Don't Pay

[paxman]

There's a movement on Twitter that is suggesting customers don't pay for their energy by cancelling DDs. I can't see who they people behind the movement are. Anyone know?

Could you explain how it works out cheaper. Are you saying that you pay a lower price per KW & standing charge than those on DD payments or is it that you are more aware & use your energy carefully?

Yes it is and Martin Lewis shouldn’t be attaching his name to it as it encourages more of the same

People will be in further strife due to this and it won’t hurt anyone else

They replaced one unfair tax with another. It really wasn't a big win that led to a great alternative.
Taxes based on income would be appropriate. Not based on how much your house happens to be worth, regardless your income.

Anyway, that's a debate for another time. Apologies for the derail.

Back to the point, people not paying their energy bills will not change anything. They'll just end up with a poor credit rating, cut off and a prepay meter.

Too many brown envelopes passed between stalls in the gents and places on boards of directors waiting for them to ever make politicians do anything to genuinely help the population.

If anyone thinks otherwise, I'm really happy for them. They're a more trusting than I am.

I didn’t realise it was to stop paying but rather to just cancel the direct debit and pay what they can. I cancelled my direct debit when my energy supplier wanted to take £500 a month due to the price hikes, I could not risk them dipping into my bank taking such amounts…I now send a reading and pay what I’ve used and I’ve not had one reading where I owe £500.

Checked the website and it is to stop paying totally. I don't mind that I've got credit on my energy account currently it means I won't need to worry too much come winter. I'm still going to do everything possible to reduce usage (environment will hopefully benefit) but I can't support this campaign. I never want to be stuck paying debt through a repayment meter ever again.

It's just literally paying for what I use, so if I've had a day of high usage I can make allowances for that the next day. Today I've had the oven on twice and done 1 load of washing (there are only 2 of us here) so I've used more than I did yesterday and I will not use as much tomorrow either. I wouldn't say I'm overly careful with my electric usage but I am aware of the cost of each day so can budget better for it. The credit for the gas has built up because I pay the same over the summer as I do over winter and, rather than the gas company earing interest on that overpayment I have the benefit of having that to use when I need it most. I found that the fact the companies can increase payments even when I was in credit with them disgraceful which is why I changed to prepay. Even when I was given them accurate readings each month they would still send bills that wwere wrong and I just didn't need the hassle anymore.

Does anyone else have a smart meter? I've had one installed as EDF were offering £100 credit. My direct debit was increased about a month or so before thus to £156 a month, this was in May I think. When I rung up I was told this figure was based on last year's usage, which I didn't understand as it would go down in May surely. I've had the smart meter for about a month now and was too anxious to check the amount but when I did it is saying usage of roughly £88 for the month, about 67 electricity and 21 for gas. I can't understand why they are making me pay 156? I rung them and spoke to someone really nice who offered to reduce my DD to a £100 a month. Now I'm worried the smart meter is faulty and my energy is actually much higher! It is very confusing.

And I did cancel the DD debit last year and was just paying the monthly usage when I got the bill though, but they sent me a bill of 190 for the month of April, and they told me to set up this DD instead.

The people saying that they 'pay for what they use' and say their bills are lower like this than on fixed monthly DD need to be aware that the picture will look very different in December/January, when their bills will be 2/3/4 times what they are now due to higher winter usage and the expected price rise.

Some people are able to accommodate large fluctuations in billed amounts within their budget, but many can't so that's what direct debit is supposed to help with - you pay the same amount each month and don't end up receiving the largest bills just after Christmas, which has often been an expensive time of year anyway.

My supplier is not taking the £400 bill credit over the winter months into account when working out the direct debit. Mine is £95, current bills £55, highest bill in January should be £150, so £83 with the £67 credit taken off. I fixed in March so no October increase. I'd be happy to pay monthly through this winter.

I think most people are aware they use more energy in winter. But the choice to spread those payments annually or not, should be just that. A choice. Made by an individual. You shouldn’t be practically-forced into. I don’t think it should even be the default position. And they ALWAYS make the DD higher than it needs to be. I’ve never had them agree to lower it, even when I can demonstrate usage and I have always had to claw money back. That’s not on.

Maybe people would really value getting their lowest bill right before they go on holiday. That’s an expensive time of year, too.

There’s an argument for evening out costs, for sure. But it’s not something that works in my favour. In fact, up until now, it’s been very much misused by the power companies I’ve been with.

I think most people are aware they use more energy in winter. But the choice to spread those payments annually or not, should be just that. A choice. Made by an individual. You shouldn’t be practically-forced into. I don’t think it should even be the default position. And they ALWAYS make the DD higher than it needs to be. I’ve never had them agree to lower it, even when I can demonstrate usage and I have always had to claw money back. That’s not on.

I agree. I'm not in the UK and people here generally pay for what they use each month, and we know we have to pay more in winter, less in summer. I would not want to be forced to pay an amount decided by the energy company, it seems a strange way of doing things to me.

I agree. I'm not in the UK and people here generally pay for what they use each month, and we know we have to pay more in winter, less in summer. I would not want to be forced to pay an amount decided by the energy company, it seems a strange way of doing things to me.

Yeah it seems to be done a strange way in the UK? I'm not in the UK and pay by DD. I get an email once every 2 months telling me to submit my metre reading if they aren't doing it that month, I submit my reading, they bill me, I pay by DD. It seems like lots of people are getting figures pulled out the energy companies arses and being told they have to pay that? At any point I can plug my metre reading into the energy companies website and it will tell me what I owe based on my last metre reading and I can pay that ahead of my bill if I want to.

@Choopi - I agree it's strange. I get a monthly bill, I pay it - easy as that. If I want to I can see online how much energy I've used and an estimated account for the current month, so no surprises.

@Eeksteek
'I think most people are aware they use more energy in winter. But the choice to spread those payments annually or not, should be just that. A choice. Made by an individual. You shouldn’t be practically-forced into. I don’t think it should even be the default position. And they ALWAYS make the DD higher than it needs to be. I’ve never had them agree to lower it, even when I can demonstrate usage and I have always had to claw money back. That’s not on'

This is exactly why quickly cancelled the direct debit ( first house , years ago - I knew no better and the energy company implied the dd was best - yeah right )