Cancelling Energy Co Direct Debit?

[Isyesterdaytomorrowtoday]

What happens if I cancel it?

we have a huge amount of credit and a high DD, we’ve been trying to get them to refund some or reduce DD for weeks but the customer service just strings us along then ‘times out’ when they close for the day. It’s becoming a full time job.

are there any consequences of cancellation that I might not have considered please?

There is usually a slight rate advantage to paying by direct debit.

I've changed mine to paying the actual bill by direct debit, rather than a set monthly amount. That way any credit is applied first and only the excess is taken.

Would be happy with that @Chasingsquirrels just can’t get an actual human to agree to any changes. So frustrating

I changed mine online.
Shell Energy.
I couldn't do it on the app, the option just wasn't there. Logged on via a Web browser and it was clear as day.

Sorry if I’m missing something obvious but can you not access your account online and reduce your DD that way?

No, we are with SSE and the have been ‘moving our account to OVO’ for the last 6 months+ so out online account is frozen and can’t edit anything

Oh, that's frustrating. General advice is usually not to cancel a direct debit as you usually get a slightly better price if paying by DD but I'm not knowledgeable enough about this stuff to know if things are different if your account is moving.

At this time of year you should have a high credit balance as the most expensive time of the year is coming up. Only you will know if it's too high in relation to your actual usage though.

For what it's worth I'm with Ovo and they have an excellent online account platform which is really informative and easy to use so once your move is complete you should be able to handle all of this online.

I’d always expect to have a bit of credit at this time of the year but between that and the insane DD unless we’re going to use £10k of gas & electric this year (I bloody hope not!) it’s definitely too much

Nothing bad will happen, they will write to you to tell you have cancelled it and you are missing out on all of the brilliant benefits to paying by DD but that's it.

You can then re-set it up if you want, or default to quarterly billing.

I’m having one more shot at customer services today, if I don’t get anywhere I think I’ll go ahead & cancel

Good luck. Since OVO took over the customer service has gone to shite 😂 if not cancel the dd via your bank. That's what I did when they tried to double it for me.

Interest free loan is what the company is getting

Ask for interest on the credit you have with them

Don’t ask, don’t get 👍

Lol @EngTech that is on the 'hilarious customers jokes' bingo card for energy call centre workers for sure 🤣

I would just cancel it and then they will give you your credit back and then you can set up another kne if you want

@PrincessButtercupp if I cancel it does that automatically trigger a refund of the credit?

No, but the credit would be used against your bills till it runs out and you won't be paying any more yet

If you cancel the DD, they can't pay it back into your account so no they won't refund it and they would need an accurate meter read if you did want a refund to check it's a true credit

Thanks, thought so, was just checking after PP seemed to say it would. They’ve had photographs of the meters etc multiple times, just absolutely useless and won’t do anything