tell I am raging?

Is this campaign aimed at people who are not worried about their credit score or don't have to get a mortgage like pensioners.

This wouldn't help me at all ww live from month to month and I wouldn't be able to put the money to one side and not have to dip into it ,I'm with British gas, they have fixed my tariff ,it has gone up but not ridiculously so ,and it's manageable at the moment

Are you me? I do exactly the same! My spreadsheet budget covers the whole year and factors in all one-off payments and subscriptions, estimated car service etc etc

I wouldn't rest easy without doing this.

Yes, similar - I have quite a big buffer now. Not as much as yours but still, a help.

They still tried to put up the direct debits but I just adjust them manually on the website and they go back.. never had a problem doing that. I’m surprised at the people saying their supplier will not let them change the dd amount. I change mine up and down all the time.

I have duel fuel and on one account I owe a small amount (£25 or so), on the other they owe me > £250. The calculation for amending the direct debits they sent on the latest bill included the amount I owe them but funnily enough, excluded the amount they owe me.

I won’t be cancelling the direct debit. You get a cheaper rate for one and honestly, I didn’t mind creating a bit of a balance to help when energy prices increase. I’ll be calculating what I think I will owe monthly when my prices rise and I’ll set the direct debit at that amount, rather than just taking their random estimate.

Don’t people do this anyway… we have a smart meter and our DD is just the energy used each month.

Hmmm. Not exactly true. My energy companies have always been ones that provide 100% green electricity. My current one also plants a tree every year per customer as carbon offset.

And really the only greater thing they could do for the climate is cut off the supply of natural gas to all their customers. But you don’t seem to be prepared for that to happen to you? So not sure why you’re blaming them for your dependence on natural gas?

I stoped paying by direct debit a year or so ago when I was switched to Eon and their requests were ridiculous. I just do meter reads now and pay for exactly what I've used. I'm still a bit sceptical about how much they charge if I'm honest but at least they aren't holding my money

Mine are harassing me to set up a direct debit and iirc threatened to charge me a fee if I didn't. I nipped that shit right in the bud and still havent set one up.

I will pay the bill when I can. Thats literally all I can do or we will starve.

My energy company tried to up my DD but we were in credit with them so I just went online and changed it back. No problem with that. Luckily, we are on a fixed tariff at the moment so haven't felt the hit of increased prices yet. The 2 year deal comes to an end in October and I am not looking forward to it, it will probably quadruple our bill in one month!

I think a lot of people don't understand how average payments work.

They take your predicted bill for the whole year, divide it by 12, and charge you that amount each month. This means you overpay in the summer (usually) and underpay in the winter.

Do those saying "why should I pay £160 when I only use £120. £160 means there's not much left in the budget!" understand that only paying £120 now, means they'll have to pay £200 in a few months? Probably more with the tariff increase? If £160 is a push, £200 is going to be worse, surely?

Isn't it better to spread it out so you can budget?!

This is hardly the kind of action that’s going to make any difference. I was expecting to come on here and find someone suggesting we don’t pay them at all. That’s the kind of action we need at the moment.

I agree. The same with people saying they’re in credit so their DD shouldn’t go up. The energy company will have had recalculate the 12 months based on the approaching October increase and so while you may be in credit, it is probably not enough to cover the new costs of energy this winter so your DD needs to go up now to ensure no monthly bill increase in the winter.

Cancelling and putting the money aside is fine if you're good with money and aren't likely to dip into it for emergencies. Our account is in credit, we're paying £185 whilst Scottish Power reconnect £145. Its not going to be reduced because come October, a hike from £145 will hurt more. We'll use the cushion I've created and I'll up our DD monthly

We pay monthly based on usage. I submit a reading at the end of the month and pay the bill. I do put £200 per month into a “bills” savings account and this can help in winter for the higher bills. If it’s not needed, it just saves up for emergency bills but it means I get to make the (pitiful) interest on it!
We are with octopus and they do not penalise you for paying usage rather than DD.

Personally I was even in a small credit throughout the whole of winter and my credit has only got bigger in the summer, so I’m definitely overpaying (on purpose!).
It is definitely also true that my most recent direct debit calculation statement simply stated my average use over a year divided by 12. It did not include my credit at ALL. However, with the other fuel they added in the small amount I owe them (quite rightly). So yes there is a bit of creative accounting going on.
That said, I think if you are on top of what the direct debit amount should be and keeping track of your own usage I think direct debit and spreading the payments is a good thing.